ICOM IC9700 (VHF/UHF/23cms)

This rig was announced in Japan in September. It will replace the IC910 and cover 2m, 70cm and 23cm. I have no idea about price. It looks like the same architecture as the IC7300. At the right price this looks an attractive radio, but I expect it will be too expensive. MLS is already taking £100 deposits.

How to look a total ..... - NOT amateur radio

It pays to arm yourself with facts before tweeting.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41695667

Another rally in the UK

22 OCTOBER 2017 : GALASHIELS RALLY
The Volunteer Hall, Galashiels TD1 3JX

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

630m WSPR overnight

You may remember that I found the 2 radials across the lawn and an additional local ground made no difference and may have made my ERP lower. This surprised me.

Last night my 10mW ERP was spotted by 11 unique stations on 630m WSPR with best DX a spot from LA3EQ/MW (769km) and I spotted 10 unique stations on 630m WSPR.  This is, I think, the first time more stations spotted me than I spotted others.

Sunspots - Friday October 20th 2017

Solar flux is 74 today. Sunspot number is again zero. A=12  and K=2.

10m FT8 RX

After overnight on 630m WSPR transceive, I am again on 10m FT8 RX. Best DX spotted is 4Z5ML (3571km) in Israel. I assume this is F2 propagation. F1DLZ (362km) also copied in northern France which might be aircraft reflection.

I am still using WSJT-X V1.8.0 rc2. I really must upgrade later.

UPDATE 1105z: Lots of 10m Europeans and lots of DX on 10m FT8 today, despite a sunspot count of zero again. As they say, "FT8 cuts the mustard". Very impressive.

UPDATE 1312z:  Now spotting Mauritius - 3B8CW (9751km). Today has been a very good day on 10m FT8. I expect South Africa next, then South America.

UPDATE 1428z: There is no doubt that today is the very best day on 10m FT8 this autumn. So far, 9 North Americans spotted here as well as every continent except Antarctica.

UPDATE 1716z: Best DX today on 10m FT8 was LU8XAF (13413km) in southern Argentina.

Moved to 630m WSPR

In the last 30 minutes I have moved from 10m FT8 RX to 630m WSPR transceive (10mW ERP). Quite a few spots of my signal on each transmission.

10m FT8 today

Already, I have spotted stations in 5 continents on 10m FT8 today: Australasia, Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. This with a low end-fed wire antenna - no big towers and beams here, HI.  I suspect there will be a few more South Americans in the next few hours. And all this is on a day with zero sunspots and when 10m is supposed to be "dead".

At the moment I am still using WSJT-X V1.8.0 rc2. There is a later version (rc3) too that I must download and use.

Many desert 10m. Stick with it, as you may be very surprised.

This autumn, 6 continents have been spotted on 10m FT8. A great band and FT8 is proving to be a great mode.

Catalonia - NOT amateur radio

Catalonia is quite a rich part of Spain. Spain cannot afford for it to break-away. It is hard to see how the EU would handle this. If Catalonia goes, surely the Basques will want to follow? This would leave Spain in a right mess. By comparison, BREXIT is quite simple and clear. Personally, I think this will grow into the EU crisis of 2018.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41678086 .

My memory - NOT amateur radio

I mentioned earlier that I go to a series of lectures on Samuel Pepys in Cambridge each Wednesday. So far, there have been 2. Let me recount an odd story.

The first talk was Wednesday last week. I travelled into Cambridge on the service bus that leaves at 9.49am. This should arrive at about 10.43am. It is a 10 minute walk from where the bus stops to where they hold the lectures. The lectures are from 11am -12noon.

In my mind I have a very clear picture of being the very first there and helping to set out chairs and the main table. I sat at the same spot yesterday, furthermost from the door. This memory is very, very, clear. However, to get in very early would have been impossible using this bus. I would have arrived shortly before the lecture started. I have absolutely no memory of arriving "just in time". I am still deeply puzzled: was this a dream? Only if I suddenly have a flash-back will this mystery be solved. In the meantime, I cannot be sure what is a dream and what is reality!

Some would say, "old age". Others might say, "your stroke". The truth is I just do not know what happened a week ago.