Sunspots and 10m - Thursday March 16th 2017

Solar flux is 69 today and the sunspot count remains stubbornly zero. A=7 and K=0.

Arctic Litter - NOT amateur radio

At my U3AC course yesterday at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge we were told an amazing fact. Litter in the Arctic Ocean has increased 20-fold in the last 10 years.

Back on 472kHz WSPR RX

Although not on any bands today, I am back on 472kHz WSPR receive this evening.

Lambs - NOT amateur radio

Today, we had our warmest day of the year. It felt warm for the first time and was true "shirt sleeve" weather. At Ickworth, UK there were daffodils, lambs and bees on the wing. A lovely day.

Last night on 472kHz WSPR RX

Last evening and overnight I was on 472kHz WSPR RX again. Plenty of stations copied with the best DX again being Norway. Without the PC's SMPSU being active I am surprised just how much I spot with the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground and the totally in modified (deaf) FT817.

Sunspots and 10m - Wednesday March 15th 2017

Solar flux is 70 and, yet again, the sunspot number remains zero. A=4 and K=2

Trinity - NOT amateur radio

Living very close to the world famous university town of Cambridge we get to see some magnificent places.

These include  Kings College Chapel, St Johns and Trinity College.

Trinity is the subject of the photo, which shows the entrance to the college. Trinity boasts 32 Nobel Prize winners!

See https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/

Help please copying CDs! - NOT amateur radio

I need help doing something that I thought would be easy! We have a Windows10 PC and an external DVD/CD drive that plays audio CDs through the PC, so I know the external drive works.

How do I copy this audio CD to the hard drive of the PC?

The CDs are from Iceland and I think the group has disbanded, so we want to make backups in case the CDs get damaged. I did the obvious things (copy and paste) but this did not work.

Help!

UKAC 70cm this evening

This evening is the March 2017 70cm UKAC activity contest organised by the RSGB. Although I only use 5W SSB to my 2m halo fed with lossy coax, I try to get on for a while until my voice shouts "enough". Usually this means about 30-40 minutes. Often I am surprised how well this works.

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

UPDATE 2056z: After 30 minutes I had to stop because of my poor voice. Best DX was a QSO with G4CLA (105km), which is not bad with 5W QRP and a 2m halo fed with lossy coax!

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday March 14th 2017

Solar flux is 72 today, but the sun remains spotless. A=3 and K=0. 10m? Anyone's guess!