Sunspots - Friday September 13th 2019

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN is still zero. A=7 and K=3.

Late switch to 2m FT8

Quite late (about 2200z) I switched to 2m FT8 from 6m FT8. I shall probably stay on 2m FT8 RX overnight on 144.174MHz USB.

Initially, I called CQ. No QSOs resulted, but my 10W to the big-wheel omni was spotted all over the UK from Cornwall to Northern Ireland with 7 stations spotting me so far.

Interestingly, no stations spotted here yet on RX. I get the feeling that quite a few leave RXs on uploading spots to PSKreporter , but do not TX.

Rallies this weekend in Great Britain

14 SEPTEMBER 2019 (new date) : FOG ON THE TYNE RALLY

Whitehall Road Methodist Church Hall, Bensham, Gateshead NE8 4LH (at the corner of Whitehall Road and Coatsworth Road). Doors open 10.30am. Entrance is £1.50 and includes an entry for the raffle. There will be a Bring & Buy, Junk stall, RSGB book stand and many Traders. Car parking is now available. Enrolment for Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced Examination courses and Morse class. Nancy Bone, G7UUR on 07990 760920 or Email nancybone2001@yahoo.co.uk.


Sunday 15 SEPTEMBER : WEST TYRONE ARC RALLY

Omagh Rugby Club, 7 Mellon Park Drive, Omagh BT78 5NE. Doors open at 11am and admittance is £3. There will be a talk in station, trade stands, special interest groups, a Bring & Buy and an RSGB bookstall. Catering and a licensed bar are available on site. A prize draw/raffle will take place. More information from Philip Hosey, MI0MSO, 07849025760, or by email to info@wtarc.org.uk.


A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

6m FT8

A short while ago, I QSYed to 6m FT8. Initially I called CQ, but was only spotted locally. On 6m FT8 RX 3 stations spotted with best DX F6BTP (323km). At the moment no Es is evident. This late in the season we are dependent on random Es openings, but FT8 increases chances.  As before running about 10W and the antenna is the V2000 vertical omni.

UPDATE  1445z: A recent 6m FT8 CQ was spotted by 2 Gs only. At this time of year 2m FT8 seems to give consistently better results now the main Es season is over.

UPDATE 2138z: 23 stations in 6 countries spotted on 6m FT8 RX with late Es to Denmark, Norway and Finland. Best DX spotted on 6m FT8 RX is OH2FNR (1741km).

Magnetic Loops

Some years ago, and again recently, I have been using a magnetic loop antenna. These are narrow band and sharp tuning, but can be remarkably effective.

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

Tomatoes - NOT amateur radio

Earlier in the summer a friend gave us two tomato plants that we put in a trough in the sun. Apart from watering we have done nothing to them. We had already collected quite a few ripe tomatoes and given some away, but we had a lot more when we got back from our holiday. Perhaps we would have had even more had we done the right things! Anyway, for the effort put in (zero) we did pretty well.

Spider in the bath - NOT amateur radio

Some people are very scared of spiders. Like most phobias, they are irrational, but for the sufferers very real.

Having been away for 8 days I am sure the big one in our bath last night must have had a field day. I put it outside. At this time of year we get plenty. As far as I know most UK spiders are harmless.

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona - NOT amateur radio

Last week we visited Gaudi's famous basilica in Barcelona which was started in 1882 and supposedly has another 30 years of work still to do. Perhaps they have very long tea breaks or siestas!

When we last visited in 2003 it was a dusty building site. Now it is a wonderful place bathed in coloured light via the stained glass windows.

We bought tickets in advance to avoid the long queues.

The photo shows part of the internal roof. If you are in Barcelona it is well worth a visit.

2m FT8 RX

Overnight I stayed on 2m FT8 RX. In the last few hours 2 stations spotted with the best DX being DL6YBF (471km).

UPDATE 0853z: Now 9 stations spotted so far in 4 countries on 2m FT8 RX this morning.

UPDATE 1312z: When I QSYed to 6m FT8 38 stations in 6 countries logged on 2m FT8 RX with best DX being F6APE (551km).

Sunspots - NOT amateur radio

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN is still zero. A=5 and K=1.