Sunspots - Thursday June 13th 2019

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0 still. A=7 and K=1.

Sibling reunion

Every year my wife gets together with her brothers for a few nights. We have been doing this (with spouses) now for 17 years. We take it in turns to act as hosts. This year we were in Goostrey in Cheshire. Apart from the rain, we had a great time again. It is good to get together for occasions other than funerals! Next year it is our turn.

472kHz WSPR

After a couple of nights at a sibling reunion in Cheshire, I am now home again. I decided to give 472kHz WSPR a try again. Already 2 stations have spotted my 10mW ERP with the best being a report by G4ZFQ (203km).

OFCOM and 5G

OFCOM has announced moves to defragment 3.6GHz spectrum for 5G.

Real DX on 2m FT8

Southgate News reports on Es between the Cape Verde Islands and Austria on 2m FT8 over a distance of 5102km.

Sunspots - Wednesday June 12th 2019

Solar flux is 68 today and the SSN is 0 still. A=3 and K=1.

Noctilucent Clouds

Southgate News passes on a Spaceweather report that noctilucent cloud formations are probably the best for years. Just about every June the path from Europe to Japan opens briefly on 6m VHF. This is thought linked to ionised mesospheric clouds. The openings are usually short lived and weak, but regular. The image is by creative commons user Novokaiin.

See http://southgatearc.org/clouds.htm#.XP4F7PZFy00

See also https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/noctilucent

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud

6m FT8 RX

At the moment just G and nearer Europeans being spotted. These could be tropo and almost certainly not Es.

Sunspots - Monday June 10th 2019

Still spotless.

Solar flux is 68 and the sunspot number 0. A=6 and K=1.

x80 antenna

A few days ago I mentioned that my HF antenna (a Par end-fed) had blown down. Sadly these days I need help with antennas as my ladder skills (even on to a flat garage roof) are probably beyond me safely.

In the garage I have an almost mint x80 antenna fed with a 9:1 un-un. Reports of these vary with some saying they can break in winds. For now, when I have got a suitable support, I shall probably erect one as it should give reasonable performance on the higher HF bands. At the old QTH, albeit higher, it worked quite well.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/x80