Return to 2m FT8

Yet again, I have returned to 2m FT8. G7RAU (461km) in Cornwall once more copied my 2.5W call to my big-wheel omni antenna. This happens nearly every time I go on, so must be tropo. Yes, he has a good site, but this is a very long way!

UPDATE 1301z: 6 stations in 4 countries so far spotted today on 2m FT8 RX with best DX DO7JVK (421km).

UPDATE 1440z: Now 18 stations in 4 countries with best DX DK1FG (815km) in Bavaria.

UPDATE 1545z: Now 23 stations in 4 countries spotted today on 2m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 2208z:  Now 32 stations spotted today on 2m FT8 RX.

160m FT8 RX

Quite a disappointing period with only 8 North Americans spotted on 160m FT8 RX (am I really saying this? In the past the thought of just one USA station on 160m would have been amazing!) and nothing from the Caribbean. 2 South Americans were spotted. Best DX spotted last night was PY2IU (9573km) in Brazil.

Also of interest on 160m was S01WS (3043km) in Western Sahara, Africa.

Sunspots - Friday February 8th 2019

Solar flux is 70 and the sunspot number still 0. A=4 and K=2.

Raspberry PI shop in Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

The first Raspberry Pi shop in the world is opening in Cambridge, where it was invented. It is the UK's best computer, selling 55 million units. I have never played with one (yet).

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-47143411

See also https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/raspberry-pi-retail-store-cambridge-3654743?fbclid=IwAR1-n2S5FImPSvQGXNBuvgeIhfNwLCVH-QDpNlch3GpOCK0pXTqa08ygG-M

Visit - NOT amateur radio

Earlier this week we had a visit from one of our nephews who was on a course nearby.

In the background, you can just see "our" windmill.

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?