Sunspots - Thursday April 25th 2019

Solar flux is 68 again today and the SSN still zero. A=7 and K=1.

Grandchildren at Wymondham - NOT amateur radio

Many generations back our grandchildren had relatives living in Wymondham, Norfolk. Life was very hard and they moved to the industrial north.

This is the grandchildren in Wymondham last week. They love going here.

FT4 digital contest mode

My friend Steve G1KQH alerted me to this. It is a new variation (faster) of FT8 for digital contests.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/april/new-digital-mode-ft4.htm

472kHz WSPR overnight

It is definitely getting less busy! Overnight, I copied 6 stations , but only 3 stations spotted my 10mW ERP WSPR. The activity here overnight is shown in the table.

10m FT8

Although I have been on 10m FT8 RX since about 0800z, nothing yet spotted.

UPDATE 1125z: 6 stations spotted s far with best DX RX6AOB (2990km).

UPDATE 1300z: So far today 36 stations spotted. Looks like Es and some F2 earlier.

Stations received on 10m FT8 RX to 1300z.

UPDATE 1902z: 299 stations spotted today with best DX on 10m FT8 RX being CX5ABM(11133km). Definitely Es and probably linking to F2 further south?

UPDATE 2101z: And still South Americans are coming through! At the moment 403 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today. Quite my best haul for a long while on 10m.

UPDATE 2115z: Now 405 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today with best DX CE2SQE (11473km). I was going to go on 472kHz, but I think I'll stop on 10m.

Sunspots - Wednesday April 24th 2019

Solar flux is 68 today and the SSN 0. A=8 and K=1.

Steam Locos - NOT amateur radio

This photo was taken 7 years ago at Minehead in Somerset. They have perhaps one of the very best collections of steam locos in the UK here.

472kHz WSPR (10mW ERP)

Boyed by the successes of previous nights, I expect to QSY to 472kHz WSPR shortly from 10m FT8 RX. I shall probably give 10m FT8 a bit longer, just in case these is a late opening to South America.  By 2005z I should be active on 472kHz WSPR. As on previous evenings I shall be using 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.

End-fed longwire antennas

These end-fed antennas are quite popular, but a 9:1 transformer is usually needed to bring the impedance down to levels that a typical rig's ATU can match. Often less than 3:1 VSWR can be obtained on all HF bands with such a transformer, so a rig's internal ATU can usually bring this down to 1:1.

See https://pa3i.jouwweb.nl/antenne

Mildenhall Museum - NOT amateur radio

This is a small, local museum with free entry that is manned by volunteers.

For some reason our "London" grandchildren love going there. The photo shows one of our granddaughters there over the Easter weekend.