President Trump - NOT amateur radio

If recent reports allegedly coming out of the White House are correct, then the USA president is rapidly losing friends around the globe and probably at home.

His latest reported outburst was another swipe at immigrants and their families.

I must remind the good people of the USA (all those I have met were decent, kind, generous and caring folk), and the President, that ALL white Americans were from immigrant stock. The land of freedom and liberty. People want to come to the USA because of its values.

UPDATE 2042z:  I notice that the US $ is rapidly losing value against the UK £.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42656433 .

PTT with cellular network radio

It had to come.

Southgate News has details of a mobile radio using cellular radio as its bearer. It uses Android and can link with things like Echolink for radio amateurs. The  "radio" is sold by Moonraker.

See https://www.moonraker.eu/inrico-tm-7-network-mobile-radio

Overnight on 630m WSPR RX

Last night I was on 630m WSPR RX overnight, but with the shack PC still on mains power.

No further spots overnight compared with those spotted in a couple of hours last night. 11 spots of unique stations in 7 countries (see table).

With the PC just on its internal battery, the reports might have been a little better, but it is not certain more stations would have been spotted.

Sunspots - Friday January 12th 2018

Solar flux is 69 today and the sunspot number 12. A=2 and K=1.

630m WSPR RX again

Since returning from a meal with friends, I have been on 630m WSPR RX with the shack PC on mains power with the battery charging. When I go to bed I may run the shack PC off its internal battery. 9 unique stations spotted in the last hour.

UPDATE 2300z:  Now 10 unique stations spotted in the last hour.

Christmas trading results - NOT amateur radio

Many of the large retail stores have released their results over Christmas and it shows a mix of fortunes. What is clear is more and more people are buying online and the retail business is going to change in the coming years. In 20 years' time some very familiar names are likely to disappear.

6m MSK144 RX

At the moment I am monitoring 50.280MHz MSK144 RX. No spots as yet.

UPDATE 1302z: So far, just MM0CEZ (488km) spotted strongly.

UPDATE 1420z: At the moment 3 unique stations in 3 countries (England, Guernsey and Scotland) spotted here on 6m MSK144 today.

Laziness or exhaustion? - NOT amateur radio

Quite a few people mistake my behaviour for laziness when I am actually totally exhausted. My worst time is after breakfast in the morning, when I feel totally drained. You would expect after a good night's sleep I would be at my best. After a rest of about 30 minutes I feel quite a bit better. On my feet I am always giddy.

My stroke 4 years ago left me largely unscathed but my voice is poor and I get tired (no, exhausted) after any form of physical or mental exertion. I very much wish things were better, but I think I need to reset my expectations: improvements are still to be had and many say my tiredness is due to my brain trying to rewire itself.

Sadly, I am unable to do many of the things I once could. This does not mean I can't live a full and interesting life though. Onwards and upwards!

Sunspots - Thursday January 11th 2018

Solar flux is 71 today and the sunspot number 11. A=5 and K=1.

630m WSPR RX last night - good

As you may recall, I still have to find out why I am unable to TX on MF. I think I am doing something stupid but my head is too foggy to work out what I am doing wrong.

So, overnight I tried an experiment: running the shack PC off its internal battery power to reduce the noise floor, so I was able to copy weaker signals. It seems to have worked!

Last night I spotted 12 unique stations, which is far more than usual.  I am pretty sure this includes a few stations not seen before on this antenna. I am sure there are other steps to try as well. All these need to be addressed before the autumn.