Weather forecasts - NOT amateur radio

So, if you do not like "grumpy old man" rants look away.

Yesterday, the BBC weather forecast had heavy clouds and a 70% chance of rain. The Met Office forecast said dry, sunny and light clouds. In the end I cut my front lawn and hedge yesterday afternoon.

OK, I know the UK weather is hard to predict, but honestly, you simply could not use the forecasts as they were so different.

This morning it was supposed to be dark clouds and thunder. We had light cloud, sun and warm!

It bugs me that we simply do not know. I reckon they have a phone call and say, "you say this and we'll say that. One of us is bound to be right".😀

60m in South Africa

Southgate News reports that South Africa has allocated 100kHz to amateurs at 5MHz. This is excellent and enlightened spectrum allocation.  Of course this is secondary and strictly on a non-interference basis. Wouldn't it be good if CEPT followed suit? OFCOM?

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/may/south-africa-gets-100-khz-at-5-mhz.htm#.Wwp0-vZFzIU .

10m WSPR TX

Yet again, I am TXing with my 10m WSPR beacon (100% TX, 500mW, randomised frequencies). So far, just a couple of spots from CT1CAK (1438km). Apart from synchronising the time at the start of the day this tiny beacon is totally stand alone. If the antenna is available I go on 10m WSPR TX.

UPDATE 2112z: Lots of Es spots of my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon. OZ1IT (864km) was copying me at +8dB at times. Time to go QRT soon.

6m FT8 again

At the moment this is my favourite band and mode. As usual, I have been on since before breakfast. So far (0859z), 28 unique stations spotted in 7 countries and 2 continents. Quite a bit of Es.

UPDATE 0914z: Best DX on 6m FT8 RX is currently EA8DBM (3016km). 31 uniques in 8 countries already on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 2118z: Lots of Es today on 6m. I have lost count of the number of stations. Soon be time to go QRT.

Sunspots - Sunday May 27th 2018

Solar flux is 73 today. Sunspot number is 26. A=4 and K=2.

Abortion in Eire - NOT amateur radio

The people of Eire have voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to overturn the law so abortion in the early weeks of pregnancy will become legal. To me this seems sensible and returns the rights to the mother. The people voted almost 2 to 1 in favour of the change. It is likely to become law later this year.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44256152.

Weekend MLS deals

As usual, MLS has some deals for the weekend. They have some deals for this weekend, which is a public holiday in the UK on Monday.

See https://www.hamradio.co.uk/

Well, I am sick to death of GDPR - NOT amateur radio

It seems that every other email is about GDPR and even some of these are "dodgy". Yes, we all know data privacy is important, but this is taking political correctness to new heights, or is it depths?

Surely we want just a simple rule that says each person has to give express, clear, permission for any data held about them to be passed on. If data is currently held people cannot pass it on. Simple. No doubt some Brussels bureaucrats have to translate this into 27 languages at our expense too. Jobs for the boys.

GDPR = Great Deal of PRoper crap!

10m WSPR TX

As I have had an antenna free, I have been on 10m WSPR TX in the last few days with some success. Today is no exception. Yet again I am on 10m WSPR TX (500mW, 100%, randomised frequencies).

Most, if not all, spots seem to have been Es. Activity levels seem lower than previous years on WSPR. Perhaps more are using 10m FT8?

UPDATE 1540z: Just a single SWL spot from Italy early this morning so far.

UPDATE 1805z: Now 22 unique spots on 10m WSPR of my 500mW beacon. Suddenly the band came alive!

UPDATE  1845: DK6UG was copying me as strong as +14dB  S/N. Classic Es. 23 unique stations copying my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon.

UPDATE 2110z: QRT.

UK pound against the Euro - NOT amateur radio

We still await a Brexit deal that respectful of both the UK and the EU. It is in everyone's interest to split amicably.

In the meantime the UK Pound and the Euro are just bumbling along. The exchange rate has hardly changed in some months. Although it fell quite a bit following the Brexit referendum it has been around 1.14 Euros to the UK Pound for some time. It dipped to around 1.12 but seems to have climbed a bit.

Last year I was expecting the Euro to fall in value, but this does not appear to be happening any time soon. Fundamentally, I still think the Euro is under threat.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cx250jmk4e7t/pound-sterling-gbp