With a grandson

This is my wife with one of our grandchildren.

HW8

Years ago I used an HW8 QRP CW rig and had much fun with it. These days there are more effective QRP modes.

DX soundbites

One of the links on my website is to a page with soundbites of DX stations. These were made in 2013.

See http://hamgallery.com/dx2013/

Sunspots - Saturday September 28th 2019

Solar flux is 66 and the SSN 0. A=21 and K=3.

30m FT8 RX

Continuing my experiments with the tiny indoor loop antenna, I have QSYed to 10.136MHz (30m) FT8 RX. Immediately 48 stations spotted.

30m FT8 RX on the 

tiny indoor loop as of 2100z

UPDATE 2013z: Now 162 stations spotted today on 30m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop. The first USA station has been spotted here on 30m FT8 RX - N0FW (6352km).

365 Project - NOT amateur radio

For several years now, my wife and I have done something called the 365 project. This is totally free, but you can pay $19.99 a year to gain total privacy and extra albums.

The idea is to take a photo every day.  It make a good visual diary. Some photos are very creative, whereas others are boring and blurred.

If you want to, you can see the photos taken by others around the world. It has been a good exercise. We try to stick to very recent photos when we can, unless there is good reason.

My own photos are at http://365project.org/g3xbm/365 . Don't get too excited!

17m FT8 RX

Continuing my tests with the tiny indoor loop, I have QSYed to 17m FT8 RX. Already 12 stations spotted with best DX PY2VA (9584km) in Brazil. Already 3 continents spotted!

UPDATE 1416z: As well as loads of Europeans, 5 USA and one South American spotted.

Stations spotted on 17m FT8 RX 

with the tiny indoor loop to 1715z.

UPDATE 1715z: Now 111 stations spotted today with the tiny indoor loop with best DX spotted LU3DI (11229km).

BREXIT deal? - NOT amateur radio

Like most in the UK and the rest of Europe, I am fed up with BREXIT. Whether you voted "remain" or "leave" in the 2016 UK referendum, agreeing a deal seems illusive.

Both the UK and the rest of the EU want a deal, but no-one seems to want to compromise or lose face. Certainly most in the UK parliament and in the country seem angrier than even a few years ago. I do hope a deal in which no-one loses face can be agreed in the next few weeks. Whilst there is a lot of brinkmanship, time is rapidly running out.

I'd have more faith if the current Prime Minister was not a liar. Quite recently, he had an encounter with a man in a hospital. The PM claimed the press were not there when they clearly were! It looked like a press event to me. Sometimes I fear he believes what he wants to believe. Does this remind you of anyone?

MLS weekend offers

As usual, MLS is offering some deals for the weekend. This is to attract buyers at the UK Hamfest, but these apply to other sales as well. I don't know if these are good deals or not, but if you are going to buy one of the sale items it is worth taking a look.

See https://www.hamradio.co.uk/

Weather forecasts - NOT amateur radio

As a matter of habit, I check the weather forecasts. Usually I look on the BBC weather forecast and the Met Office weather forecast. Rarely do these agree.

As an example, the Met Office forecast shows the risk of thunder at tea time. The BBC forecast has no mention of this.

Now, I know forecasting the weather in the UK is not a precise science, but I would have expected more agreement just a few hours ahead!