Breakfast - NOT amateur radio

I enjoy breakfast. The picture shows today's: ham, an egg and potato cake all cooked without fat.

Sunspots and 10m - Friday February 10th 2017

Solar flux is 74 today and the sunspot number 15. A=6 and K=2.

6m MSK144 RX- give it a go!

6m MSK144 RX so far today

G8EPQ (77km) and HB9Q (794km) copied on 6m MSK144 this morning. I think the former was aircraft scatter and the latter random MS.

It amazes me what just appears on 6m in this mode at any time, irrespective of conditions. Mine is a very basic setup with just an FT817, a V2000 vertical omni and RG58 coax and free software. If I can copy these so can anyone! Give it a go.

UPDATE 1318z: GI4SNA (488km) has been spotted on 6m MSK144 - my 8th country.

UPDATE 1845z: LA3EQ (768km) and F6ECI (811km) spotted on 6m MSK144. LA3EQ is a new country on this mode on 6m. Random MS?

UPDATE 2240z: And another country spotted on 6m MSK144!  This was OZ1PIF (850km) - probably random MS.

Late winter flowers - NOT amateur radio

This winter things are very late. Snowdrops are now appearing and I have only just seen a few daffodils out. At a guess I'd say we are 6 weeks behind last year.

This is a view of a quiet lane in our village. This cottage dates from the 1700s at a guess.

As yet, we have had no snow this winter; a few flurries, but nothing that has settled. In the past we could expect a week of snow on the ground. These days snow is rare here. It is definitely wetter and milder.

Sweden on 6m - random MS?

SC7C (1155km) near Kalmar, Sweden was copied this evening for my 7th country heard on MSK144 on 6m. I suspect this was random meteor scatter. Yet again, at +5dB S/N, the ping was strong.

The UK Pound - NOT amateur radio

At the moment the pound is holding up fairly well against the Yen, Euro and the US Dollar. OK, it dropped following the BREXIT vote but, for now, it is not falling. What happens when Article 50 is triggered is anyone's guess. My guess is the Euro will lose value this year. Against the Dollar and Yen I am uncertain how the pound will do.

Rally - N.Ireland

FEBRUARY  11th 2017 : BALLYMENA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB RALLY

Ahoghill Community Centre, 80 Cullybackey Road, Ahoghill BT42 1LA.

There is free parking on site. Doors open at 10.30am and admission is £3. There will be trade stands, Bring & Buy and a prize draw. Light refreshments will be available. Please note this is a Saturday daytime rally Hugh Kernohan, GI0JEV 0282 5871 481 or email HKernohan@aol.com

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

6m MSK144 RX

Overnight I remained on 6m MSK144 RX and I am still on this mode and band this morning. M6GAN (122km) and DK9WI (508km) spotted, by aircraft reflection I think.

UPDATE 1430z: EI7BMB (462km) also spotted in the last hour. Aircraft I'm pretty sure.

Sunspots and 10m - Thursday February 9th 2017

Solar flux is 73 today and the sunspot number is zero. A=5 and K=0. Although conditions are not disturbed, with an absence of sunspots I expect 10m will be quiet due to a lack of activity.

6m

Outside of the Es season, 6m appears very quiet. With Es, I find that with a few watts and a simple antenna it is easy to work all over Europe and North Africa on SSB. Last year and the year before my 2W was copied in Israel and I copied Kazakhstan on WSPR.

Since discovering 6m MSK144 I have learnt that DX is possible at almost any time. Most of my MSK144 reception has been aircraft reflection, but some remarkable DX seems to have been by random MS. Judging by the reports, I am sure I could work MS DX by MSK144 in a decent MS shower.