Grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

At the moment we have our "London" grandchildren staying. They miss their kitten. We bought them some toy cuddly kittens which were a hit at bedtime.

Return to topband

At 1553z I returned to 160m FT8. I called a German station, without luck, but spotted by G0LUJ (279km) and another G.

Since then, I have been on RX only. Lots of Europeans spotted. Best DX so far this evening is UA4HBW (3325km).

More amateur satellites

According to Southgate News a recent Soyuz (Russian) launch has placed more amateur satellites into orbit.

See http://russianspaceweb.com/kanopus-v5-v6.html

Baking - NOT amateur radio

Our granddaughter loves baking. Here she is busy making Yorkshire Pudding earlier today. She is pretty good.

472kHz WSPR overnight

In all, 19 different stations spotted on 472kHz WSPR overnight with best DX EA4GHB (1300km).

Panto - NOT amateur radio

Last night we went with our "London" grandchildren to the panto in Ely with their mum and dad. It  was "Jack and the Beanstalk".

Sunspots - Sunday December 30th 2018

Solar flux is 69 and the sunspot number 0. A=11 and K=2.

10m FT8

Quite decent winter Es on 10m today, with lots of EU spots on 10m FT8. Nothing outside Europe spotted so far. My own brief call (2.5W) to an EA4 was not spotted by anyone.

UPDATE  1441z: Now 33 stations in 14 countries on 10m FT8 RX today. All European.

QSY to 472kHz WSPR RX

Although not quite dark, I have QSYed to MF for the evening and overnight. Results usually pick up after dark, although there is at least one station coming through with QSB. As I was just turning on, I was not able to ID it, yet.

Getting a bit lighter in the evenings - NOT amateur radio

Although the mornings get a little darker here until later next week, the evenings are already a little lighter. According to https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/cambridge it is already 5 minutes better at sunset. By the end of January, it is about an hour later getting dark.