Genuine 6m from the USA

Around teatime last night a couple of USA stations in Florida USA were spotted on 6m FT8 RX.  Best DX was WX4G (7171km). This station was widely spotted in the USA and Europe, so I am pretty sure this is genuine.

Yet again, G stations are spotting and calling Japanese stations on 6m FT8 this morning, although none have been spotted here.

So far this season, 5 continents spotted on 6m FT8 RX, even with my V2000 omni vertical and CB coax feed. Others with better systems will have done much better, but it shows just a basic set-up works!

UPDATE 0914z: Just EU Es and Gs spotted here today so far on 6m FT8.

UPDATE 1006z: So far today on 6m FT8 RX, 31 different stations in 11 countries.

UPDATE 2013z: A good Es day on 6m FT8. These are the stations spotted on the band in the last half day.

UPDATE 2042z: A brief 6m FT8 QSO with an EA7 was spotted widely in southern Europe at up to +4dB S/N. Classic Es. And I was still using 2.5W to my vertical omni V2000. Although I was going to go QRT, I decided to stay on RX.

Patio flowers - NOT amateur radio

Our grass is very brown. We never water the grass, but it usually recovers fine after our rain (frequent).

The flowers usually get watered every other day and look fine this year. Our cosmos has only just flowered and we expected this to be out weeks ago.

Sunspots - Saturday July 14th 2018

Solar flux is 73 and the sunspot number still zero. A=6 and K=1.

10m WSPR TX (500mW)

Although I have been on 10m WSPR TX, no spots so far today.

UPDATE 1300z: A couple of German stations spotted me on 10m WSPR about an hour ago.

6m FT8

JAs were being called by UK stations earlier on 6m FT8. Sadly, I spotted none. I called CQ with 2.5W and got 6 spots and a QSO with G3TXF (334km) in north Devon on 6m FT8. There is some Es about on the band from southern Europe, but it is not exactly "humming".

UPDATE 1302z:  22 different stations in 9 countries so far today on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1652z:  Pirate? I am very suspicious of a station spotted on 6m FT8 RX that is supposed to be in Guinea (3X9KFM). The only spots of him are very strong reports from the UK. If real, I would have expected spots more widely. These days, sadly, pirates are all to common. I hope I am proved wrong.

UPDATE 1656z:  Es widely applicable on 6m FT8 RX today. Best DX (excluding the 3X9) is 4X4DK (3580km).

Irish low VHF allocations

Amateurs in Eire have been given generous allocations at low VHF and a bandplan has now been created. This aligns with allocations made in other countries for beacons. It would be great if small allocations at 40MHz could be made across Region 1. Even a small allocation would allow Es research. Will it happen? Yes, if more people press their national bodies. These allocations could be quite small and take-up is likely to be small as no commercial gear is available.

See https://www.irts.ie/cgi/st.cgi?downloads .

International Lighthouse Weekend

In August (18th-19th_, there will be activations from several lighthouses around the world.

See  https://illw.net/ for more details.

How do they do it?

It is 10 years now since I retired. I am amazed how 7dayshop can sell a pair of Motorola 446MHz transceivers for £24.99 delivered. In my view, this company has some very good deals. I expect these rigs can be reprogrammed for 70cms.

I expect these are made in China and that nowadays these are very integrated. Maybe I'll find a "tear-down" video somewhere showing just what is inside. And to think our first UHF handhelds sold for £700+ in the early 1970s!

See https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/164939fe6ccb816c

OFCOM

OFCOM has published its annual report and plan. Reports for other years may also be seen.

See https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/annual-reports-and-plans .

UK Rallies

15 JULY 2018 : 22nd RED ROSE QRP FESTIVAL

St Joseph's Hall, Mather Lane, Leigh, WN7 2PR. Easy access from all major motorways, A580, A579, etc. Car parking, disabled access. Doors open 11am (traders 8.30am, table hire £8 per 6ft table), admission £2.50. Bring and Buy, refreshments, bar. Details from Les, G4HZJ, on 0779 626 4569.

15 JULY 2018 : CORNISH RADIO AMATEUR CLUB RALLY

Penair School, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 1TN. Doors open 10.30am, admission £2. There will be traders, Bring & Buy, club stalls, car parking. Catering is available onsite. Contact Mike, G1NRF on 01209 211 069, mike.g1nrf@hotmail.com for more information.

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