Sunspots - Wednesday December 13th 2017

Solar flux is 73 today. Sunspot number is 11. A=13 and K=1.

6m FT8 RX

At the moment, I am monitoring 6m FT8 RX. Nothing yet.

UPDATE 1415z: Just ON8DM (237km) spotted.

630m mistake!

When on 630m WSPR I usually check spots on another machine in another room. I noticed spots stopped around 2130z last night. So, I went into the shack to see the connection to the antenna had fallen off! Luckily, it was easily reconnected. Luckily, the transverter PA was not damaged and full power was restored.

70cm UKAC

Well, I probably have the very worst set-up for this contest: 5W SSB, RG58 (lossy) coax and a 2m halo!! Add to that that speaking is very hard and that I was only on for about 10 minutes and you can see why I never win!

QSYed to 630m WSPR

At 1900z, I QSYed to 630m WSPR (10mW ERP, 20% TX). 10m WSPR was really not very good.

10m WSPR (2W, 20% TX)

For a change, I decided to go on 10m WSPR transceive today. I am using 2W (instead of 0.5W) and looking for others 80% of the time on RX.

UPDATE 1514z:  No WSPR spots given or received on 10m all day so far. Dire.

UPDATE  1824z: Although no-one spotted me, I spotted DL and OM. Best DX was OM1AI (1269km).

Fewer Christmas cards? - NOT amateur radio

In the last few years postage costs have rocketed in the UK. Also, people keep in touch by email and social media far more than in the past. Postcards used to be sent to/by lots of people on holiday, but there are far fewer these days.

It is early days, but I am expecting far fewer Christmas cards this year. Some people have died, some find postage costs too high and some decide to give to charity instead. If it wasn't for my wife, I expect we'd send out far fewer cards!

One thing I have wondered - why not reduce the cost of second class postage stamps in the UK in early December? This would encourage more people to post Christmas cards. Overall, it might help with PO revenue. The PO could sell 2nd class special Christmas stamps at, say, 35p each in the lead-up to Christmas. They could even stipulate these are only to be used on Christmas cards.

630m WSPR overnight

Overnight I was again on 630m WSPR (10mW ERP, 20% TX). In all, I was spotted by 7 unique stations with PA0RDT (243km) my best DX. I spotted 10 uniques.

For a change I am now on 10m WSPR (2W, 20% TX).

Sunspots - Tuesday December 12th 2017

Solar flux is 72 today and the sunspot number 11. A=3 and K=2.

East Cambs net 144.575MHz FM

At 2000z, I went on the 2m FM net in East Cambridgeshire on 144.575MHz. Others are always most welcome to join in. Discussions rarely go on beyond 2030z.