Sunspots - Sunday July 1st 2018

Solar flux is 68 today and the sunspot number 0. A=4 and K=0.

Storms getting closer to the UK

It looks more likely that the storms from Iberia will hit the UK tonight or tomorrow. As a precaution, everything has been disconnected: rigs, PSUs and antennas.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/blitzortung/europe/index.php?lang=en

Not a great day

All day, I have been on 10m WSPR TX and 6m FT8 RX. It was a poor day here. Yes, there was Es on both bands but it was way down on the days before. All being well, I shall try again tomorrow. Some days will be average. I have still to copy the USA and Japan on 6m FT8 RX this summer.

More stroke - NOT amateur radio

Many are not interested, and this I can understand, but I feel the need to express to others just how I feel inside. Life is tough.

Giddy, exhausted, fog is how I'd best describe how I feel most of the time, especially when on my feet. My voice is also poor. Outwardly I look well with a heathy tan. However, inside I feel awful. However hard I try, I am unable to convey just how I feel.

On a recent holiday, someone else who had had a stroke said, "others just don't understand". How right he was. These are exactly my feelings and this precisely expresses my frustration. Others cannot possibly understand.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/stroke

Status quo - NOT amateur radio

Life has a nasty habit of surprising us. We go along with certainties we have known for years, then suddenly something happens to remind us that change always happens. It can be someone dying or getting gravely ill, a different house or something far more trivial.

Change is part of life and the future holds all sorts of shocks. Those best able to accept are people who are not phased by changes or endings: people who can say, that is the end of a chapter and the start of a new one.

Today, we had my wife's cousin-in-law and his granddaughter for lunch and tea. My wife was very close to her cousin when she was little. A few months ago she died.

Sadly, I find endings hard. Perhaps we all do in our own way.

UK Thunder?

We have had (for us) a long warm (hot) spell of weather with temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius. At some point we are likely to have some thunderstorms in parts of the UK. Currently there are storms in Spain moving north. These could result in storms in south west England later.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/blitzortung/europe/index.php?lang=en

10m WSPR TX

Yet again, I am trying with my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon. So far, just spots earlier from local G4KPX (14km) and no Es. Things may change.

UPDATE 0912z: EA8FBK (2880km) is again the best spot.

UPDATE 1911z: Just 5 different stations spotted my little 500mW 10m WSPR beacon today so far.

6m today

After the excitement yesterday with Japan being worked from the UK and others in Western Europe on 6m FT8, today has started quietly with just G spots and one German spotted on 6m FT8 so far. A brief TX period (2.5W to my V2000 vertical omni) netted 6 G spots, but no QSOs.

UPDATE 1138z: Far less Es today. 21 stations in 6 countries here so far.

Sunspots - Saturday June 30th 2018

Solar flux is 68 and the sunspot number 0.  A=4 and K=0.

OV140 German SDR project

This started from the mcHF project and is an open source software and hardware project from Germany. When it is ready, it should be a very interesting SDR transceiver covering up to 2m with 75W. It is expected to be low cost.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdi0wjO1UwM&feature=youtu.be&t=11282