Made in China - NOT amateur radio

In the west we have become addicted to low cost goods. It seems almost everything is made in China these days. Try it: look on the label of almost anything and the chances are it says, "made in China". I just don't understand how they make things at such low prices and still make profits.

All this come at a price and that is we are exporting our CO2 emissions! China has a high reliance still on coal and is the greatest contributor to the recent rise in global CO2 emissions. They are moving to renewables, but not fast enough it seems. The USA government policy on coal seems flawed too.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41941265 .

2m UKAC entry - almost forgotten!

Usually, I send an entry in for this contest the very same evening, but this time I forgot. My XYL tidied up and my logbook was hidden. Luckily, I was in time. My entries never come anywhere near winning, but it is good voice training for me and I often work new squares on 2m. These are fun contests best taken not too seriously.  Usually I manage under 1 hour of operating. Then my voice says, "stop".

Tomorrow is the 70cm contest (UKAC). I usually use my 2m halo for this as  have no horizontal 70cm antennas. Start time is 2000z and the contest lasts for 2.5 hours, if you are keen. As you can tell, I am a fair weather contester who operates from home! A coffee or whisky is about 10m away!

Stained glass - NOT amateur radio

We visited the Stained Glass Museum in Ely Cathedral yesterday. It was fascinating to see a range of stained glass from the Middle Ages to more recent times.

This stained glass panel was made in 1979 by Paul San Casciani and is his interpretation of hydra tissue taken from an electron photomicrograph.

10m FT8 RX

Since breakfast, I have been on 10m FT8 RX. Just one spot so far in G4HZW (208km), probably by aircraft reflection. No real DX seen here for several days.

UPDATE 1450z:  It looks like another dire day on 10m FT8 here. So far, just a couple of Gs and no DX - not even a European - spotted today on 10m FT8.

A good night on 630m WSPR

Last night I managed my greatest distance this season (10mW ERP, 20%) to LA2XPA (1310km) and this with my really poor antenna! He copied me 3 times. In all, I was spotted by 12 unique stations and I spotted 10 unique others on 630m WSPR.

Sunspots - Monday November 13th 2017

Solar flux is 69 today. Sunspot number remains zero. A=6 and K=2.

630m WSPR

For the last few hours or so I have been on 630m WSPR. So far, 5 spots of my 10mW ERP WSPR. This is average.

Sunset - NOT amateur radio

As we drove back from Ely we were treated to a great sunset. This photo was taken from our moving car. It is quite flat in the Fens, but we do get some great skies.

Grumpy old man - NOT amateur radio

You can tell I am getting old!

Have you noticed that most young people go up at the end of a sentence? You can almost tell how young someone is by this, not forgetting "like" liberally sprinkled throughout sentences.  It is, like, annoying like, you know what I mean?

I try hard to ignore this, but find myself counting "likes".

Grumpy old man - definitely.

10m FT8 RX

Since breakfast, I have been on 10m FT8 RX. So far, just M0SSK (75km) spotted.

UPDATE 1158z: Best DX is now IZ2MHO (996km) in northern Italy.

UPDATE 1910z: Nothing outside Europe spotted here today on 10m FT8. The last was DM1FL (495km) in the Cologne area.