Rallies

30 SEPTEMBER & 1 OCTOBER : NATIONAL HAMFEST
Newark & Nottinghamshire Showground, Lincoln Road, Winthorpe, Newark, Nottinghamshire NG24 2NY. Brought to you by the RSGB in association with the Lincoln Short Wave Club. The venue has free car parking and has disabled facilities. There will be trade stands, a Bring & Buy, car boot area, flea market, special interest groups and RSGB bookstall. There will also be representatives from the RSGB Services and committees. Morse proficiency test will be available. The venue has catering outlets and a seating area. www.nationalhamfest.org.uk.

Saturday 1 OCTOBER : LAUGHARNE 'TIN SHED' RALLY
Tin Shed Experience, Clifton St, Laugharne, Carmarthen SA33 4QG Doors open from 10am to 2pm. There will be traders, a Bring & Buy and a flea market. Refreshments are available including bacon sandwiches. Details from Matthew, GW6KOA on 01994 427 581 or by email to matthew.twyman63@btinternet.com

2 OCTOBER BRITISH VINTAGE WIRELESS SOCIETY AUTO JUMBLE 
The Angel Leisure Centre, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1SF. Doors open from 10.30am to 4.30pm. Stalls £30, admission £5 with early admission from 9.30am available at £10. For bookings/enquiries please ring 01892 540 022 (8pm to 9pm only). www.audiojumble.co.uk.

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

Sunspots and 10m - Thursday September 29th 2016

Solar flux is 84 today and the sunspot number 20. K=5. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor".

Lack of internet - NOT amateur radio

We lost our Virgin Media broadband and TV yesterday and it has just come back. I rang up to complain, saying I was leaving to go to another provider, and was upgraded to a faster internet speed for free and my monthly bill was slashed. They will also compensate me for the loss of service. If you are not satisfied with your bill or service tell your service provider!

There is STILL some Es around

EA1FAQ (1249km) has just spotted my 500mW WSPR on 10m, so there is still Es about. Once again, it pays to have some presence on 10m. WSPR and JT65 are ideal modes needing only low power (no TVI) and they can run in the background.

Tomatoes - NOT amateur radio

To be honest, I am no plant expert. Yesterday our son Tim came to see us. He took back to London the tomatoes our granddaughter grew. We expected these to turn red, but they stayed green. Maybe this is a variety that is meant to stay green? This is our son with my wife Lis outside our home.

Sunspots and 10m - Wednesday September 28th 2016, and cancer research

Solar flux is 83 today. The sunspot number is 21. K=5. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor". With disturbed conditions I am not expecting much DX today on 10m. Mind you, thing change!

Had my mother survived cancer she would have been 99 today. It is still not too late to give, even a little, towards cancer research.  If you want, you can hide your name and give, just a little even, anonymously. Cancer effects many people of all ages. Thank you to the kind person who donated earlier. Your gift may just make a difference.

Only last week a radio ham friend, Paul G8GML, died of bowel cancer. He died too young.  When I first came to Cambridge we talked and talked on 2m FM most nights. RIP Paul. In more recent times he enjoyed amateur TV and 160m.

One day this could be you and the research you help to fund might save your life.

OFCOM Crowdsourcing

See http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2016/Calling-all-android-users/?utm_source=updates&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Ofcom-launches-research-app&utm_term=Research%2C%20Ofcom%20Mobile%20Research%20app%2C%20Mobile%20coverage%2C%20Consumers%2C%20App%2C%20P3%20

OFCOM are crowdsourcing Android users.

Return to 6m JT65 and 10m WSPR

Following my pattern of recent days I am active (QRP of course) on 10m WSPR and 6m JT65. G4KPX (14km) has spotted me on 10m WSPR and 3 UK stations have spotted me on 6m JT65. As yet, no sign of F2 or Es DX. Later in the day I shall swap to just 10m JT65.

It is funny how I always get better inter-G results on 6m JT65 rather than 10m WSPR. This is purely down to activity levels I think.

Cancer research. Can you spare just a little please?

It is still not too late to give, even a little, towards cancer research. 

If you want, you can hide your name and give, just a little even, anonymously.  I posted something similar a few weeks ago and was blown over by your generosity. Nothing!!! Yes, that's right - not a single penny was donated.

People happily spend £10k on rigs, linears, towers and beams, but seem unwilling to spend a very little towards research that may one day save their life.

Please think if you can spare something, however small. You can use your credit or debit card.

40MHz (8m) Band

Yesterday I heard from LY2YR that there is a small 8m allocation in Slovenia as well as in South Africa.

There is an IARU meeting next year, so please lobby your national society to press for such an allocation! There are already beacons in this band in the UK and Denmark.

Being mid way between 10m and 6m this would be really really useful for Es radio science. Just 50kHz wide would be enough I am sure.This band would not be heavily used (a secondary allocation would be fine even with a low ERP limit), but it would certainly help with "self training" and research. It is a real chance for radio amateurs to lead the way. As no commercial amateur gear covers this frequency, special antennas and rigs would be needed.

See http://www.hamradio.si/images/dokumenti/zakonodaja/splosniakt2013.pdf. Now my language skills are not that good, but I see the Slovenian amateur allocation is 40.66 to 40.7MHz.