Elder son now 43 - NOT amateur radio

Our elder son is now 43, which seems scarcely believable. Where did those years go? The photo shows him with his children and my wife singing "happy birthday to you". We did not have 43 candles, so 1 had to do!

Sunspots - Sunday March 10th 2019

Solar flux is 71 today and the SSN 11. A=5 and K=1.

2m FT8

After the total failure on 70cm FT8, I have QSYed to 2m (144.174MHz) where at the moment I am calling CQ (2.5W to the big-wheel omni antenna). I see my CQ is being spotted by G8TTI (186km). So far, 8 stations are spotting me with best DX GI6ATZ (479km).  My 2.5W to the omni is being spotted in 3 countries already! The sad thing is 70cms could be as good on FT8.

UPDATE 1630z: Now RX only on 2m FT8. 4 stations in 3 countries spotted so far today on the big-wheel 2m omni antenna.

UPDATE 2132z: Now 21 stations in 5 countries spotted since early evening. Best DX spotted is DL3TW (655km).

UPDATE 2225z: Now 29 stations spotted on 2m FT8 this evening.

Stations spotted here this evening on 2m FT8 

with the big-wheel omni antenna.

Returning summer migrants - NOT amateur radio

Slowly, the summer bird migrants are returning. Already in Devon there are wheatears, sand martins and swallows. At first just the odd one, whereas by mid April, many will be commonplace once again.

Tree trunk - NOT amateur radio

This was seen on a walk a few days ago. I love the patterning.

Overnight on 160m FT8 RX

Not a bad night with 7 North Americans and 7 Caribbean stations spotted on 160m FT8. Best DX spotted was AA7A (8369km) in New Mexico. In total, 332 stations spotted on 160m FT8 RX in the last day.

Stations spotted on the earth-electrode "antenna"

 in the ground on 160m FT8 here overnight.

70cm FT8 RX

Ever hopeful, I am on 432MHz FT8 RX for the first time. I am monitoring 432.174MHz USB with WSJT-X. I shall be on all day using the 2m big wheel which matched well on 70cm and is omni-directional (well it is on 2m!).

Using this antenna I can usually work stations over 100km away with 5W SSB on 70cms. First 70cm switch-on was 0921z. A brief 2.5W CQ at around 1000z got no spots.

UPDATE 1529z: Still no 70cm FT8 RX spots. From the PSKreporter map it looks like 70cm FT8 is quite popular in Japan.

UPDATE 1544z: Unless I get any 70cm FT8 RX spots in the next 20 minutes or so, I am giving up and QSYing somewhere else. I knew it would be hard, but nothing at all. This is sad, as I suspect 70cms would be a good aircraft reflection band and good tropo band. FT8 with its concentration of activity and 15 second periods would be ideal.

UPDATE 1604z: Total failure, with not a single 70cm FT8 spot all day. Now QSYing to 144.174MHz FT8 RX.

Sunspots - Saturday March 9th 2019

Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 11.  A=5 and K=0

160m FT8 RX

For a few hours, I have been on 160m FT8 RX.  So far, 158 stations spotted here with the first North American being WU1ITU (4831km).

70cm FT8 in Western Europe (including UK)?

Although I have tried FT8 on 160, 80, 60, 10, 6 and 2m I have never tried this mode on 70cm. I have no idea at all about activity levels or frequencies. I can imagine this band is pretty good for aircraft scatter and probably quite good on tropo. I'd hazard a guess that 70cm FT8  might be as good as 2m (or even better) given decent levels of activity. In reality, I expect 70cm is much, much quieter than 2m FT8.

If you know anything about this mode on 70cm please let me know. I am happy to sit on 70cms FT8 all day and all evening, mostly RX. For antennas I'd either have to use my 2m big-wheel horizontal omni (not ma bad match on 70cm) or my V2000 vertical. For aircraft reflection, the V2000 is proably better, although not for tropo.