Es again on 10m

OZ7IT (853km) has spotted my 10m WSPR this lunchtime. I presume this is Es. G4KPX (14km) is also spotting me on 10m.

No signs here of Es on 6m with G0LRD (25km) and G6GEI (73km) spotting me recently on 6m JT65.

Waters and Stanton Newark Rally Offers

W&S are offering the Yaesu FT450D at a special Newark rally price of £469. This is quite a bargain. I wonder if this rig is not selling as well as it should? At this price it should certainly sell. They have other offers too, but this one caught my eye.

Alibris (again) - NOT amateur radio

This crowd is yet again offering special discounts. Like buses, wait a while and along come 3.

Sunspots and 10m - Friday September 30th 2016

It seems amazing that we are already at the end of September. Time flies by!

Solar flux is 83 today. Sunspot number is 17. K=4. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation is, yet again, "poor".

10m WSPR and 6m JT65 again

As in recent mornings, I decided to go on 6m JT65 (a couple of spots by UK stations) and 10m WSPR (nothing yet) initially. I will probably switch to 10m JT65 only later this afternoon in the hope of catching some DX. Best DX on 6m JT65 RX is 107km at present.

OFCOM consultation on DECT

See http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/DECTGB/#utm_source=updates&utm_campaign=DECT&utm_medium=email .

OFCOM are consulting on DECT.

365project - NOT amateur radio

For several years now, my wife and I have done a photo each day as a kind of visual diary. You can see these at:

http://365project.org/g3xbm/365  (me)
http://365project.org/foxes37/365 (my wife)

For $19.99 a year you can make your pictures private and have more albums. We have the free membership, which anyone can sign up for. It is great fun to look back and see what we have done. My wife's favorite trick is to say when friends and relatives came to see us. She can usually pinpoint the exact day. Sad?

Some people use this to show off their excellent photography skills. I'm afraid our photos are more mundane. Some pictures are good, but most are very average. To us it is a visual diary. It is a good discipline too. I have much enjoyed doing it.

QSYed

At about 1426z I went QRT on 6m JT65 and 10m WSPR and am now active on 10m JT65 only. I took the opportunity to check the PC clock was synchronised to internet time.

UPDATE 1728z:  PU3AMB (10431km) in southern Brazil has been spotted on 10m JT65. Even with very disturbed conditions and low sunspot numbers 10m JT65 still reaches deep into South America.

UPDATE 2056z: A couple of stations from Belarus now being copied. Es? No further South Americans copied tonight.

630m Transverter

A reminder that there was a 4 page article in Sept QST on the design of my simple transverter for 630m. This is also on my main website at www.g3xbm.co.uk. I use it with my FT817, but other rigs could be used.

630m is a good band and the transverter puts out 10-15W into 50 ohms. Even with my earth-electrode "antenna" it has spanned most of western Europe on TX with a measured ERP of about 5mW on WSPR.

6m JT65 and 10m WSPR

Because of the internet outage, I have only just returned to 6m JT65. I have been on 10m WSPR since 0600z synchronising time using the radio BBC pips rather than internet time, as I had no choice.

UPDATE 1238z: G4KPX (14km) spotted me on 10m WSPR and G0LRD (25km), G3YDY (65km) and G6GEI (73km) are spotting me on 6m JT65. No Es or F2 seen here yet.