10m FT8 RX

Just before breakfast, I switched (again) to 10m FT8 RX. I am amazed by what I spot. Although solar conditions are a lot worse than a few years ago, 10m FT8 seems to work.

So far, one German and one Russian RA6WF (3628km) on the Caspian Sea spotted.

UPDATE 1248z: Best DX so far on 10m FT8 RX is A45XR (5796km) in Oman. Although several Europeans and further spotted, 10m does not look as good as yesterday.

UPDATE 1910z: Just one South American on 10m FT8 today. Not a brilliant day.

630m WSPR overnight

As is usual, I was on 630m WSPR last night with my usual 10mW ERP for 20% of the time with the remaining time on RX. In all, 7 unique stations copied me and I spotted 13 uniques.

Herman the German - NOT amateur radio

On Sunday my wife and I did a walk around part of our village. We both commented that we'd not seen "Herman the German" in quite a while. We feared he might even have died.

Quite by chance we later bumped into him walking his dog. He is now 92, frail and not in good health. He was as pleased to see us as we were to see him. He was a prisoner-of-war in WW2 who stayed and married. He is a very nice man that we saw a lot at our previous house. He came to see us a few years ago at our new home. It was so good to see him.

Sunspots - Monday November 6th 2017

Solar flux is 71 today and the sunspot number again zero. A=2 and K=0.

Starlings - NOT amateur radio

We live right next to a 200 year old restored windmill. Although this is not a starling roost, it seems to be a place where they congregate on their way to somewhere else. Their favourite spot seems to be on the sails where they gather late afternoon. At one time a few years ago we saw few starlings, although we see plenty here!

QSYed to 630m WSPR

At 1740z I QSYed to 630m WSPR (10mW ERP, 20%) as I think 10m FT8 is "over" for today. OK, I may miss some DX on 10m FT8, but I have had a good day. There is always another day.

UPDATE 1746z: No spots given or received as yet on 630m.

UPDATE 1747z: LA8AV (1035km) has already been spotted on 630m WSPR.

Rain? - NOT amateur radio

This afternoon we went for a walk around our village. Although it threatened rain, we missed it.

OFCOM - useless?

For some time, I have had a personal view, that may not be shared by others, that OFCOM lacks technical expertise and is very weak when it comes to enforcement.  This view was based on personal experience some years ago when I needed to speak with OFCOM people about VLF. Names escape me. To be honest, the people I spoke with were useless!! Perhaps they had degrees in cooking or football? Technically, I got the impression that they had no idea what I was talking about. All they seemed to be interested in was not breaking the law. Engage brains? Think laterally? Definitely not. I got the impression at the time that all that mattered were services that generated money and keeping these "clean".

Reading Southgate News today only serves to re-enforce my personal view that OFCOM is a bunch of generally non-technical bureaucrats, who know little technical detail. Bring back the GPO inspectors who actually visited and checked! In my early days I had my station inspected several times.

I hope others have had better experiences.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2017/november/ofcom-and-ham-radio-repeater-abuse.htm#.Wf7nLbp2vIU

East Cambs Net - 144.575MHz Mondays 8pm

A small group of us normally comes on 144.575MHz FM (yes, one four FOUR) at 8pm Mondays for a chat. Discussions are generally non-technical, or easy technical, and go on for about 30 minutes. Everyone if very welcome and newcomers to the group are most welcome. Don't be shy! Most stations are located in Cambridge or East Cambridgeshire.

630m WSPR overnight

In the last day, I have been spotted by 7 unique stations and I have spotted 14 uniques. An average period. My ERP is still 10mW.