Sunspots - Friday December 21st 2018

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=12 and K=2.

Anglesey Abbey - NOT amateur radio

We are quite near to the National Trust place Anglesey Abbey. We go pretty often to check what is coming up in the way of flowers. January is usually a good month for snowdrops and daffodils and at the moment there are irises out.

VLF upconverter

Amateur VLF transmissions demand very narrow bandwidths, high stability, long integration times and special (free) software. By contrast, commercial or government VLF signals are often strong. These stations usually have high power and very big antennas.

To receive commercial or government broadcasters a simple upconverter is fine. An example of one is my design.

For amateur VLF signals this is almost certainly not suitable. Most amateur VLF signals are seen on a PC screen rather than heard.

160m FT8 RX

 Since 1744z, I have been on 160m FT8. As on previous evenings, lots of Europeans spotted.

UPDATE 2222z: No North Americans coming through yet.

Nearly - NOT amateur radio

This morning we went to Anglesey Abbey hoping to see some early snowdrops and daffodils.

There were a few snowdrops out (not many) and one daffodil about to come out: it had dropped and needs a few more days.

Grand Arcade, Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

It seems everywhere is getting ready for Christmas, although the big stores and garden centres have been selling Christmas things since September!

I guess Dec 26th we'll have holiday adverts and Easter eggs on sale - all in the name of that god "profit".

The photo shows the Grand Arcade in Cambridge last week.

10m FT8

LA7DFA (1311km) was worked with 2.5W FT8 on 10m early this morning. Judging by the signal strengths, this was probably winter Es. This was a total surprise. In all, 5 stations in 4 countries spotted on 10m FT8 RX already.

UPDATE 1710z: 12 stations, all European, so far spotted on 10m FT8 RX today.

Germany on 4m next year

Southgate News reports that German amateurs will have access to part of 4m all next year. It would be good if they had a permanent 4m allocation. The ICOM IC7300 includes 4m. At the moment, few commercial rigs include 4m, which is getting more and more allocations.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/december/germany-on-70-mhz-in-2019.htm#.XBtnYvZ2u00
See http://www.70mhz.org/index.php?categoryid=2&p2_articleid=316

Overnight on 160m FT8 RX

Quite a decent night with 9 North Americans and 1 South American logged. Best DX was KC9FFV (7612km) in Texas, USA.

160m FT8 RX overnight here

Sunspots - Thursday December 20th 2018

Solar flux is 70 and the sunspot number 0. A=6 and K=3.