Daffodils - NOT amateur radio

A few weeks ago we had seas of snowdrops. These are now past their best and it seems there are daffodils in flower all over the place.

There are always great shows of these at nearby Anglesey Abbey. Another 2 weeks and they will all look superb.

20m JT65

After trying on 10m JT65 and finding nothing, I QSYed to 20m JT65 for a change, still running 2W to my low end fed tri-band antenna. Plenty of spots of my 2W from around Europe plus some from the USA. As I have said before, generally I find 20m less satisfying than 10m. Spots are much easier to get on 20m, even with QRP JT65. I'll nonetheless stick with 20m JT65 for a few more hours to see how it goes.

UPDATE 1840z:  Mostly Europe plus a few USA spots so far.

Cambridge Bikes - NOT amateur radio

Cambridge is famous as a university town filled with bikes! This shot, just across the road from Trinity College, is typical.

70cm band

In my experience this is a wasted band.

It seems under-occupied most of the time, whereas in the 1980s it was well occupied and busy on FM especially. I try to go on SSB in the monthly RSGB UKAC activity contest (next Tuesday is the next one on 70cm) with my 2m halo, but otherwise I am as guilty as the rest, rarely going on the band.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/70cm_op .

Sunspots and 10m - Wednesday March 8th 2017

Solar flux is 72 today and the sunspot number remains zero.  A=16 and K=1.

As conditions are quite undisturbed, 10m may open for N-S DX later despite the low sunspot number.

I may move to 10m JT65 transceive (2W) later.

6m DX and HF noise

This morning I returned to 6m MSK144 RX.  SK0TM (1156km) has already been spotted, presumably by random MS.

This mode is amazing as it allows 6m DX irrespective of solar conditions and Es. Yes, with Es such stations are workable with a very simple TX station, but it makes 6m useful at any time, in any month, of any year.

As the solar activity quietens I can see more and more moving to VHF and seeking new challenges. Certainly here the VHF and UHF bands are relatively noise free. Here, in what was a quiet village,160m, 80m and 40m have a lot of noise these days. It must be worse in a city. In the next 10-20 years I can see the noise floor becoming an increasing limit to amateur operations: those who can overcome such issues will be at a great advantage.

UPDATE 1040z: EI7BMB (462km) has now been spotted strongly on 6m MSK144. Aircraft?

472kHz WSPR this evening

Yet another decent evening on 472kHz WSPR RX this evening. 11 spots with best DX 1525km from Spain.

Mendelssohn's Elijah Concert - NOT amateur radio

https://sites.google.com/site/cambschoral/home/tickets

Tickets for the 2017 West Road CCS concert in which my wife is singing (April 29th 2017, Mendelssohn's Elijah) may be obtained from Sue Allin or on the door. Click the link for Sue's address and more details.

If you are in the Cambridge area, you might enjoy this classic masterpiece.

Drains - NOT amateur radio

Today, they were clearing the crud in our drains outside our house. This was the view from our lounge just after lunch.

OFCOM update

OFCOM has just produced its latest monthly report.

See http://ofcom.cmail20.com/t/ViewEmail/i/6F434CD02AE01659/59D1BD3EA2F08127C67FD2F38AC4859C