Still not much new at Dayton

Although I have not seen the final day summary, there would appear to be little new announced by the "big boys". Yes Elecraft announced the K4, but I have heard nothing from the traditional Japanese manufacturers.

Next year? Actually it would not entirely surprise me if at least one of these "pulls the plug" on amateur radio before May 2020.

See http://www.arrl.org/news/hamvention-2019-saturday-roundup

6m FT8

Because of my laziness, I remained on 6m FT8 RX overnight. If I remember I may try 160m FT8 RX tonight.

So far this morning, 22 stations in 5 countries spotted on 6m FT8 RX in the last 6 hours with the best DX being OZ4ACK (881km).

UPDATE 1604z: 55 stations so far spotted in the last 12 hours on 6m FT8 with the best DX being YO8SSB (1874km).

UPDATE 1920z: Now 66 stations spotted today on 6m FT8 RX with best DX EA8TR (2989km).

UPDATE 1954z: A brief 2.5W CQ to the vertical omni antenna on 6m FT8 was spotted by 5 stations with best being EA7DL (1643km)

Oscar 100 - people losing interest?

One local amateur who put together 2.4GHz and 10GHz gear for Oscar 100 has now had enough fun and is instead converting it to a /P station for terrestrial activity sessions. I wonder if this is a trend?

People enjoy the challenge briefly, have a few weeks of fun, then say bye bye. By now I was expecting the satellite to be very busy, but it is not. As they say, "the journey is more important than the destination".

Perhaps for appliance operators it is too much of a challenge - you need to be keen to get a station together and a fat cheque book does not work.

Sunspots - Sunday May 19th 2019

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 11. A=5 and K=0.

Dayton Hamvention 2019. Few new products?

First reports from Dayton are disappointing with few new products announced. As the years progress, it would not surprise me if some Japanese companies leave the amateur radio market, or even go bust. In many countries  it is an "old mans" hobby with fewer buyers, so a diminishing market. Some are clearly struggling already.

See http://www.arrl.org/news/hamvention-2019-friday-roundup .

Post holiday blues - NOT amateur radio

Having just returned from a great holiday in Portugal we have the usual problems. Empty fridge, long grass, loads of washing and lots of post. To cap it all it is now raining and my 10m, 20m and 40m end-fed antenna has fallen down! Ho hum! I managed to cut the front lawn, but not the back.

Our holiday blog is at https://port19postcards.blogspot.com/

6m FT8

After a brief CQ (2.5W to the V2000 vertical omni), I have been on FT8 RX most of the time. So far 38 reports in 8 countries on FT8 RX today with best DX LB7FA (1026km). On TX my best spot was by M0BEW (194km).

UPDATE 1517z: Now 44 stations spotted with EA8JK (3022km) as best DX spotted on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 2008z: Now 71 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today.

472kHz WSPR overnight

Being back home, I tried 472kHz WSPR (10mW ERP from the earth-electrode antenna in the ground) overnight. It definitely feels like the end of the season with very few stations spotting me and being spotted.

472kHz WSPR overnight

Sunspots - Saturday May 18th 2019

Solar flux is 71 and the sunspot number is 13. A=5 and K=1.

Back home and back on 472kHz WSPR

At about 2110z we arrived back home. I am back on 10mW ERP (20%) WSPR on 472kHz. A new station has appeared - G6ECH (227km). As yet, no spots of me.