Sunspots - Friday August 10th 2018

Solar flux is 70 today and the sunspot number 0. A=4 and K=1.

QRT time

In a few moments I am going QRT on all bands. Although there is still Es about, I get the feeling that we are now going to see Es less often than in May, June and July. Yesterday there was a good E layer opening to the USA on 6m FT8 RX. Today was relatively quiet here on 6m. 10m WSPR was dire.

Rain - NOT amateur radio

Apart from a couple of short, sharp thunder showers we have had no real rain since May. Temperatures have been over 30 deg C for most of the summer. It has be very hot for the UK.

Today we had real rain that lasted for about 5 hours. It feels cooler too. Tomorrow temperatures should be quite low compared with a few days ago.

Our lawns are parched brown. It will take weeks for the grass to recover, assuming it will. Today's rain will have helped but we need a lot more.

See https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/u121rkr90#?date=2018-08-09

Perseid Meteor Shower

In all my time, I have never had a QSO via MS. I have looked/spotted many times on VHF bands. This weekend is the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. Quite long pings can be expected late Saturday Aug 11th and early morning on August 12th.  Probably I'll stick with 6m FT8 RX to see what appears.

Probably I could have 2-way QSOs on 6m FT8 via MS in a good shower even with my QRP.

Italian Meal - NOT amateur radio

This lunchtime we went to a local Italian restaurant in a nearby village. It is very popular and at night you have to book weeks in advance.  The lunchtime fixed price menu is very good value (food and price). It was busy today. Service is excellent. They have obviously got a good reputation. There were 3 of us (wife, son and yours truly).

10m WSPR TX (500mW)

My 10m WSPR TX beacon has been on for about 10 minutes so far (1049z). No spots yet.

UPDATE 2012z: Still no spots today on 10m WSPR TX. I have the feeling there are going to be no spots at all today when I go QRT shortly.

6m FT8

So I was wondering why I was getting no spots at all on 6m FT8. Then I checked. It helps if you turn the rig on! I had the PC on, but the PSU was off!!

Now everything is on, so if there is activity I should catch it.  Several USA stations were spotted late last evening on 6m FT8.  Also spotted last night was C31MS in Andorra. For some reason this did not upload to PSKreporter, yet this station was widely copied in Europe and the USA. I seem to recall working Andorra years ago on 6m QRP SSB. Somewhere I must have the QSL card.

 Everything was resynced about 1015z.

UPDATE 1050z: A CQ call by EA3LL (1264km) was spotted. Then Dale G3XBY (146km).

UPDATE 1434z: Now 13 stations in 8 countries spotted so far on 6m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 1826z: Now 18 stations in 9 countries so far today.

UPDATE 1848z: Best DX today is UX1UA (2065km) in Ukraine.

UPDATE 1904z: Now 21 stations in 9 countries spotted today on 6m FT8 RX. Es seems to be getting less frequent?

Sunspots - Thursday August 9th 2018

Solar flux is 69 today. The SSN is zero. A=5 and K=1.

Apple picking - NOT amateur radio

Some friends of ours have apple trees that are very heavily laden. We were given a bag to take home. We have been advised to cut them open first as they are sweet and the maggots like them too. Extra protein?

Political correctness - NOT amateur radio

These days it is hard to say anything without it being labelled "politically incorrect". A recent case was the UK's ex foreign secretary Boris Johnson saying Muslim women in burkas look like letter boxes allegedly.  Now, as a politician he should have chosen his words better, but these days people are too afraid to say anything in case it offends someone. Personally, I think it was deliberate on his part to get noticed.

I am no fan of this man, but I think we are all getting very stupid. Speak what you think. If we get offended occasionally, so be it. In the past I have been offended by remarks made against me, but I prefer to take them "on the chin" than live in a nanny state in which we are told how to breath.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45114368 .