6m FT8

6m FT8 RX today

Once again, Es on 6m FT8 has been good. As the internet returned, uploads to PSKreporter worked.

UPDATE 1910z: 390 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today. Another great Es day on 6m. As the internet was off most of the morning I may well have spotted far more than are shown on PSKreporter maps. The maps shows the stations spotted so far today on 6m FT8 RX.

Internet back? - NOT amateur radio

About an hour ago our internet came back after about 36 hours. There was a fault preventing our box in the road getting any signal. I hope it stays on!

Luckily we had 4G phones which still worked.

Sunspots - Wednesday August 28th 2019

Solar flux is 65 and the SSN 0. A=10 and K=2.

Cooling off - NOT amateur radio

Today it felt even hotter than yesterday, but the grandkids found a way to keep cool as the photo shows.

More on the threats to 2m

You may be aware that France wants to discuss the possibility of Aeronautical Services having access to the 2m band. Apparently Germany has opposed this. This may be discussed at WRC 2023. 

6m FT8 overnight

Although 6m FT8 RX was running overnight, nothing was spotted.

UPDATE 0833z: As the Internet is still offline nothing I spot will reach PSKreporter. On the PC screen I see that Italians, Spaniards and Sicilians have been spotted probably by Es. A brief FT8 CQ was spotted in Spain at 1366km.

UPDATE 1320z: My Internet is still offline, so I cannot upload to PSKreporter. A CQ with FT8 resulted in a couple of Es QSOs on 6m.

UPDATE 2023z: Still no Internet apart from 4G. Hopefully it will be on later.

Sunspots - Tuesday August 27th 2019

Solar flux is 67 and the SSN 0. A=6 and K=3.

Bikes - NOT amateur radio

One of our sons is staying with us with his son and daughter until later in the week. Th photo shows them on their bikes last night. Luckily it is very quiet here with very few cars.

Early 6m Es

Although it is very early and I have not yet had breakfast there are several Italian stations coming in already on 6m FT8. This is a promising start.

UPDATE 0740z: Amazing! Already 76 stations from all over Europe spotted today on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 0836z: Already 120 stations spotted on 6m FT8 this morning! Many (most) are Es.

UPDATE 0948z: My 6m FT8 CQ (10W) was widely copied in southern Europe. So far this morning, 170 stations have been spotted on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 2120z: Quite an extraordinary day on 6m with hundreds of stations copied via Es from all over Europe and North Africa. I am beginning to wonder if there is some correlation between climate change and Es?

Sunspots - Monday August 26th 2019

Solar flux is 66 today and the SSN is still 0. A=4 and  K=2.