Sunspots - Saturday October 14th 2017

Solar flux is 68 today and the sunspot number zero. A=42 and K=4.

US President: anyone know his IQ?? - NOT amateur radio

Just wondering - does anyone know President Donald Trump's IQ? To  become president of the USA takes some doing, so he can't be stupid.

QSY to 630m WSPR

At 1920z I QSYed from 10m FT8 RX to 630m WSPR transceive (20% TX, 10mW ERP). No spots given or received as yet. Probably be on 630m overnight. So far this season, 8 unique stations have spotted my QRPP signal on 630m WSPR.

UPDATE 1950z:  G0MRF (103km) and DH5RAE (995km) copied so far. No spots of me yet!

UPDATE 2050z:  Stations spotted so far tonight on 630m WSPR. For several nights now LA3EQ (769km) has spotted me later. LA8AV is a consistent signal with me.

Windmill at sunset - NOT amateur radio

As I have said many times, we live next door to a 200 year old, fully restored, 4 sail windmill. It always looks good, but last night it was spectacular bathed in the dying rays of the sun. The scene was darker than the photo suggests.

Shield bug - NOT amateur radio

When the frosts and winds come we'll soon forget that it is mid-October and it was so warm that we had a cup of tea in the garden in our shirt sleeves.

This weekend some places in the UK could reach 24 deg C, which is very high for mid-October. Strangely, many trees are losing their leaves, which is early.

Whilst cutting the grass I came across this beetle. I think it is a shield bug. It was about 1cm long and mainly green. It flew off shortly after this photo.

See https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/gallery/heteroptera/Pentatomoidea/pentatomoidea.html

630m WSPR again overnight

Last evening and overnight I was on 630m WSPR again, transmitting 20% of the time. Yet again my unbelievably poor set-up got spots in several Western European nations with the best again being LA3EQ (769km) up in Norway. I will repair my earth-electrode "antenna" and try this as an extra ground in the hope of raising my ERP. At present my ERP is about 10mW.

10m FT8 RX

Having been on 10m FT8 RX since breakfast, I have spotted 3 countries (4 stations) so far, namely G, DL and SP. Best DX is currently SP6BPY (1159km).

UPDATE 1625z: Quite a few South Americans being spotted here now on 10m FT8.

UPDATE 1704z: Even more South Americans spotted  on 10m FT8 including VP8LP (12720km) in the Falkland Islands.

Rallies this weekend

15 OCTOBER 2017 : HOLSWORTHY ARC RALLY
Holsworthy ARC Holsworthy Community College, Victoria Hill, Holsworthy, Devon EX22 6JD Free car parking on site with disabled access. there will be trade stands and a Bring & Buy.
Catering is available on site. Howard, M0MYB by email to holsworthyarc@gmail.com

15 OCTOBER 2017 : HORNSEA AMATEUR RADIO RALLY
Floral Hall, 7 The Esplanade, Hornsea HU18 1NQ There is car parking at the venue. Doors open at 10am and admission is £2 with under 14s free. There will be trade stands, a Bring & Buy, special interest groups and an RSGB bookstand. A raffle will take place. There is catering on site. Details from Rick, M0CZR, 01964 533712 or by email to R106221@aol.com


A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

Sunspots - Friday October 13th 2017

Solar flux is 69 today and the sunspot number still zero. A=29 and K=5.

630m WSPR TX

Well, it helps TX if you enable TX!! I did not have this enabled, so was wondering why I was getting no spots!

First 630m WSPR spot was by PA0EHG (296km). I'll leave the TX at 20% through the night. ERP is around 10mW.

Quite a few of the regulars spotted on 630m WSPR RX.