Passed the minimum?

The figures for last month have been added to the solar forecast. Much to my surprise, this is still forecasting that we have passed the solar minimum. Let us hope they are right!

See http://www.solen.info/solar/images/cycles23_24.png

6m FT8

Presently, I am on 6m FT8 RX. 3 stations have been spotted so far (at 0816z) with the best DX spotted HB9SHD (761km) in northern Switzerland.

UPDATE 0827z: A brief 6m FT8 CQ call (10W) was copied by no-one at all!

UPDATE 0954z: A recent  6m FT8 CQ was spotted by G0GLS (171km) and resulted in a QSO with G6NNS (26km). John G6NNS is fairly local to me. No Es evident. So far, just 4 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 1122z: Apart from the French and Swiss stations spotted much earlier, just 4 G stations spotted this morning on 6m FT8 RX. A pretty poor session.

UPDATE 1150z: A recent 6m FT8 CQ was spotted by 3 stations with the best DX being a spot by GM8IEM (753km) in the north of Scotland.

UPDATE 1500z: What a difference a day makes! Just 12 6m FT8 RX spots all day with the best DX being SQ9KFZ (1305km).

Overnight on 2m FT8 RX

Overnight, I left 2m FT8 RX running. In all 8 stations spotted in the last 6 hours with the best DX spotted being DL2AKT (761km).

Results published for RSGB's 70cm activity contest

The results for the latest 70cm UKAC have just been published. Although I missed a few sessions in recent months, I appear to have improved my position in the AL (low power) section.

See https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfresults.pl?Contest=432MHz%20UKAC&year=2019

Granddaughters - NOT amateur radio

Earlier in the last week we had all our grandchildren here. The photo shows our 2 granddaughters together.

Sunspots - Sunday September 1st 2019

Solar flux is 66 today and the sunspot number still zero. A=38 and K=5. For those who read August 1st my apologies!! I have just noticed this error and corrected it.

Solar numbers

Usually very early each month my favourite source of solar data updates its information. This usually happens either late on the first day or on the second day of the month. As last month, one wonders what the forecast for sunspots looks like later this year. As far as I know, we have been pretty spotless in August.

Homemade recordings - NOT amateur radio

When still at school, i.e. a very long time ago, a friend and I made some homemade records using a big horn, lots of shouting and the plastic lids of coffee jars.

Looking back, these were very exciting days. Although I still have a record, I no longer have a means of playing it.

As we have moved increasingly to digital and streaming, analogue decks are fewer, although some still swear by vinyl records. As I recall there was nothing too profound recorded.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/record

CEPT position at WRC 2023

Although several years off, CEPT has agreed on the items to be on the agenda of WRC-23 according to Southgate News. It seems likely that bands under threat may be safer.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/august/cept-cpg-decides-position-on-144-50-and-1240-1300-mhz.htm

2m FT8

At about 1820z, I switched to 2m FT8, initially calling CQ. Best DX spot was by DL3YCX (475km), which is not bad with 10W to the big-wheel omni. In all 5 stations in 3 countries spotted me.

UPDATE 1855z: On 2m FT8 RX just 3 spots so far this evening.

UPDATE 2024z: A recent 2m FT8 CQ was spotted by 4 stations. On RX just 4 G stations spotted. In all, 7 stations have spotted my 2m FT8 CQs this evening.

UPDATE 2146z: A recent 2m FT8 CQ (10W) was spotted by 9 stations with best spot being by EI2FG (565km) in southern Eire. I shall probably remain on 2m FT8 RX overnight. 8 stations spotted so far on 2m FT8 RX in 4 countries. This is disappointing as it feels people have now had their FT8 fun and have "moved on", but what to and where?