Sunspots - Thursday July 20th 2017

Solar flux is 72 today and the sunspots number is again zero. A=4 and K=2.

QRT and disconnected

As I had received no new reports on 10m WSPR TX for nearly 2 hours and 6m JT65 looks like the best DX on RX was the Azores and Canary Is, I decided to go QRT. 

No storms are forecast here but you never know. I should be back on tomorrow at breakfast time.

I noticed that ONs were calling KP4 earlier on 6m JT65, so there was some real DX around.

BBC salaries - NOT amateur radio

The BBC was made to disclose (by the government) the salaries of their top stars and presenters. Quite a few earn more than £500k a year and some over £2M a year! Sorry, but I think this is insane and immoral: I am sure there are people who could do as good a job on much lower salaries.  BBC? Big Bangs Corporation or Big Bonkers Corporation.

Remember we pay for these people with our licence fees. Shame!

Crab Apples - NOT amateur radio

Last year we had a very poor crop, but this year our crab apple tree is full (on the left)! Someone said that every other year will be good with a poor season in between. This may be an "old wives tale", but it does seem to fit. A friend of my wife makes crab-apple jelly and she gives us a jar. She will not be short this year.

Solar conditions - improving?

On average, solar conditions have improved these last few months. In the longer term, we are definitely on the slide towards the next minimum, but there will always be days when things are far better than average.

Of course, there is no correlation between solar activity and Es (as far as I know). Certainly some great Es has been seen in periods of low sunspot activity. 10m, 6m and even 4m and 2m can suddenly spring into life with some quite remarkable signals. DX out to several thousand kilometres is not unheard of by Es on 10m and 6m.

In my experience just a few watts and simple antennas are all that are needed to work all over Europe on 10m and 6m from the UK in the Es season. As Es can occur (less often) at any time of year it is worth beaconing on 10m and 6m with WSPR or JT65 in the quieter months as people often just give up.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/ .

10m WSPR

Today has been very fruitful on 10m WSPR with plenty of spots by Es of my 500mW beacon. OZ9QV (864km) has spotted me many times. All spots have been by Europeans by Es I think.

UPDATE 1522z: In past seasons I seem to recall more Es from Northern Europe later in the season. This may be incorrect, but perhaps the things that trigger Es are more common in Northern Europe later in the summer?

Pound to Euro exchange rate - NOT amateur radio

Some time ago I predicted that the UK Pound would strengthen against the Euro before then end of the year. At the moment it is weaker. Only time will tell.

My assumption was the Euro still has problems especially with Greece and fewer "rich" contributors once the UK leaves the EU. As I said before, I am no financial expert and may be totally wrong.

Most of the burden will be on France and Germany, both of whom want the EU to succeed. If Greece defaults Germany will be most hurt.

6m JT65 - now RX only

For a while now, I have been on 6m JT65 but RX only. Earlier, I was also on TX and reached Austria and the UK.

Sunspots - Wednesday July 19th 2017

Solar flux is 78 today (down) and the sunspot number has returned to zero again. A=7 and K=1.

Storms over - for now

We had thunder, lightning and rain overnight, so I do hope my brown patched lawn starts to improve! I turned on 10m WSPR TX (500mW) and 6m JT65 at breakfast time. There seems to be plenty of Es to Eastern Europe on 6m. Plenty of early Es spots of my little beacon on 10m WSPR too (Italy and Germany).