70cm activity contest this evening

Starting at 1900z (8pm UK clock time) is the May leg of the RSGB's 70cm UKAC activity contest. SSB activity is better than usual and even 5W to a 2m halo usually gets me QSOs up to over 100km.

Lisbon trams - NOT amateur radio

Lisbon, built on 7 hills like Rome, is famous for its old trams.

It suffered a major earthquake in 1755.

Solar Cycle 25 predictions

This is getting more like BREXIT everyday with major disagreements amongst the "experts".

They all seem to agree that the size of the next solar peak will be similar to the last one, but there are major disagreements about the depth and length of the preceding minimum.

See https://www.weather.gov/news/190504-sun-activity-in-solar-cycle

HF beams

A few days ago I reported seeing no HF beams in Portugal. Yesterday, I saw 2. Perhaps they are more affluent further south?

FT4

Digital mode FT8 has become enormously popular. Apparently a new release candidate of the faster FT4 is due out in a few weeks. I have yet to try FT4.

Sunspots - Tuesday May 14th 2019

Solar flux is 76 today and the SSN 24. A=4 and K=2.

Mobile phones and driving - NOT amateur radio

Some of you may remember that one of my sons lost a brother-in-law in 2017 when he was ploughed down by a driver who went through a red light in Australia. It took him 5 weeks to die. He was in his late 20s.

Never, ever use your mobile phone whilst driving. Even hands-free can be distracting. If you can, put the phone in a glove compartment! I was appalled to see this video. I hope he was banned from driving for years and was sacked by the owners of the lorry. Stay safe.

Oscar 100 - still very quiet

When I took a quick look at the Goonhilly SDR relaying the narrowband transponder just now there was only one QSO going on.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

Viseu, Portugal - NOT amateur radio

Viseu Street

Yesterday we were in Viseu, whereas today we are much further south near Lisbon. We saw plenty of storks near Coimbra, but none since. I keep looking for bee-eaters. but have seen none.

Web SDRs

Southgate News has a piece about the Farnham Web SDR. These days there are web SDRs all over the world, so you can take a peek at what things are like from other places. It seems odd to listen to a UK 10GHz beacon in Lisbon!

See http://www.websdr.org/