Sunspots - Wednesday June 6th 2018

Solar flux is 70 today and the sunspot number 11. A=10 and K=2.

OFCOM updates

Every month OFCOM publishes its "Communications Monthly" as an update on their work. Gosh, this is a real page turner. Every page is more exciting than the last. Forget thrillers and crime fiction! Said with a lot of sarcasm. One day, maybe when I am pushing up daisies, they will get back to real work. Say 2080?

See http://ofcom.cmail20.com/t/ViewEmail/i/DA889B534ABC6DEF2540EF23F30FEDED/59D1BD3EA2F08127C67FD2F38AC4859C

Hungary gets WRC 60m allocation

According to Southgate News, Hungarian amateurs have been allocated the WRC 5MHz band. Previously (to late last year) they had a 100kHz wide allocation.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/june/hungary-back-on-60m.htm#.Wxb5ffZFzIU .

Funerals - NOT amateur radio

At one time we went to weddings and christenings. Already this year we have gone to 4 funerals!  I guess this is part of getting older. Sadly, as you get older more and more people around our own age are dying.

Still, at least the suit gets an outing. Otherwise it would still be in the wardrobe. 😊

President Trump's UK visit - NOT amateur radio

Apparently the visit to the UK by the US president is due to happen later this summer. Especially with his tariffs on steel and aluminium he may not get the warmest of welcomes. No doubt some will welcome him, whereas others would prefer it if he stayed at home.

Special relationship??

Pirates

It is getting harder to know if stations received are genuine nowadays. With remote operation, you can be in Timbuktu yet remotely operating gear in Europe.

Also, some people run pirate stations, so one has to be very careful. Caveat emptor.

Drawing - NOT amateur radio

Not sure if this photo was on the blog recently. If it has been on before, my apologies.

It shows our younger granddaughter drawing in the garden in the May sunshine.

Sunspots - Tuesday June 5th 2018

Solar flux is 71 today and the sunspot number 11. A=5 and K=2

10m WSPR TX (500mW)

So far today, 10 different stations have spotted my little 10m WSPR TX beacon (100% TX, 500mW, random frequency).  Best DX is EA8BFK (2880km).

6m: 4 continents and 56 countries spotted in last day

6m FT8 is "humming". Yesterday alone was amazing with 56 countries spotted and some real DX to the Caribbean and South America. There is good EU Es on 6m FT8 this morning as well.

UPDATE 0845z: Amazing DX! K6CWQ (8557km) in California just spotted on 6m FT8! This cannot be multi hop Es: I am more convinced than ever this is some other E layer propagation. This station was widely spotted across Europe. As Steve (see below) points out, this could be a European pirate, sadly. If there were some USA spots, it might be more believable.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/noctilucent.