Carillion - NOT amateur radio

If you are outside of the UK you may not have heard of Carillion. This is a very large construction (and other) company that has just gone in to liquidation with debts, allegedly, of around £1.5B. They use a lot of subcontractors and are involved in a lot of contracts for public works.

They have been in trouble, apparently, for a long time. What seems incredible is that the UK government continued to give them work when they were clearly in trouble. Their payment terms were, allegedly, changed from 30 days to 120 days. So a subcontractor would get paid nearly 4 months after doing work. Personally I think this immoral.

Now they are in deep trouble, lots of people could lose their jobs.

Bribes - NOT amateur radio

I have been watching a TV programme that reveals the bribes paid to a certain Middle East country. It make you wonder how many other nations need bribes to "oil the wheels" of business. Personally, I find this totally wrong.

Sunspots - Wednesday January 17th 2018

Solar flux is 71 today and the sunspot number 13.  A=4 and K=0.

630m WSPR RX overnight

Last night, I spotted 11 uniques on 630m WSPR RX. Nothing from the USA.

QSY to 630m WSPR RX

At about 1940z I left 10m FT8 to move to 630m WSPR RX. So far, just G0MRF and PA0SLT (456km) spotted.

California shackled children - NOT amateur radio

As I write this we do not know the true facts. From what little we do know, it appears the kids in this large family were found emaciated and in some cases shackled to their beds. No doubt the full facts will emerge in the next few days.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42698562 .

QRP Club Newsletter

Oleg has made this available to all QRPers who are members and friends of the QRP Club.

See http://club72.su/
See also https://groups.io/g/72

Amaryllis growing - NOT amateur radio

If I remember right, I mentioned an amaryllis that did not seem to be growing. Well, it is!

There is a small shoot that has grown overnight. If things go as expected this will be several centimetres by next week.

10m FT8

Since about 0930z, I have been on 10m FT8, mostly RX. I did call a Polish station calling CQ unsuccessfully. At the moment, SQ4OJD (1357km) is the only spot.

UPDATE 1310z:  So far today, just 2 spots with IK4DCT (1181km) in northern Italy copied late this morning.

UPDATE 1918z:  In the end 5 stations spotted on 10m FT8. The others were from Croatia and Italy

630m WSPR RX last night

On 630m WSPR RX it was an average night. In all, 13 uniques were spotted, but all within Europe.