South America (again) on 10m FT8

10m FT8 is still good, despite the sunspot number again being zero. A few minutes ago, the first South American today was spotted in the form of LU5DF (11508km) in Argentina. I expect there will soon be others. Today, I have spotted stations in Europe, Africa and South America on 10m FT8. Some say the band is "dead". Dig! FT8 seems to be showing openings that in the past would have been missed.

UPDATE 1541z: Now 6 South Americans spotted on 10m FT8 this afternoon.

UPDATE 1630z: Now 12 South Americans spotted on 10m FT8 today.

UPDATE 1717z: Now 18 different South Americans spotted today on 10m FT8. Great band, great mode.

UPDATE 1910z: With 30 unique South American stations spotted today on 10m FT8, this feels like the best day on 10m this autumn.

Squirrel at Ickworth - NOT amateur radio

We are due to get the remnants of a hurricane early next week, but at the moment it is dragging up very warm air from the Azores and Spain. This squirrel was making the most of the mild, warm air.

630m WSPR overnight

Last night was disappointing with just 1 station spotting me. Thank you to M0DSZ (232km) for spotting me. In all, 9 unique stations were spotted here on 630m WSPR.

Trying to get you to buy new? - NOT amateur radio

For some years I have owned an Apple iPod Touch 4g. It runs iOS V6.1.6 and this software is fully up to date for this particular device. I checked only a few hours ago.

Recently, FaceBook is even slower to connect than normal, even though it is almost instant on the PC. It is almost as if Apple is forcing an upgrade. Now, I am not saying this is the case, although that is how it makes me feel.  If software only works properly with a newer OS, which I can only get for newer devices, I think this is wrong.

It seems bizarre that I can no longer get reliable connection (if at all) on my device that has given me good service for years. And, yes, I have tried the old trick of turning the device fully off, then on.

10m FT8 RX

It is very early, but nothing spotted here on 10m FT8, even though I have been on for over an hour.

UPDATE 1308z: Lots of spots of stations on 10m FT8 RX.  Best DX currently is XT2AW (4446km) in Burkina Faso.

UPDATE 1422z: Now V51B (9125km) in Namibia is the best DX copied today.

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