Sunspots - Monday October 23rd 2017

Solar flux is 76 and sunspot number 13. A=6 and K=2.

10m FT8 RX - Monday Oct 23rd 2017

I have been on 10m FT8 RX most of the morning and, yet again, it is good with best DX being VK9VKL (11970km) on Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean. Other spots this morning include all over Europe and 3B8CW (9751km) on Mauritius. I expect we will see South Africa and South America later.

UPDATE 1044z: ZS2ZA (9895km) now being spotted here. FT8 really is magic.

UPDATE 1625z: Yet again, 6 continents spotted on 10m FT8 today, with hardly any sunspots.

UPDATE 1658z: About 5 minutes ago, I went QRT on 10m. Now I am on 630m WSPR transceive (10mW ERP, 20% TX).

Grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

As mentioned yesterday, at the moment, amateur radio is having to take a back seat as we have 3 (of our 4) grandchildren staying together with one of our sons. We love having them, but these days I get tired.

10m conditions - don't believe what others say!

Someone once said, "10m is absolutely dead!", to which I reply, "really?" These were the stations spotted so far on 10m FT8 today. The sunspot count is 11. Previous days have been even better and the sunspot number zero. Never give up on 10m. My recommendation is try FT8 instead.

UPDATE 2046z:  Quite a few hours ago I switched to 630m WSPR transceive (10mW ERP, 20% TX) but after another very successful day on 10m FT8 RX.  Another day with 6 continents spotted including loads of South Americas, but just one 1 North American. I  am convinced FT8 is doing great things: many stations are active in a small window, so chances of being spotted go up.

Mugabe loses WHO role - NOT amateur radio

Unsurprisingly, there was widespread condemnation of the World Health Organisation making Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe their goodwill ambassador. This appointment has now been revoked.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41713919 .

Terahertz bands

Southgate News reports on a SARL report about terahertz amateur radio. Whilst a dedicated bunch have explored optical and infra-red frequencies few have tried the bands above 100GHz. I guess the reason is gear and test-gear are difficult. At optical frequencies, I found gear and test-gear easy. Apparently terahertz spectrum is being allocated at the 2019 WRC. This was news to me.

My apologies for referring to tetrahertz frequencies earlier. Now corrected. Shades of my work life long ago!

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2017/october/the-terahertz-spectrum.htm#.Wex7krpFzIU .

10m FT8 (late!)

Rather later than usual, I have switched to 10m FT8 RX. My first impression is that there is a lot of activity on 10m FT8.

UPDATE 1036z: Lots of activity again on 10m FT8. Best DX so far on 10m FT8 RX is YB0MWM (11711km) in Western Java, Indonesia.

UPDATE 1100z: Best 10m FT8 RX DX spotted now VK9VKL (11970km) on Christmas Island.

UPDATE 1508z: Several stations in South Africa and South America and one in Canada this afternoon. Best DX spotted her this afternoon on 10m FT8 is LU3HTS (11258km) to the west of Cordoba.

Devon - NOT amateur radio

Whilst looking through some old photos, I cam across this one of South Devon where I was born and brought up. God's own country!

630m WSPR overnight

Last night I was on 630m WSPR (10mW ERP, 20%). I was spotted by 12 unique stations with best DX a spot by LA3EQ (769km) and I spotted 13 unique stations.

Sunspots - Sunday October 22nd 2017

Solar flux is 78 and there are sunspots! Sunspot number is 11. A=10 and K=3.