Geostationary amateur satellite

If all goes to plan we could have a new 13cm and 3cm transponding geostationary satellite in place next spring. Being fixed in position, Doppler should be no issue. I guess the date is a problem (these often slip) and getting it successfully in the right place and operational is in some doubt. With declining solar conditions, this could be just what we need. Of course, the dish can be fixed.

See https://amsat-uk.org/2016/06/24/phase-4a-geostationary-transponders/ .

I picked this up on the Southgate News page.

6m JT65 and 10m WSPR

There has been Es on both bands although HA9AL (1455km) was the last Es report on 10m WSPR. I was spotted in Italy on 6m JT65 a couple of times overnight.

Sunspots and 10m - Friday July 22nd 2016

Solar flux is 103 today and the sunspot number 49 (K=2). The forecast  for 10m F2 propagation is still "poor". The question is will it improve in the autumn? Luckily, we are still in the Es season and there have been days with quite good Es on 10m and 6m including during the night.

JT65 lead arrives

Well, I was impressed with the service from W&S this week. 2 days ago I noticed a problem with a cable and today it arrived by Royal Mail. I am now back on 6m JT65 TX. In the past I'd have fixed the offending cable, but sadly I am too feeble to attempt this.

UPDATE 2130z:   Received a spot from Northern Italy - I3VJW (1098km) - about 30 minutes ago on 6m JT65. "All systems are go" as they say. Yes W&S - thank you.

FTSE 250 - NOT amateur radio

I found this graph on the Internet. Not sure of the source and it will be removed if a problem. 

 

They say the FTSE 250 share index is a better indicator of the state of UK companies than the FTSE 100. Since BREXIT this has hardly changed at 17018.56 the last time I looked a few moments ago. Maybe the UK economy will be OK after all.

See http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/prices-and-markets/stocks/indices/summary/summary-indices.html?index=MCX .

Tits - NOT amateur radio

We had a couple of young longtail tits eating on our bird table this morning. They are far more common than they used to be. We hear them a lot. They often go around in groups, especially in winter. Their call is a dead give-away.

6m and 10m WSPR

On 6m JT65 RX I have already seen several Gs and 2 stations in southern Europe by Es whereas on 10m WSPR my 500mW beacon has yet to be seen by anyone!

Sunspots and 10m - Thursday July 21st 2016

Solar flux is 112 today. Sunspot number is 56 today (K=1) but 10m F2 propagation is expected to remain "poor" today.

6m JT65 today

Before having to turn everything off because of the storm, I copied quite a few European Es stations and G stations by tropo or aircraft reflection on 6m JT65. I hope my new audio lead arrives tomorrow so I can resume TX on 6m JT65. Results on 6m JT65 are so much better than WSPR. I am sure this is just down to higher activity on JT65.

Storms force QRT

Well, having cut my lawn, it decided to rain, with hail and thunder. The worse seems to have moved east but it forced me to turn off all rigs, the PC and disconnect all antennas.

www.lightningmaps.org

UPDATE 1900z: Since the storm passed,humidity levels have really dropped and it is a lovely, sunny, pleasant evening now. I shall go back on the air tomorrow.