11 Nov 2017

An early QSY to 630m WSPR?

As 10m FT8 seems poor again, I am tempted to QSY early to 630m WSPR.

UPDATE 1525z: Well it is done! I've QSYed to 630m WSPR (10mW ERP, 20%). It will be interesting to see what happens in daylight.

UPDATE 1550z: Several spots already given and received on 630m WSPR. My best spot (of my 10mW ERP) is by G4CPD (232km).

UPDATE 2246z: So far, an average evening on 630m WSPR.

Rallies

It must be the time of the year when few, if any, rallies take place in the UK. I guess it is too wet and too cold to attract the punters. Certainly, I have not received notification of any. Time to draw the curtains, stoke the fire and watch TV?

Autumn colours - NOT amateur radio

Anglesey Abbey is about 4 miles away by car. In every season it looks good. At the moment it is the autumn colours that delight. In a few months it will be the first snowdrops and daffodils.

See https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/anglesey-abbey-gardens-and-lode-mill .

Giddiness - NOT amateur radio

It is over 4 years since my stroke. Whenever I am on my feet I feel giddy and drunk. By now, I was hoping this would have got better, but it seems this is how I am going to be for ever.  I can manage, but I feel way below how I once was.

At the same time others say, "you do look well". That is the problem: appearances deceive. I do look fine and normal, but others do not realise what a struggle ordinary things are.

Overnight on 630m WSPR

An average session on 630m WSPR. In all, my 10mW ERP was spotted by 9 unique stations and I spotted 13 uniques. I have known better nights.

10m FT8 RX

Better than yesterday (when I spotted absolutely nothing!) but still pretty dire. Just a couple of spots so far with 1 G and 1 OZ. Best DX, so far today, is OZ1LXJ (806km). These could be aircraft reflection?

UPDATE  1520z: No further 10m FT8 spots, so I guess the ones above were probably off aircraft or even MS.

Sunspots - Saturday November 11th 2017

Solar flux is 70 and the sunspot count is still zero. A=21 and K=2.

10 Nov 2017

630m WSPR

In the end I gave up on 10m FT8 and QSYed to 630m WSPR. So far, my 10mW ERP has been spotted by 4 unique stations and I have spotted 6 uniques.

10m FT8 - another bad day?

Although I have been monitoring 10m FT8 RX all day, I have spotted absolutely no-one so far! Unless things change, this will go down as another bad day.

UPDATE 1730z: Still no 10m FT8 spots all day! Another hour and I shall QSY to 630m WSPR.

Real or Fake?

Supposedly this guy worked 2m transatlantic in 1982 on FM. I find it hard to believe this was genuine. It seems amazing that this was not well publicised at the time. Make up your minds.