Sunspots - Sunday August 15th 2021

 Solar flux is 73 and the SSN 47.  A=4 and K=3.

Five years older - NOT amateur radio

This afternoon we went to nearby Bury St Edmunds with 2 of our grandchildren. One insisted on reproducing a photo from 2016. 

Before and after are shown in the photo. It was taken in the Abbey Gardens that were a riot of colour. 

Bury seemed normal i.e like it was pre-pandemic.

Look carefully at the left picture you will see she insisted on wearing odd shoes!

Are they joking?

On the back of the latest RadCom is an advert by a UK dealer for a certain brand of antennas. Now I have no doubt these will be good.  

Then I saw the prices!!! 

Someone is making loads of money out of stuckers. Probably the dealer and manufacturer are both making handsome profits. I shall not embarrass them by adding names, but remind all this is just a hobby. 

I am all for dealers and manufacturers charging fair prices and making fair profits, but do not exploit your customers please.

Are we being ripped off? I stand to be corrected. Perhaps the dealers and manufacturer would care to let us know the profits? Perhaps they would rather not. 

This same dealer recently announced it was the sole UK dealer of a German radio that retails at over £12k!! Again, big fat profits come to mind. I would be surprised if the components cost more than £200. OK, they have to recover development and selling costs, but that still leaves a huge profit for the dealer and manufacturer. Once again, if I am wrong I shall happily retract how I "sense".

They sell at high prices as people are prepared to buy at these high prices.  Now, each to their own and spend your money as you want. 

Meadow - NOT amateur radio

This 11 acre meadow was bought from the village many years ago. They were cutting the grass earlier. 

10m WSPR TX 500mW (Saturday)

As usual, I am on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW. It is now 0850z. So far, nobody has spotted me.

6m FT8 (Saturday) - mostly RX

 Apart from a very brief TX period with 2.5W (4 spots of me), I am RX only (6 spots after about 10 minutes at 0844z). Antenna is the usual V2000 vertical omni.

Devon 1942 - NOT amateur radio

This photo shows a farm in Devon in 1942. This was in the days of the land army when many women were asked to work on farms so farm workers could become soldiers.

Maths - NOT amateur radio

One of our grandchildren doing online maths. 

VLF 10 years ago

10 years ago I was totally fit and doing field work below 10kHz. 

Zoom advantages?

Since the start of the pandemic our local Cambridge Radio Club (CDARC) has been holding regular lectures via Zoom. We usually get between 20-30 people attending. 

The advantage is those watching and speaking can be anywhere in the world.  Last night the speaker was in Canada. It felt as if he was next door!

As I am unable to drive in the dark, these talks suit me fine.