Dalham - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday we did a short walk at nearby Dalham, not far from Newmarket. As mentioned before, this is a "chocolate box" village with lots of well tended thatched cottages. Sadly, I think the pub is struggling these days.

Sunspots and 10m - Thursday March 2nd 2017

It seems like 10m has woken up after the winter. Even with my poor 10m antenna I have copied South America on every day in the last week. Even my 2W JT65 on 10m has been copied in Argentina.

Solar flux is 80 today and the sunspot number a respectable 55. A=36 and K=4.

Monitoring 6m MSK144 RX

After an amazing evening monitoring 472kHz (630m) WSPR and a great afternoon on 10m JT65 I am monitoring 6m MSK144 today.

This mode, even with a very modest 6m station (mine is a V2000 vertical omni fed with lossy coax and an FT817), seems to bring in stations from across Europe by random MS and aircraft reflection.

At present, my count is 15 countries spotted in the last few weeks, even without a meteor shower. Most times the bursts are short but the signals are strong.

UPDATE 1022z: G4MOI (67km) is the first spot today on 6m.

UPDATE 1107z: EA5/G3XGS (1581km) just spotted. I think this is my furthermost DX by this mode so far on 6m. Random MS I presume.

See https://www.pskreporter.info/pskmap.html .

472kHz WSPR RX - amazing

This band is amazing: I have only been on for a few hours with my earth-electrode "antenna" yet already I have copied 7 countries including Spain and Italy. My FT817 is deaf too!!

Unique 472kHz WSPR RX so far this evening

UPDATE 2226z:  Another unique spot brings the total of unique 472kHz WSPR RX spots to 14 this evening.

DX on 10m JT65

DK3GI (799km) is the only station spotted so far today on 10m JT65. I am still hopeful of some real DX later.

UPDATE 1540z: I see that several Europeans have been spotted here as well as LU8XAF (13413km) way down in Argentina. I think this is the most distant spot on 10m JT65 this year.

UPDATE 1548z: Today so far on 10m JT65. Let no-one tell you 10m is dead! My antenna is poor too.

 

UPDATE 1740z: My own 2W has been spotted by LU5CQC (11211km) in Buenos Aires. There are loads of South Americans coming through on 10m JT65.

Nuts - NOT amateur radio

This morning, we did a short walk at Dalham, near Newmarket. This is a "chocolate box" village with many beautiful thatched cottages. The church is way up the hill, some way from the village (perhaps the old squire had bad legs?) through a long avenue of trees. The bottom part of this avenue was covered in nuts as the photo shows.

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

Wicken Fen - NOT amateur radio

We are just a few miles from several National Trust places including Wicken Fen. Many years ago I saw a bittern (bird) coming in to roost late one day. It is an ideal place for a walk on a sunny day. It can be bleak, but that is part of its attraction.

Sunspots and 10m - Wednesday March 1st 2017

It is hard to think it is already March. Where does the time go? In about 6-8 weeks it will be the Es season again here in the northern hemisphere. I am sure time goes quicker as we get older.

Solar flux is 81 today and the sunspot number 39. A=8 and K=3.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/.  Solar activity is slowly declining, but this is a very slow process. Conditions on the higher HF bands are often better than many think.

10m JT65 (2W) today

At breakfast time, I turned on the rig and PC and am on 10m JT65. As yet, no spots. I checked time sync to internet time. I am not active on any other band.

Kings College Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

We are lucky to live very close to Cambridge. With our bus passes, we can get into Cambridge for free. With our Kings Passes we get free entry into Kings College Chapel, a place people cross the globe to see. 

Cambridge is quieter at this time of the year, but it is still one of the most beautiful places in the UK.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King's_College_Chapel,_Cambridge .