Mortality - NOT amateur radio

A few moments ago, I walked to the bakers. On the way was a dead red-legged partridge that was probably hit by a car. I doubt the motorist was even aware. Things like this just remind us how fragile life really is.

A year ago my son's brother-in-law was killed whilst crossing the road on green at a pedestrian crossing in Australia. The car driver was on her phone and ploughed into him. He was only young.

When we die (some of us) hope for some kind of life after death. No-one is really sure, but probably we just cease to exist as we did in the billions of years before we came into existence. What chance we were born at this time on this planet?

Are all religions our attempt to come to terms with our mortality? I do not know. No-one is really sure.

10m FT8

In a few moments I shall QSY to 10m FT8 for the day.

UPDATE 1035z: A promising start? 5 stations in 5 countries spotted already with best DX RV6FT (3093km).

UPDATE 1143z: 11 stations in 8 EU countries spotted on 10m FT8 RX so far today. No "real DX" spotted here, although others may have been luckier.

UPDATE 1404z: Now 13 stations in 9 countries spotted today on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1817z: No further spots, so time to QSY to 160m FT8.

Topband overnight

Last night was the best yet with more North Americans and Caribbean stations spotted on 160m FT8 RX than at any point since I have been monitoring this season. In all, 14 USA and Canadian stations spotted plus 1 in the Caribbean with best DX KC9FFV (7612km) in Texas.

Sunspots - Monday November 19th 2018

Are we over the very worst or is this just a blip?

Solar flux is 73 (still poor, but better) and the sunspot number 13. A=3 and K=1.

We will need several months of improving numbers before we can be sure we are climbing out of the sunspot minimum. In the meantime, cross your fingers and hope!

Pound v. Euro - NOT amateur radio

Whatever your views on BREXIT, we can expect difficult days ahead.

I am sure the EU wants to punish the UK for leaving the "club" and many in the UK hanker for days which cannot return when "Britannia ruled the waves" and we had an empire. This is an illusion.

Our future is very much linked to Europe as well as the rest of the world. It is reasonable to want the UK parliament to have the final say over our laws and who lives and works here. We cannot have total free movement of people within the EU. In the referendum over 2 years ago I voted "remain" but there was, and still is, a lot wrong with the EU. It is protectionist and inward looking.

In my view, the best outcome would be tariffless borders with the EU, but the UK controlling who lives and works here. Personally, I think the EU is miffed about the lack of funding from the UK and is dreading others following the UK's lead.

If an agreement can be stuck, I expect the UK pound to bounce back. If we leave the EU without agreement it is anyone's guess what will happen. In the end I am sure the UK will do fine outside the EU, but it might take several years for the dust to settle.

UPDATE 1146z: So far today, the UK pound has been climbing and is currently worth 1.126 euros.

Steve G1KQH's Blog

You may be interested in Steve's blog. Steve is G1KQH.

See http://g1kqh.blogspot.com/

Williams Syndrome - NOT amateur radio

Until I saw a tweet earlier by G7SOZ, I had not heard of this condition. Mind you, there are lots of things that I know little about.

See https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/williams-syndrome#diagnosis

QSY to topband FT8

A few minutes ago, I decided to go on 160m FT8 for the evening and overnight. I called CQ and then called a German station, but no QSOs resulted, although I was spotted by a couple of Gs and SM0MDG (1348km) despite my 2.5W QRP to the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. On 160m FT8 RX, I am spotting loads of EU and a Russian.

UPDATE 1657z:  Best DX on 160m FT8 RX is currently RV1CC (2030km).

The stations spotted in the first 30 minutes on 160m FT8 RX this evening

UPDATE 2135z: Right on time WU1ITU (4831km) in Maine, USA spotted again.

10m at present

As most know, we are now at sunspot minimum when solar activity and sunspots are at a low level.

In the past, many would have given up on the higher HF bands and moved down to lower bands to get QSOs. These days we have new weak signal modes and more people are exploring these bands in the "quiet years".

It is fair to say days are mixed. Sometimes it can be very quiet and at other times the band opens, albeit briefly, to distant parts. In the last month DX from South America, South Africa or the Indian Ocean has been spotted on at least half of the days with FT8. Even Australia and North America have been copied!

Indeed, 10m is much harder than a few years ago, but modes like FT8 have proved there are openings on 10m, even when solar conditions are poor and sunspots absent. Never give up on 10m. If more people stuck with 10m, we might all be in for a pleasant surprise.

Tropo forecasts

Although I rarely use this myself, there is a useful program to predict tropo openings on 2m.