BREXIT and UK Pound v. Euro - NOT amateur radio

It seems unlikely the UK's latest BREXIT offer will be acceptable to the EU. The UK Pound has continued to fall in value against the Euro.

As I see it, we have several possible outcomes: the UK leaves the EU without a deal (unlikely), there is last minute deal, or there is another extension. The EU wants a deal. Of the 3 options (there may be others) I suspect the last one will be the outcome, although I am frequently wrong!

Personally, I favour staying within the EU until a better trade deal is negotiated. In the end, that is surely what is sought.

Solar forecast update

My favourite resource for solar data usually updates very early in the month. This usually happens on the first or second day of each month.

The last time I looked they were forecasting solar minimum to have occurred earlier in the year.

The next sunspot cluster looks as if it is just coming in to view.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/

UPDATE 1830z: Pages have now been updated. It is still showing that we have now (just) passed the minimum. I do hope they are correct. It will be interesting to see if there are more sunspots this month.

Storm risk passed?

As you know, I look at the risks of storms quite often and disconnect things if they look near. At the moment, the risk locally seems to be decreasing. At the first sign, everything at risk will be disconnected.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/blitzortung/europe/index.php?bo_page=map&bo_showmap=uk&bo_period=2&lang=en

UPDATE 1348z: Did I speak too soon?  Just heard a loud clap of thunder, so everything in the shack disconnected!

OFCOM monthly update

As usual, OFCOM has updated its "Communications Monthly" on its website. It does this every month.

6m FT8

Just before midday I called CQ briefly on 6m FT8. I have now gone back to RX. No QSOs resulted, but I was spotted by one G station G4SWY (83km). Nothing yet spotted on 6m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 1344z: Still nothing yet spotted today on 6m FT8 RX. A recent FT8 CQ was again spotted by G4SWY (83km) and no-one else.

UPDATE 1352z: Storm risk, so all disconnected.

UPDATE 1822z:  It looks like there will be no 6m FT8 spots here today, unless things change soon.  I'll stay on a little while longer, but things look mighty quiet on 6m FT8 today.

BREXIT deal? - NOT amateur radio

The UK Prime Minister was on TV earlier. During the interview he talked about the Irish backstop. The EU has rejected what has been informally tabled. Unless the PM has something really new, I suspect we remain deadlocked.

Up a tree - NOT amateur radio

This is our younger granddaughter up a tree in Kent at the weekend.

160m FT8 RX overnight

Since keeping an eye on 160m FT8 RX since 1930z yesterday evening using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground, 245 stations in 4 continents have been spotted.

The best spotted was VP8EME (12773km) in the Falklands. There were others too in South America. Checking where these were all spotted, they all look genuine.

The absence of African stations is probably due to there being few active stations?

Sunspots - Tuesday October 1st 2019

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0. A=14 and K=4.

QSY to 160m FT8 RX with the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground

In the end I gave up with the HF bands and QSYed to 160m FT8 RX. Although I am spotting loads of stations locally, nothing is appearing on PSKreporter. I need to investigate! Timing was resynced just a few minutes ago so it is not that.

UPDATE  1934z: Suddenly they are appearing. Either PSKreporter was not working or my internet connection was not working. 28 stations spotted so far all over Europe with the best DX spotted on 160m FT8 RX being RV6FT (3093km).