PSKreporter issue?

All morning nothing I received was being reported to PSKreporter maps. I restarted the PC and checked WSJT-X was working on 20m RX. Locally lots of EU stations are being received, but nothing is appearing on the maps. Time was just resynced and as far as I can tell my internet connection is working. I am beginning to wonder if there is a problem with PSKreporter getting reports.

UPDATE 1011z: All now working. Mystery.

2m FT8

Although I called CQ (10W) on 2m FT8 earlier, just a couple of people spotted me (EI and G) and no QSOs resulted.

On RX it was a similar story with no spots yet. It appears that many stations get active with FT8, find out the ranges are incredible, then give up having worked those stations that are active.

By the end of the day, there are usually plenty of stations and countries logged on 2m FT8 RX and TX, but I get the sense that 2m FT8 is beginning to go "off the boil" and activity levels are now dropping.

Perhaps those that get on FT8 go to work, so only get on in the evenings mainly? Certainly early mornings are not that productive.

The Outer Hebrides - NOT amateur radio

One of the places I have never been to is the Outer Hebrides in western Scotland. Having read about  these quite a bit,  it is now unlikely I'll get there.  There are miles of white sand in the Hebrides, but few trees because of the winds. Much of the coast has wild flowers.

Barra in particular takes my fancy. This is one of the southernmost islands and the plane lands on the sand twice a day.

Heathkits

Like many of my generation, I loved Heathkits. The very first thing that got me into the hobby back in 1961 was an Electronics Workshop. In the late 1960s, I wanted a 2m HW30 Twoer AM transceiver.

According to their website Heathkit was making a comeback. Their website exists, but their product range is very limited and very overpriced. If it still survives, it must depend on a very loyal customer base. Certainly, I would not buy these. If the comeback was successful, I'd be surprised.

See https://shop.heathkit.com/shop .

G6ALB's (mainly valve) website

For years I had regular QSOs each week with G6ALB in the next village. It looks like his website has not been updated since 2009! If you are "into" valves, you may find some ideas here.

See http://www.tetrode.co.uk/

ISWL

Way back in the 1960s, and again much later, I was a member of the International Short Wave League (ISWL). In the 1960s it was quite a large international organisation producing a monthly magazine called "Monitor".  At that time, years before I was a licenced amateur, it had a tapesponding section and I exchanged tapes with an SWL in N.W. USA near Seattle. This continued for several years. I do not know what happened to him.

I think the ISWL still exists (just) but when I left for the second time many years ago it was down to a few hundred members. The ISWL was unique in that it catered for broadcast listeners as well as amateurs.

If it still exists, I would expect it has very few members left. If anyone knows how it is today, please let me now. I left for the second time as it ceased to meet my needs. The website still exists, but it looks the same as it did many years ago.

See http://www.iswl.org.uk/

Sunspots - Thursday September 26th 2019

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=3.

Another IC-705 video

This YouTube video was found this evening. I hope you enjoy watching it.

Wasted spectrum?

In the UK, great swathes of spectrum are reserved for the military. I have long argued that some of this should be made available for the amateur service on a strictly non-interference basis. Even a very low ERP level could be set and stations closed if there is any hint of interference. It seems this falls on deaf ears.

In the meantime, much of the spectrum remains unavailable for serious experimental work. In no way am I saying such spectrum should not be available for the UK military as the primary user. But surely, under NoVs, parts of the spectrum could be opened up for serious "radio science" work? A phrase like "p***sing in the wind" come to mind. As commercial gear is not available at many of these frequencies, only serious experimenters are likely to apply for NoVs. Numbers would be small and all addresses known. We could even be asked to notify someone before experiments start.

Autumn leaves - NOT amateur radio

For several years now my wife has taken a photo of a certain tree at nearby Anglesey Abbey. We went this morning to catch it in its autumn colours.

After a few more weeks and with a decent blow, the leaves will have fallen until new buds appear in the spring. When we went last week, it was mostly green.

Although it was a dull morning, it looked better last year.