160m FT8 later?

As 10m seems so dire here today, I shall probably give 160m FT8 a try later. Even with the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground, I am sure 160m RX results are as good as I can expect and even my 2.5W on TX gets spotted over 1000km away on FT8.

Every night that I try, I spot many North Americans on 160m FT8 RX as well as bags of Europeans. Most nights I seem to spot several hundred unique stations on topband. On RX with this "antenna" I have an S0 noise floor, which must help. How much longer?

UPDATE 1606z: I QSYed to 160m about 30 minutes ago. At first I called CQ (2.5W), but got no spots. After a period RX only, best DX DL7CX (868km), I am now calling CQ again. It is still quite sunny here.

UPDATE 1616z: Just M0RTP (116km) spotting me so far.

UPDATE 1715z: Lots of Europeans now being spotted.

UPDATE 1950z: A period of CQ calls resulted in lots of spots with best DX being LB7ZG (1058km) despite just using 2.5W to the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.

Stations that spotted my 2.5W 

160m FT8 CQ calls this evening.

472kHz WSPR overnight

Last night was average on 472kHz WSPR. In all, I was spotted by 10 stations with best DX PA0O (440km) and I spotted 11 stations.

Then I looked at a well equipped station, EI0CF, who was spotted by 117 different stations including 5 North Americans. So, a decent antenna and ground does make a real difference! Mind you, it proves that even with a very compromised set-up and low ERP like mine results are possible especially with WSPR.

Stations that spotted me overnight on 472kHz WSPR

Stations spotted here on 472kHz  WSPR overnight

10m FT8

Much of the morning I have been on 10m FT8. At the moment, just G4HZW (212km) spotted. A brief CQ earlier was spotted by no-one at all. It looks like this will be another dire day on 10m FT8.

UPDATE 1448z: No further spots. All very quiet on 10m FT8.

SETI - NOT amateur radio

In the visible universe there estimated to be 1 billion trillion stars. And that is just the ones we can see!! If you say 1% of these have planets this is still a huge number. Of these, you would have thought some would have life and some of these intelligent life.

To my knowledge, we have been looking for over 50 years yet found nothing via the SETI (search for extra terrestrial intelligence). Either intelligent life is very rare indeed, or we are looking the wrong way, it is too weak to detect, or it is not there.

Should we ever find out that we are not alone, it should have a profound impact on life on Earth.

See https://www.seti.org/

Sunspots Thursday February 7th 2019

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0.  A=10 and K=3.

Bouncing along the bottom of the solar cycle?

BREXIT - NOT amateur radio

The recent statement by Donald Tusk about there being a "special place in hell for BREXITeers" was ill timed and counter-productive. Yes, Theresa May is struggling to get her plan approved by MPs in UK parliament, but this smacks of sour grapes.

Although I voted "remain", I am probably not alone in wishing the EU gets not a penny of the £39 billion the UK was due to pay unless the EU agrees a sensible deal that suits both the UK and EU.

Mr Tusk, think before speaking.

Wicken cottage - NOT amateur radio

This is one of the cottages we saw on our walk at nearby Wicken last week.

More crappery - NOT amateur radio

This appeared on my blog maintenance pages earlier:

"Following the announcement of Google+ API deprecation scheduled for March 2019, a number of changes will be made to Blogger’s Google+ integration on 4 February 2019. "

So the new buzz word is "depreciation". 

USA rally

8-10 FEBRUARY : 73rd ORLANDO HamCation®

Central Florida Fairgrounds and Expo Park, 4603 West Colonial Drive, Orlando, Florida 32808, USA. Over 150 commercial vendors, more than 200 swap table vendors and the largest tailgate area in the southeastern US, will show and sell amateur radios, parts, computer hardware and software and other interesting electronic items for a growing group of radio enthusiasts. Over thirty forums held at the Lakeside Pavilion will present a diverse range of topics including digital amateur radio, new software developments, youth and amateur radio. K1AA will be the operating as a special event station and talk-in station. HamCation® is the second largest ham shows in the United States and third largest in the world after Tokyo and Hamvention with over 22.300 visitors last year. www.hamcation.com.

Good night on 160m FT8

Overnight was good on 160m FT8 with lots of North Americans spotted plus 2 Caribbeans. Even my brief CQ call (2.5W) was spotted by 6 stations in 3 countries

Stations spotted on 160m FT8 overnight with 

the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.

Stations that spotted my 2.5W CQ with 

the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.