Rally in N.Ireland

13 MAY 2018 : LOUGH ERNE AMATEUR RADIO RALLY

Share Centre, Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh BT92 0EQ,. Access M1, A5 & A4 (NI), M/N3 (RoI ). Doors open at 11.30am. David, GI4VHO, 078-4291-0076, calderwood110@btinternet.com www.learc.eu.

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

Sunspots - Saturday May 12th 2018

Solar flux is 70 today and the sunspot number is 11. A=12 and K=4.

Back from holiday - NOT amateur radio

You may have guessed that we have been away for about 9 days. We are now safely home again.

Sunspots - Friday May 11th 2018

Solar flux is 74 and the sunspot number 11. A=12 and K=4.

Swifts - NOT amateur radio

Usually I see my first swifts at the end of April. This year, it was May 10th before I saw them and even that was in South Devon.  These are migrant birds and I suspect numbers are down. They have been seen for some weeks, but I had not seen any before yesterday.

Once I see them, they appear ubiquitous, screaming on the wing. Usually they are the most common bird seen in the spring/summer sky. They are here all May and June and then you just notice they have gone until next year. The skies are quiet.

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

EbNaut tests from IW4DXW on VLF

Riccardo is busy again with VLF transmissions.

"Hi Stefan, Lubos, Paul, VLF

Ok Stefan :-), here we go!

I'm starting a series of EbNaut transmissions, from 0800 UTC (9 May) every 8 hours. Then 3 messages per day (0000, 0800, 1600 UTC). 

QRG: 8270.003

2 ch.

30 sec./sym.

coding 16K21A

CRC 28

duration: 8h 00'

antenna current: 600 mA

many thanks for reports"

Sunspots - Thursday May 10th 2018

Solar flux is 69 today. Sunspot number is 22. A=16 and K=3.

Window shopping? - NOT amateur radio

Perhaps they should lower the windows so gulls can get a better view?

My dad's house - NOT amateur radio

Salcombe Devon Home

100 years ago, my dad lived here. At that time these houses were small, dirty and with an outside shared toilet. Nowadays they are posh holiday lets.

In 1959 my mum and dad sold our house in Salcombe for £1.9k. It now is for sale for £625k!! No doubt the buyer will be a yuppy banker who will use it for a few weeks a year. Salcombe these days is a very up-market town.

Back then - in fact when I was young - it was a thriving all year around community.  These days the wintertime population is a fraction of that in the summer. The main street is almost exclusively posh clothes shops catering for the rich yachters. Already the only bank has closed. To me, it is a society that cannot survive unless it evolves again into a 365/7 community again.

Realtime HF predictions

Southgate News reports on a website that gives near realtime HF predictions.

See http://www.bandconditions.com/