Alcohol free beer - NOT amateur radio

Years ago alcohol free beer tasted dreadful. These days I cannot tell the difference between 0.0 beers and those with alcohol. The processing has come on a great deal.

With limits in many countries on driving with alcohol in the blood, less beer is being consumed. These days there is a real alternative.

I quite like the Guinness 0.0 and Heineken 0.0.

10m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My 2.5W has been on since before breakfast. So far 7 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 16 on 10m FT8. All were in Europe.

UPDATE 1122z: 59 stations have spotted me. On RX, 146 stations spotted with the furthermost 2 in South Africa.

UPDATE 1857z:  Spotted by 170 stations (see map). On RX 444 stations were spotted with the furthermost RI1ANE in Antarctica (14845km).

Churches visited blog - NOT amateur radio

My East Anglian churches blog has been updated with all three Suffolk churches recently visited.

See https://eachurches.blogspot.com/ .

888 rule - NOT amateur radio

Some time ago I was taught a rule for cutting lavender. 8 inches, 8th month on the 8th. I was overdue, so did it yesterday.

We only planted them to help keep Muntjac deer out of our back garden. Apparently they don't like the smell.  Last year they nibbled quite a few plants.

See  https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/lavender .

Old QSL cards

Amateur Radio Weekly pointed me in this direction. 

Although I have not looked exhaustively at the site, it seems to be an extensive collection of old USA and Canadian  QSL cards. 

I expect somewhere on the net is a collection of old QSL cards from the rest of the world.  UPDATE: See http://www.qslcollection.co.uk/ .

See https://www.oldqslcards.com/ .

Sunspots - Sunday August 11th

Solar  flux is 291 and the SSN 234. A=6 and K=2.

Solar activity "explosion"

In the last few weeks solar activity has gone mad with very high numbers. See the chart on my favourite site for solar data. See https://www.solen.info/solar/ . I highly recommend the data on this website.

10m 2.5W FT8 (Saturday)

At 1534z I decided to QSY to 10m QRP FT8.  Although I spotted a PY station immediately, nothing has yet appeared on PSKreporter. Maybe they have a delay?  I re-synced to internet time before I QSYed.

UPDATE 1700z:  Spotted by 18 stations with the furthermost A65MR (5475km).

UPDATE 2031z:  spotted by 135 stations with the furthermost PU5FLP (10086km). Now QRT.

6m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

Although, at 0835z, my 2.5W 6m FT8 has only been on about 10 minutes, already 10 spots of me with several being from Scandinavia. 

UPDATE 1044z:  40 stations have spotted me this morning.

UPDATE 1355z:  54 stations have spotted me today.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Saturday)

My beacon was turned on at about 0825z. No spots yet.

UPDATE 1005z: 6 stations have spotted me - all German. A patch of Es?

After death - NOT amateur radio

As mentioned a few days ago one of my wife’s closest friends is dying of cancer . She is expected to die within days. 

As well as being very sad for all concerned it makes you think about what lies beyond. 

Most world religions talk of some sort of afterlife. Perhaps we just die and that is it? Somehow I can’t believe that is it. With our limited human brains it is hard to envision such a state much as someone who only knows two dimensions cannot imagine three dimensions .

Perseids Meteor Shower

This peaks early next week and it can lead to enhanced VHF conditions with signals reflected off ionised meteor trails. The peak is August 12/13th.

See https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/perseid-meteor-shower-guide-uk-when-where-to-see .

Oscar 100 Satellite

Every few weeks I try to assess the activity on the narrowband transponder of this satellite. The last time I looked was about 1845z on Friday, which is mid evening in Europe. 

Activity is still disappointing.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ 

Village cottage - NOT amateur radio

This cottage in our village has had its rendering removed to reveal its clunch (a kind of chalk) walls. Clunch was widely used locally.

European Es

As the year progresses, we will move out of the Es season and, hopefully, see some F2 openings. Last autumn I was spotted in the Caribbean on most days on 8m despite using 2.5W FT8 to a low dipole. 

If things progress as we can expect, there will be fewer Es openings.  Es does not "drop off a cliff", but openings will become smaller and less frequent. There will still be good days, but these will be less often.

See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ .

Sunspots - Saturday August 10th

Solar flux is 306 and the SSN 382.  A=7 and K=2.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Friday)

My 500mW 10m WSPR beacon was turned on at about 0740z. So far, 6 spots of my QRP beacon. These look like Es and F2. 

The furthermost is EA8BFK (2880km), which I think is F2.

UPDATE 0902z:  Spotted by 12 stations (see table).

UPDATE 1055z:  Spotted by 14 stations.

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

My 6m QRP FT8 was turned on at about 0740z. So far, 5 spots of me including a couple that look like Es.

UPDATE 0907z:  Spotted by 16 stations 

UPDATE 1242z:  42 stations have spotted me  today.

UPDATE 1845z:  53 stations have spotted me (see map).

UPDATE  2016z:  56 stations have spotted my 6m QRP FT8 in the last day. Now QRT.

Earth-mode tests in 2011

One of my Facebook memories was an experiment in 2011 at a distance of 6km on 1095Hz using 5W.  Later I achieved even better results.

See https://sites.google.com/site/sub9khz/vlf-using-earth-mode .

Pre-dinner drinks - NOT amateur radio

Last evening our son came around for a meal. He cooked a duck in his oven that we shared. The photo shows us having a glass of wine 🍷 beforehand.