Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday October 18th 2016

Solar flux is 76 today (falling) and sunspot number 23. K=3. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor". In future, I don't intend to report 10m propagation unless the forecast is other than "poor".In other words asssume the forecast is "poor" unless you hear otherwise.

In many recent days, 10m has been quite good N-S by what I assume is TEP. Here, it has only opened to the USA on a single day this autumn. This was on 10m JT65 and it only reached Florida. Since last year solar conditions have dropped a lot on average.

Now QRT

As the last 10m JT65 activity here was almost an hour ago, I have gone QRT until the morning. I may start tomorrow on 10m WSPR and 6m JT65 and move to 10m JT65 later in the day, probably after lunch.

Another Geosync Amateur Satellite?

Southgate News links to another possible geosynchronous amateur satellite. Like buses, we see none and then lots! As HF conditions deteriorate, geosync satellites could prove very useful. The footprint just reaches the UK. 10GHz download.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2016/october/a-geosync-ham-radio-satellite.htm .

See also https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/geosynchronous/na-gso-sat/ .

F2 DX on 10m JT65

3B8CW (9751km) and EA8YV (3004km) were spotted on 10m JT65vearlier. As yet, nobody has spotted my QRP 10m JT65 signal.

 
UPDATE 1318z:  No further DX as yet and nothing, yet, from South America. Also, still no spots of my own signal on 10m JT65.

UPDATE 1344z: LU1HVK (11244km) in Argentina spotted my 2W QRP 10m JT65 11 minutes ago. We are now entering the Southern Hemisphere's Es season. I wonder if this helps very far south signals to get into the TEP zone?

UPDATE 1430z: My QRP 1m JT65 signal has been spotted by CS8ABY (2573km) in the Azores and by PY2NQ (9589km) in Brazil.

OFCOM updates

From the OFCOM website:

"Ofcom has today published a decision explaining that it will aim to make the 700 MHz band nationally available for mobile data by the second quarter of 2020 – 18 months earlier than originally planned

In November 2014 Ofcom announced that the 700 MHz band – which is currently used for digital terrestrial TV and wireless microphone applications – would be repurposed for mobile data.

As part of its funding for the 700 MHz clearance programme, Government has agreed to fund a grant scheme to support PMSE users who will have to vacate the 700 MHz band earlier than expected.

Ofcom has also set out its decision to allocate 20 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band – known as the ‘centre gap’ – to mobile data."

Sunspots and 10m - Monday October 17th 2016

Solar flux is 80 today and sunspot number 25. K=3 . Yet again the forecast for 10m F2 is "poor".

King of Thailand Dead

Until today, I had no idea that the late King of Thailand held the call HS1A. His death will sadden many in Thailand and many amateurs in the world. I was aware that the late King Hussain of Jordan was JY1.

I wonder how many other famous amateurs there are? For certain, I have not worked anyone famous!

Salcombe Lifeboat Disaster 1916 - NOT amateur radio

See http://salcombelifeboat.co.uk/lifeboat-disaster-centenary/ .

One hundred years ago this month the small Devon town where I came from suffered a tragedy when the lifeboat overturned with the loss of life of most of the crew. It was a tragedy in a small community. There will be a special service to mark the 100 year anniversary. One of my aunties witnessed the tragedy when she was a young girl.  Most of the crew were not young men as most of these were fighting in WW1. Only 2 people survived.

October 2016 2m UKAC Results

The results of this contest have just been published and I sit a credible 82nd out of 180 in the AL section. This is not at all bad considering I am only on for about 20% of the contest and run 5W QRP SSB on 2m to a small omni antenna. I enjoy these sessions, even though I find it hard going with my poor voice these days.

 See http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfresults.pl?Contest=144MHz%20UKAC&year=2016 . 

Autumn - NOT amateur radio

Within a few weeks the weather has moved from late summer into autumn. On Friday we planted pansies at the back of the house and these should be in flower until the spring. It's funny how we adapt to shorter days, dark nights earlier, autumnal colours, the trees losing their leaves etc.. Time to hunker down by the fire.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pansy .