Christmas concert - NOT amateur radio

London Eye at night

Yesterday we went by coach to London for a Christmas concert in the Festival Hall, South Bank, London given by the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Bach Choir  and Young Singers. It was excellent and felt very Christmassy.

When we returned to the coach, the London Eye was illuminated. You can just see Big Ben across the river.

Sunspots and 10m - Mon Dec 14th 2015

With a good solar flux level (122) and a sunspot number of 74 (K=2) there is a good chance of half decent propagation on 10m today. For the first time in a while 10m propagation is expected to be "fair".

Just 10m WSPR today

I went QRT on 630m before breakfast. Today I am just active on 10m WSPR, giving 6m and 630m a rest today. All being well I shall return to MF tonight.

Sunspots and 10m - Sun Dec 13th 2015

Solar flux is 115 and sunspot number 89 (K=3). 10m propagation is again expected to be "poor". 10m WSPR? May be reasonable today, but yesterday was disappointing.

Climate change - NOT amateur radio

So all the countries at the Paris climate summit have reached agreement. This is just the start, but it shows a willingness to work towards a world which does not have dangerous warming. As someone pointed out on BBC TV this morning, the cost of choosing a non-carbon path has significantly reduced, so it is less burdensome to choose clean energy.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35084374 .

UPDATE 2315z: A new challenge will be non-carbon fueled cars.  As someone who had a fair bit to do with rechargeable batteries, I do not see the electric car as the answer, unless there is staggering breakthrough in battery technology allowing 300+ mile ranges between charges. Somehow I doubt this will happen. Maybe the answer will come in fuel cells, or low cost anytime storage of renewable energy? We need efficient storage of wind, solar and tidal energy so the energy generated can be used later.  Maybe the answer is partly power in the roads, with the car picking up this inductively? This way the weight of cars could be dramatically reduced? The car would only need a smaller battery to use when in-road power is not available?

USA spots (at last) on 10m WSPR

K9AN (6505km) has spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon several times starting at 1530z.  From posts on Twitter (I get emails about these) it appears the ARRL 10m contest has sparked 10m activity and there was also 6m Es today.

UPDATE 1716z:  It looks like K9AN (6505km) was the only USA station to spot me today on 10m WSPR.  No 10m WSPR spots for well over an hour now.

QRP Club 72

This came today from Oleg RV3GM:

"Dear Club 72 members and friends,
Visitors  of  this  week  rendezvouses:  UA1CEX, UR7VT, DL7MA, UA4NU,
UA1ADF,  UA1CEG, RV3GM, S51PL, SM5MEK, PD0HRS, OM6TC, DL8NBG, YL3GIE,
RU3NJC,  UA0SBQ,  OH6NPV,  YU7AE, DK6PD, UR0ET, RV9WMZ, UR5EFD, R1OA,
HA5AEK, OH8GLZ, RV3DSA/0, OK1KW, R9WY, SO3AK, EA2CAR, EA4AND, LY2BNL,
OH9XX, R2FAE
See comments and reports (soapbox) on the blog page - http://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/
Thanks everyones for comments!
See you all on next week QRP Rendez-Vous (72 Net) at
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday at 9 UTC on 14060 +/- (alternative 10116 kHz)
Comments and reports appreciated to "mr72" e-mail, please.
72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"
=== In QRP We Trust! ==="

ICOM IC7300

The IC7300 from ICOM may be available mid-January 2016 according to YO8IRF's blog. I guess this means they have CE approval. YO9IRF also quotes a price.

See http://yo9irf.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/icom-ic-7300-available-in-january.html?utm_source=amateur-radio-weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter.

No doubt dealers in most countries will be out to maximise their profits from early adopters who must have this radio. After these have sold, with early issues (?) expect the price to fall. The game is called "marketing". I call it ripping us all off.  Dealers, I for one will wait and wait and not join your silly games. Offer us the rig at a fair price. You need to make a fair margin, of course, but do not rip us off. Not everyone is a mug.

Winter 10m Es? Daytime on 472kHz.

With lots of closer Europeans spotting me on 10m, I suspect we are seeing wintertime Es on 10m WSPR today. Spots are coming in widely in the 459-1300km range. As yet, no great DX on the band.

UPDATE 1242z:   PA3ABK/2 is being spotted at 1216z on 472kHz WSPR.

UPDATE 1520z:  It looks like today will be another day without 10m DX WSPR  me on 47spots here. I guess if the band did open, my 500mW was not enough.  I really did expect to get spotted in the USA today. It could still happen I guess? There have been no 10m WSPR spots since lunchtime. A disappointing day on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1525z:  M0LMH (223km) spotted me on 472kHz WSPR at 1058z.  PA3ABK/2 has been spotted many times throughout the day on 472kHz WSPR. I guess he can be spotted at any time?

10m WSPR - a promising start?

LZ1UBO (2037km) has just spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon by what I assume is F2. This is a promising start on the band. At the moment I am on 10m and 630m WSPR. I may QSY from 630m to 6m later.

UPDATE 1522z:  In the end I stuck with 630m and 10m WSPR.