Sunspots - Sunday July 22nd 2018

Solar flux is 70 today and the SSN 11.   A=11 and K=1 .

No rallies?

Usually I get notification of upcoming rallies but I have heard nothing! Maybe I missed something?

Sunspots - Saturday July 21st 2018

Solar flux is 70 today and the SSN remains zero.  A=7 and K=3 .

Rain - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday we had rain on our way to Norfolk. It must have rained for  10 seconds! This is the first time I have  seen rain since May!

Return to 4m

With more and more countries now getting access to 4m (70MHz), I am seriously thinking about getting active on this band. Many years ago I designed and built this transverter for 4m. This has appeared on this blog before, but if you have no other way of accessing the band this may be a source of ideas.

Sunspots - Friday July 20th 2018

Solar flux is 70 today and the sun remains spotless. A=4 and K=1.

70cm - a much under-used band

70cm can be very quiet with little activity outside of contests and I am as guilty as anyone! This is a pity as tropo lifts can be more frequent than on 2m and ranges almost as good. In monthly activity contests I usually work over 100km with 5W SSB and a 2m halo! Maybe I should install a 70cm big-wheel above my 2m one?

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/70cm_op .

Baby snake found in amber - NOT amateur radio

Scientists in China have found a 99 million year old baby snake in a piece of amber. This is incredibly rare. To think this snake was wriggling around when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Amber freezes things in a time capsule. Usual finds are bits of flies.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44872148 .

Solar minimum?

We are approaching the next solar minimum. Such periods are characterised by very low sunspot numbers for a long time. We have already had many weeks without sunspots. We can expect more "quiet sun" weeks until we climb on the upward slopes towards the peak of cycle 25. At the moment we are looking at 2020 for the next minimum.

See http://spaceweather.com/ .

Younger people - NOT amateur radio

All is not bad with young people as these charts show. Trends show they take fewer drugs, commit less crime, smoke less, have fewer teen pregnancies and drink less.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/44880278 .