Taster menu - NOT amateur radio

To celebrate my wife being just 70 and me being 70 just before Christmas, we enjoyed a "Taster Menu" at a local restaurant. It was excellent, both the food and service. Why do I not feel hungry today? 😁

Sunspots - Thursday December 6th 2018

Solar flux is 70 and the sunspot number 16 (they are back!).  A=5 and K=1.

472kHz WSPR

As it is now dark here, I have QSYed to 472kHz WSPR (10mW ERP) from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. G1GKN (99km) is a good signal on RX and my QRPP is being copied by 4 unique stations with best DX so far being a spot by G4ZFG (203km).

G3XBM videos

Most of these date from before my 2013 stroke, although some are more recent. Most are about my projects.

See https://www.youtube.com/user/G3XBM .

Large diameter comet - NOT amateur radio

Southgate News has a report from SpaceWeather.com about a comet that looks as big as the full moon. It is actually quite small, but it comes quite close.

See http://spaceweather.com/

Sterling - NOT amateur radio

On the face of it, we are in for a rough time. The UK government was found in contempt of parliament last night and the UK parliament is quite likely to reject the Prime Minister's EU BREXIT deal next Tuesday when this is voted on in the House of Commons.

So what happens? Stirling goes up in value against the Euro!  As I write, it is up 0.48%. Maybe, the UK economy will be OK when we leave the EU or people assume we will walk away unless the deal is a fair one.

Mud - NOT amateur radio

Exactly 6 years ago, I visited my brother in Devon. Although the weather, as I recall, was quite decent, we had some mud!

As they say, "come to sunny Devon where it rains 6 days out of 7".

10m FT8

This morning, I am on 10m FT8 RX, although no spots here so far today.

UPDATE 1047z: Just one spot so far: GW0PLP (329km) in west Wales.

UPDATE 1242z: Abysmal! So far today, just 3 spots, probably aircraft reflections with best DX OH3JQ (1743km).

UPDATE 1406z: Just 5 spots total today on 10m FT8 RX. Best DX is OH5KT (1859km).

UPDATE 1636z: 9 spots in 6 European countries today on 10m FT8 RX. Shortly I shall QSY to 630m (472kHz) WSPR.

160m FT8 RX

Last night there were only 3 North Americans spotted here plus PY1BVY (9321km). I am a little suspicious of this one. He was widely spotted across Europe, including Russia and in North America, but no spots at all of him in South America. Pirate? Of course, this could just reflect activity levels, but you can understand my scepticism.  Again, lots of Europeans spotted on 160m FT8 RX.

Sunspots - Wednesday December 5th 2018

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN still zero. A=10 and K=1.