Redgrave and Lopham Fen, Suffolk - NOT amateur radio

River Waveney

A few weeks ago a friend very kindly gave us a pack of "Easy Going Trails" in Suffolk. She thought I might like them. So far, we have done 3 of these.

Marsh Margolds

Today we went to Redgrave and Lopham Fen which is located about 3 miles west of Diss. I have yet to work out how far I managed but we saw or heard lots of birds including snipe as well as seeing several Konig ponies and marsh marigolds. It was a round trip of 73 miles in the
car. Although I enjoy the walks, I get very tired by the end.

QRP

More from Oleg:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,
See  full  QRP  Rendez-Vous weekly report (March 28 to April 3, 2016)
including   comments  and  picture  at  the  Club  72  blog  page  - http://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/
Visitors  of  week:  HB9DAX,  UR7VT, EA5IGL, DL6YAU, HA5AZC/p, RV3GM, UA1CEG/p,  UR0ET,  ON6KZ,  RU3NJC,  EW1CY,  R6TQ, F8DGY, OH5LP, R1OA, GM3OXX,  RD7K,  OM6TC,  OK1KW,  UA1ADF, R4NX/p, UA4NU, UA1CEX, SM6NT, UA1ASB,  DL4HG,  RA1M, OH6NPV, UA0SBQ, UR4MME, LY2H, MM0CYR, EA2AO/m, R4AAR, RW3AA, EA8YV, G6HUI, OH7QR
See full Visitors and Frequenters lists at - www.club72.su
Schedule of QRPRendez-Vous "round tables" on the Club 72 page.
QRP   Marathon  "Look  In  the  Horizon"  is  continue now. To become
Marathon'ers  visit  Club  72 page and create account on the Marathon
page.  You  can do it during all April. Enjoy QRP and have a Marathon
certificate in May.
72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"

Fair well - NOT amateur radio

Our best man 45 years ago (we married in 1971) has left after a few days with us. He is a good friend and guest and we always pick up as if we saw each other just yesterday. He live 200 miles away and it is often 6 months or more since we last met.

Here he is packing his car outside our home standing next to my wife.

G3XBM Projects

Yesterday, Steve G1KQH mentioned in a comment how he missed my projects. I do too!

As many will be aware I suffered a stroke 2.5 years ago. I expected to make a full recovery, but it has not worked out that way. Even now, although people tell me how well I look, I still feel giddy most of my waking hours and I tire easily.  My voice is poor and I have trouble with drinks. My fine motor skills are not good. Basically, I have struggled with things that were easy in the past. I really miss just fiddling and building. Life is much harder.

Sunspots and 10m - Sun April 3rd 2016

Solar flux is 81 today and sunspot number 11 (K=3). Conditions look a little worse than yesterday. The forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor". Although  I am expecting little, this band has a habit of throwing surprises.

10m WSPR

For the last 30 minutes I have been back on 10m WSPR.  I hope 10m is as good as yesterday, which was very good on WSPR despite the low sunspot count and declining solar conditions.

WSPR is excellent in the declining 10m conditions. If there is a brief opening it will be found on 10m as long as people continue to use the band and mode. 10m is often open when the band seems dead. My strong recommendation is use WSPR. It only needs low power and can be run in the background. Using 10m WSPR really helps radio science.

UPDATE 1035z:  No 10m spots as yet.

UPDATE 1220z:  Still no 10m WSPR spots.

UPDATE 1900z:  Just G8VDQ (93km) spotted lunchtime aided by aircraft reflection. No DX at all today here on 10m. After yesterday, a really disappointing day.

A brilliant day on 10m WSPR

Despite the low solar activity, today turned out to be a good day on 10m with spots of stations in North and South America as well as European short skip. I was spotted in the USA. And I was expecting to copy nothing today!

UK Football - NOT amateur radio

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/tables .

The English Premier League seems more to do with money these days with many players and managers from outside the UK. I can understand this but feel sure we have untapped talent. The lower leagues are less glamorous and get far less TV coverage.

When it comes to football I admit to being a "fireside fusilier" in that I'm gunner do this or that, but rarely go to a match. I follow the fortunes of Plymouth Argyle and my local team Cambridge United and check where they are in their League (League 2). At the moment Plymouth are doing quite well and have a chance of automatic promotion at the end of the season. Cambridge are also doing pretty well too.

UPDATE 1557z:  71 minutes in Argyle were 0:1 up. In the end they lost 2:1. Had they won, they would have had a very good chance of automatic promotion, but they threw it away. Football!!

Cambridge Concert Tonight - NOT amateur radio

A final reminder that my wife's concert is at the Leys School, Cambridge at 7.30pm tonight, April 2nd 2016. The venue is a new one and tickets are available on the door if you don't already have any.

Thunder later?

I plan to stop TXing and RXing on 10m WSPR later this afternoon. Thunder was forecast and as a matter of course I prefer to disconnect things to minimise risks. At the moment, no thunder is shown on the forecasts, but I prefer to edge on the side of caution. 10m WSPR can be done at any time, so I'll not miss much.