End of season on 472kHz?

Yet again, I was on 472kHz WSPR last evening and overnight. In all, 3 stations spotted me. I definitely get the feeling that many are leaving the band until the autumn. Last night fewer stations were copied than for many months. DX wise, I was still copying I and EA.

The table shows the 472kHz WSPR activity here last evening and overnight.

472kHz WSPR here overnight

10m FT8

Although I have been on 10m FT8 since before breakfast, calling CQ initially (2.5W), no spots at all yet.

UPDATE 0900z: Just PA3BGQ (272km) spotted so far. This could be tropo or aircraft.

UPDATE 1037z: Now 4 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX with best DX DJ1AA (660km).

UPDATE 1230z: Now 7 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX with best DX LZ2II (2093km).

UPDATE 1740z: Now 72 EU stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX. Presumably Es. No "real DX" here as yet on 10m today. I was half hoping we'd see some Es linking with F2 further south, meaning we might get some South American DX on 10m FT8 RX.

Sunspots - Thursday May 2nd 2019

Still the pits!  Solar flux is 67 and the sunspot number zero. A=10 and K=4.

472kHz WSPR

At about 1930z I decided to go on 472kHz WSPR (10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground). I am on TX for 20% and on RX the other 80%. At the moment best RX DX is EA4 and DL. On TX just M0TAZ (99km) spotting me.

Es blog

A friend Richard G3TFX has just sent me this link. Jim Bacon G3YLA was a well known BBC weather forecaster. He has a keen interest in sporadic E (Es) propagation. He is a well known radio amateur. 

You need to chose the date you want.

See http://www.propquest.co.uk/blog.php?date=2019-05-01

Electric cars, not yet? - NOT amateur radio

As a low power radio enthusiast (they call us QRPers), I want to buy an electric car, but still feel it is a technology that is not quite there. I feel sure there will be a tipping point when prices fall and ranges are much better. This point is still some years away, unless there is a really significant breakthrough in battery technology. At the moment electric cars are expensive and ranges are not good enough. Give it 5-10 years and things could be much different.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_electric_cars_currently_available

Burwell museum and windmill - NOT amateur radio

Please be aware that Waitrose (Newmarket) is making our local Burwell Museum one of its community projects for May. If you shop at Waitrose (Newmarket) you may want to support your local museum by putting your green tokens in the museum "pot".

Easter profits - NOT amateur radio

Even though Easter was very late this year, it has now gone. One of our leading UK supermarkets, John Lewis, was selling Easter goods soon after Christmas. This is pure commercialism and sick.

In my view, Christmas goods should not be displayed or sold before December and Easter goods no sooner than 1 month before Easter. Baa humbug :-( 

10m FT8

After a brief (2.5W) CQ call at 0825z (I was not spotted), I am now RX only on 10m FT8. As yet, no spots. It is very early, so unless there was strong Es, I might only expect near Europeans and Gs by tropo or aircraft reflection.

UPDATE 1250z: Just three G spots so far today on 10m FT8 RX. Poor.

UPDATE 1530z: Today really has been the pits! Just 4 G spots all day on 10m FT8 RX. I shall stay on until dark, just in case there is a late opening.

UPDATE 1855z: Some Es from Southern Europe around teatime.

Solar predictions

As yet, my favourite site for solar details has not yet been updated for April. This usually happens early in the new month. It will be interesting to see the forecasts for solar minimum and cycle 25 maximum dates. At odds with some other forecasts, this site was predicting we had already passed the solar minimum.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/

UPDATE 1248z: It has now been updated and still shows that we have passed the solar minimum.