CQWW SSB Contest

A reminder that the BIG one is next weekend. Before my stroke I used to fill pages of my logbooks with 10m SSB contest exchanges. Nowadays my voice is not too good, so I tend to be on far less. This is a good chance to work new countries. I have yet to send in an entry!

Best days for QRP tends to be Sunday as most "big guns" have worked lots by then and are scraping around for points.

See https://www.cqww.com/

630m WSPR transceive

Currently, I am on 630m WSPR transceive. I shall be on this evening and overnight with 10mW ERP.

UPDATE 1846z:  A new one tonight: M0NKA (154km) in IO92ak spotted my QRPP signal.

SAQ VLF transmission tomorrow?

It looks like there is a VLF CW transmission on 17.2kHz tomorrow.

See http://alexander.n.se/seek-you-for-peace/?lang=en

OFCOM and licence exempt wideband devices

OFCOM and licence exempt shot range wideband devices:

See http://ofcom.cmail20.com/t/ViewEmail/i/1EF53AF183CB51C82540EF23F30FEDED/59D1BD3EA2F08127C67FD2F38AC4859C

Overnight on 630m WSPR transceive

Overnight I was again on 630m (10mW ERP, 20%). In all, I was spotted by 11 unique stations and I spotted 15 uniques with IW4DXW (1190km) my best DX and G3KEV the strongest.

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 .