Seats - NOT amateur radio

When my dad retired, he got a job with the National Trust running a job creation scheme maintaining the coast paths near where he lived in South Devon. When he died (1987) they put up 2 seats in his honour. They are still well used today! On each there is a small plaque which I expect few read. Nonetheless, it is a fitting memorial for all his hard work. He loved this area in the South Hams of Devon and so do I.

More OFCOM stuff

OFCOM is auctioning microwave spectrum. After all, all they (allegedly) seem to be interested in is money.

Amateur radio? What is that then?

See http://ofcom.cmail19.com/t/ViewEmail/i/ED1113E2A6F4FFBB2540EF23F30FEDED/59D1BD3EA2F08127C67FD2F38AC4859C

Looking west - NOT amateur radio

This is a view looking west from the coastal path in South Devon looking towards Cornwall in the evening. It threatened rain which didn't come. Today we are expecting lots of rain. Mind you, this is Devon "where it rains 6 days out of 7". This is how I remember it! So far, we have been lucky with good weather every day. Today was the exception with heavy rain all day. The rest of the week looks better.

Sunspots - Tuesday July 11th 2017

Solar flux is 92 today (decent). Sunspot number is 32 (respectable for this part of the cycle).  A=9 and K=3.

70cm UKAC activity contest

Being the second Tuesday in the month tonight is the 70cm activity contest starting at 1900z and lasting for 2.5 hours. Unfortunately I am unable to enter this month.

UPDATE 1635z: With lots of rain, I suspect the number of 70cm /P stations will be down this evening.

Post Office Travel Card - NOT amateur radio

The UK Post Office offers a prepay travel card which appears quite good. As my old card expired last month and I changed my address, they promised to send me a new card, credited with the money left on the old card. No card arrived and I got an email saying they were experiencing very high loads and apologies. Today I got an email asking me to call their customer services number. All I can say is CRAP!! To say I am annoyed is an understatement.

Sunspots - Monday July 10th 2017

Solar flux is 91 today (good) and the sunspot number 31 (respectable). A=28 and K=4.

Gone away? - NOT amateur radio

For the first time in a week, a certain eastern European country seems to have lost interest in this blog and gone away. There are visits from there, but I suspect these are real people rather than trawling bots.

Devon - NOT amateur radio

I am spending a week in South Devon, were I was brought up. The coast is stunningly beautiful. The weather has been good so far, so a coastal path walk each evening has been possible. I know I posted a very similar view a few days ago, but thought readers might enjoy it again too. Where we are staying is just a short walk from this point.

Pixie CW QRP transceiver

Some time ago I bought a Pixie kit from China. It was really bought to test my building skills since my stroke. In years past this would have been trivial. The kit was so low cost that even if it had to be thrown away it would not matter.

As it turned out, it worked first time. A QSO with a local a few miles away proved all was well. The crystal supplied was 7023kHz, but a very kind person sent me a 7030kHz crystal, which is the 40m QRP CW frequency.

I see from Southgate News that the Banbury Club is running a Pixie Challenge.

See http://www.banburyares.co.uk/Documents/Pixie.pdf