10m FT8

It appears I am being hopeful!

Since breakfast I have been on 10m FT8, mostly RX. A couple of TX periods calling CQ (2.5W) brought no reports. At the moment, I have not spotted a single station on the band.

UPDATE 1020z: Still nothing.

UPDATE 1120z: F1VEO (594km) in Brittany spotted on 10m FT8 RX at -8dB S/N. So there is some life!

UPDATE 1405z: Now a couple of Gs spotted making 3 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX so far today.

UPDATE 1421z: Real DX!  D41CV (4518km) in the Cape Verde Islands now spotted.

UPDATE 1552z: 6 stations spotted so far on 10m FT8 4 Gs, 1 F and 1 D41.

Returning migrant birds - NOT amateur radio

It may be snowing in some parts of the UK, but the birds are flying back from Africa. Don't tell them or they might go back!

Every day now it seems, swallows, house martins and sand martins are reported in Devon. Even at Wicken Fen, just a few miles from here, we had a swallow reported last Saturday!

The earliest I have seen an swallow in East Anglia is April 7th. Usually the majority arrive mid April. At least they are being seen again. My heart always lifts seeing the first swallow of the year up here.

One of the memories of my dad is him telling me when he spotted the first returning house martin. He died in 1987.

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/swallow

Sunspots - Monday April 2nd 2018

Solar flux is 68 and the sunspot number zero. A=5 and K=2.

Solar data for March now available

The solar data now includes March. It has just been released.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/

Hacker? - NOT amateur radio

Odd how some of my blogs suddenly have "amazing" posts and simultaneously I get lots of new comments and they are all just the same with the same links!

The last lot were clearly trying to drum up traffic for a blog. All these comments have now been deleted.

If you see any I missed tell me. I will not have spam comments!! Some people (or bots) really do try.

March 2018 solar data awaited

A few days into the month, I usually get the solar data for the last month. It is only the first of the month, so this data is not yet available. In February, there was a very slight improvement although the average is that we are still on the way down to the next solar minimum.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/

QSY to 2m FT8

Well, my brief time on 70cm FT8 proved unsuccessful with nothing at all spotted, so I have QSYed to 2m FT8 and met with immediate success. My very brief CQ was copied by 4 stations with F1OIL (185km) as the best DX. In addition, a couple of stations were spotted on RX. I am now RX only on 2m FT8.

UPDATE 1626z: So far this afternoon on 2m FT8 RX, 28 unique stations spotted in 6 countries.

UPDATE 1722z: Now 36 uniques in 6 countries with best RX DX DL0HOL (619km).

UPDATE 1930z: Now 54 uniques in 6 countres, so far on 2n FT8 RX today.

Lyrids meteor shower

April 22nd sees the Lyrids meteor shower. I shall probably monitor this on either 6m or 2m, although I am unsure which mode to use. Traditionally, MSK144 has been good, but maybe now I should try FT8?

Advice sought!

Lack of faith - NOT amateur radio

Our local church is now very "happy clappy". My wife got me to go today as it is Easter Sunday.

Although I used to be a regular attender at our church, these days I hardly ever go. In some ways I feel more spiritual, but I now feel no religion "cuts it".

This last 12 months has seen the death of two young sons of friends in very sad circumstances. Life seems cruel.

In many ways I envy the simple faith of many, but I am finding it harder and harder to feel that I fit in. To me, all religions fail to provide me the answers I need.

As I have said many times before, I feel all religions hint at a deeper truth and are, maybe, attempts to come to terms with our finality.

Sunspots - Sunday April 1st 2018

Solar flux is 68 today and the sunspot number 12. A=7 and K=1.