Flempton, Suffolk

This Suffolk church was open.  It is situated on the A1101 between Mildenhall and Bury St Edmunds.

It is famous for a window dedicated to the last lord of the manor. The parishes of Flempton and nearby Hengrave share the same vicar these days. See http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/flempton.htm . The parish dates back to Anglo-Saxon times.  The churchyard was fairly wild and rambling, but delightful nonetheless.

We ate next door (just behind the church) at The Greyhound pub where we enjoyed good, simple pub grub but with excellent service. Being right behind the church, I can recommend this pub. It looks nothing special but both the food and service were excellent.

I am afraid this post has nothing to do with amateur radio! I took no gear with me.  My wife and I just enjoyed the winter sunshine and temperatures of 10 degrees C.

See our blog about visits to East Anglian Churches .

Internet of Things (IoT) already here

 This morning I received this email from KK4HSX saying that (certainly in the USA) Amazon is already selling wifi connected slow cookers called "Crock Pots". Not sure if this is a stateside generic term.

It's already here. Behold,the Crock Pot you can monitor and control with you phone.

http://www.amazon.com/Crock-Pot-Wifi-Enabled-6-Quart-Cooker-SCCPWM600-V1/dp/B00IPEO02C#

Low cost ASSEMBLED unit from China

This morning, I received this email from Andy Cutland:

Check out this item I found on eBay: it comes ready built and has a nice side tone. Mine arrived today and works fb.

73's
De Andy

End time: 23 Feb 2015 07:21:07

Item: Frogs UltimateV3 version CW transceiver/telegraph/shortwave radio Finish product

URL: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=261576017759&alt=web

Falling sunspots

Yet again, sunspot number has fallen , this time to 40 with "poor" 10m conditions expected. I wonder if we'll see 10m open to the USA after lunch?

UPDATE 1100z: So far just G3YAC (12km) and G4IKZ (18km) spotting my 500mW WSPR on 10m this morning with no DX from even Europe or Russia in evidence.

Landwade

Landwade was the site of my first "over the horizon" optical tests. The tests were successful, but predate my stroke by some time. I remember well being surprised at the reception when "on beam".

We go here each year about this time for a delightful walk of about 1.5km calling at the small private church (locked these days). The church is surrounded by seas of snowdrops and aconites at this time of year. Landwade is very quiet at all times. It is in Suffolk but was in Cambridgeshire until 1994. It has been occupied since Roman times, but consists of a few farms, a hall and the odd cottage these days.

I have updated one of my other blogs.
See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

Sunspots and 10m WSPR

Sunspot number has fallen yet again to 44 today.  We are definitely on the way down now. 10m propagation is expected to be "poor".

The 10m band did open to the USA yet again.

Late start on 10m WSPR today

Today I was very late starting my 10m 500mW beacon, so I have no idea what time the opening started. At the moment the last spot from the USA was KD6RF (7547km) at 1706z.

UPDATE 1805z:  Still being spotted by other USA stations . The opening is still continuing.

UPDATE 1945z:   The last spot of my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon seems to have been at 1834z by KD6RF (7547km).  I am still on both 10m and 630m (472kHz) WSPR.

More goodies found by G1KQH

From Steve, G1KQH:

Excellent VFM Pots.. I am replacing the preset on the Pixie board with one of these, works out at 16.5p each

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-pcs-Silver-Tone-Metal-Split-Shaft-Potentiometer-50K-Ohm-2015-/231446014347?

They also had 100K which I had another 99p worth.. (For another of my many projects)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-Pcs-100K-Ohm-3-Terminals-Silver-Tone-Split-Shaft-Potentiometer-2015-/321636385901?

Maybe other values if you search their shop.. Of course its China again where do you think I do my shopping these days?

Internet of Things (IoT)

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things .

As the price of wifi and RFID devices continues to fall, it is very likely that we will see a number of household goods connected to the internet, so soon our fridge may tell our shops what we need, or we'll be able to start the washing on our way home from work. It is coming whether we like it or not. Already it is possible to remotely monitor our homes using internet connected cameras - of course it is most important that strong password protection is used and that passwords are regularly changed.

Falling sunspots and poorer 10m conditions

Sunspot number today was 45, the lowest for a long while and 10m conditions expected to be "poor" again. The 10m band is again open to the USA. We should remember that even with a SN of 45 the 10m band can still be good to the USA. Even if the peak of sunspot cycle 25 only reaches 45, we should still expect 10m openings to the USA by F2. Of course, as mentioned before, I expect the 10m band will still be good for transatlantic DX next autumn for the CQWW DX SSB contest, but following years will be very doubtful.