Russian hacking? - NOT amateur radio

It is funny, but the number of visits to my blogs increases a lot on some days. When I check, the visits from Russia also are much greater on those days. I suspect hackers are looking to see if the blogs are worth hacking. Of course I could be entirely wrong.

Any dubious comments are soon deleted and I have little of interest to hackers on my blogs. If you see anything odd, please let me know.

By the way, my Miracle Whip Yahoo group seems to attract Asian women promising much. I wonder why?

Several Russians have been very kind to me. Like Americans, I have found individuals to be warm and kind. In every society there are "rotten eggs" sadly. I am sure the UK has many too.

Another example of false news? - NOT amateur radio

I first saw and heard this many years ago. Although funny, I have great doubts about its authenticity and suspect this is yet another "false news" story doing the rounds. Caveat emptor!

10m WSPR TX (500mW) and 6m MSK144 RX

All day I have been using the above.

On 10m WSPR I was spotted by DK6UG (633km) this morning.

On 6m MSK144 RX I have spotted OZ1PIF (850km) and a couple of UK stations, the best of which was M0CKM (174km) on the south coast.

Sunspots and 10m - Wednesday February 15th 2017

Solar flux is 74 today and the sunspot number 15. A=2 and K=1.

Recording 6m MSK144 pings

David G0LRD  has told me that WSJT-X V1.7 allows me to record MSK144 6m spots as WAV files so I can go back and examine them later. I have turned on this feature now, allowing me to check these tomorrow, assuming I get some spots!  Today I spotted 5 different countries on 6m with MSK144.

UK Commercial Radio - NOT amateur radio

Southgate News reports that UK Commercial Radio stations are freed from the shackles of OFCOM. Am I surprised? No.

See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/radio-released-from-shackles

Rugby on TV - NOT amateur radio

I am not a great rugby fan, but my son is. His son plays for his school and he likes to watch. The picture shows him this weekend watching rugby on the bedroom TV, complete with beer and crisps. When his family comes to stay, he certainly makes himself at home.

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday February 14th 2017

Solar flux is 75 today and the sunspot number 16. A=4 and K=0.

70cm UKAC contest tonight

A reminder that the second 70cm leg of the monthly UKAC activity contest organised by the RSGB is tonight from 2000-2230z. Although I only have a 2m halo fed with lossy coax as an antenna on 70cm (it matches well) I try to go on briefly and work a few stations, mostly locals.

See http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/contest_rules.pl?year=2017&contest=70cmsukac&seq=

This is preceded by an FM activity contest.
See http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/contest_rules.pl?year=2017&contest=70cmsfmac

UPDATE 2045z: 5 contacts made with 5W, 2m halo in 30 minutes. Best DX G4CLA (105km).

6m MSK144 this morning

SK0TM (1156km) in JO86 square was the best DX on 6m MSK144 this morning. I was spotted by M1BXF/SDR (14km) when I was briefly on 6m MSK144 TX a few hours ago.

I am also on 10m WSPR TX (500mW 100% TX), but no spots yet.

UPDATE 1135z: DK8NE (704km) in JO50 square was spotted on 6m MSK144.

UPDATE 1922z: EI7BMB (462km) spotted on 6m MSK144 earlier. All quiet on 10m WSPR.