2m VHF beacons

So far, I have not tried listening to the 2m Cornish, N.Ireland and Scottish beacons with the big-wheel horizontal omni antenna. I must give these a try. I expect I shall only hear them via MS or lifts and possibly aircraft reflections. On my 3el 2m beam the N.Ireland beacon was right on the edge. Normally I can copy the Kent beacon as well as beacons in Holland and Belgium.

GB3NGI (N.Ireland) 144.482MHz Ballymena
GB3MCB (Cornwall) 144.469MHz St Austell
GB3ANG (Scotland)  144.453MHz Angus

See http://www.microwavers.org/maps/2m.htm .

UPDATE 1517z: A casual listen on each frequency (probably not for long enough) and none was detected. I shall try again and listen for each for longer. I remember the GB3RMK Scottish beacon on 6m could always be copied by MS pings for a few seconds every 10-15 minutes. I was using a wire dipole at the time.

FTSE 100 - NOT amateur radio

At the moment the UK share index, the FTSE 100, is down 0.83%, although it is trying to come back. Further falls are likely as there is so much uncertainty about. At the moment it is bouncing around  6130.83.

UPDATE 1610z:  At the moment it is sliding again and stands at down 1.17%.

How did I miss this?

This is a quote from Wikipedia:

In March 2012 Hytera acquired the German company Rohde & Schwarz Professional Mobile Radio GmbH from the German electronics group Rohde & Schwarz, which is now known as Hytera Mobilfunk.[3] In addition, there are Hytera subsidiaries in the USA and in the UK.

This was news to me. I am not sure how I missed this. In my business life we bought quite a bit of test gear from Rohde and Schwarz. I assume they only bought the mobile radio business.

Returned to 10m WSPR

After being on 630m (472kHz) WSPR overnight with a few new people spotted and spotting me, I returned to 10m WSPR at breakfast time. So far,  no spots given or received on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1616z: So far today, the only 10m spot has been G4CUI (172km). All very quiet.

Sunspots and 10m - Tues March 8th 2016

Solar flux is 92 and sunspot number 61 today. K=2, which is less disturbed than yesterday. The forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor" today.

QSYed from 10m to 630m WSPR

About an hour ago I moved down to 630m (472kHz) WSPR as 10m seems to have closed for any DX now. Best DX on RX tonight on 630m (472kHz) is LA1TN (1269km). On TX (5mW ERP) the best DX is G8LCO (58km) only, so far. I am still using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground on both RX and TX. On RX I am just using the FT817 without a pre-amp externally.

UPDATE 2112z:  Best DX on TX (5mW ERP) is now DL-SWL/W (701km). I wonder if any of the Norwegians will copy me tonight?

UPDATE 2218z:  These are the 472kHz WSPR RX spots so far (unique and in distance order).

K prefix

Stations in Cornwall are being allowed to use K in their prefix this year only. K stands for Kernow, which the ancient name for Cornwall.

An old work colleague, Richard G3TFX, worked the Poldu club station when they were using the special prefix on 40m SSB in recent days. I have still to work a Cornish station this year, although I have not really been trying.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2016/march/k_for_kernow_st_pirans_day.htm .

10m WSPR - still no spots

It is now 1542z and I have given and received not a single spot on 10m WSPR all day. Conditions seem to be dire here today. Not even a G station! I'll stick with 10m WSPR until dark, but think spots are unlikely on 10m WSPR today.

Probably I shall QSY to 630m this evening. Even my very low ERP on that band seems to get spots.

UPDATE 1806z:  Just a single spot all day on 10mWSPR - by OZ7IT (853km) at 1734z.

Historic Amateur Video

My thanks to Amateur Radio Weekly and Steve VE7SL for pointing me to this video made in the 1920s.  Although a lot of the video is of people messing around and just having fun, there are some shots of 1920s radio gear and early QSL cards. A fascinating video, copied from an old 16mm film. Amateur radio 90 years ago - well before the Wall St Crash and WW2. An age when everything was fun? Certainly radio was still new.

See http://www.qsl.net/sccara/SCCARA%20in%20the%201920's.mp4 .
This is on the SCCARA website.

Sunspots and 10m - Mon March 7th 2016

Solar flux is 95 today and the sunspot number 68 (K=5). 10m propagation is forecast to be "poor" again. There was a visible aurora over a lot of the UK last night.

UPDATE 0936z:  Although I've been on 10m WSPR since about 0700z, no spots given or received as yet. There were no 10m WSPR spots overnight. Conditions are considerably more disturbed than yesterday.