Sunspots - Saturday October 5th 2019

Solar flux is 68 and and the SSN 0. A=7 and K=2

Es'hail Oscar 100

Every few days I check activity on this geosynchronous amateur satellite. Whenever I look at the web SDR at Goonhilly, I usually see 4-8 SSB stations active. There are usually a few on CW too. Overall, activity remains quite low. By now, I was expecting far more activity.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

Gourds - NOT amateur radio

These were spotted earlier at a local garden centre. Sadly, they are already stocking Christmas gifts and trees! The gourds are a nice sign of autumn. The Christmas stuff is pure commercialism, out to make an early buck - it sickens me. Personally, I would back a law making it illegal to sell Christmas stuff until December.

2m FT8

As 6m was an uphill struggle, I have QSYed to 2m FT8. My 10W FT8 2m CQ was spotted by 11 stations with best DX being a spot by GI6ATZ (479km).

It is interesting that I have only spotted 4 stations on 2m FT8 RX today. From this, I can conclude that fewer people are on FT8 TX during the day. Things get better in the evening when people are home from work.

UPDATE 1426z: Now 14 stations in 6 countries spotted today on 2m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1527z: A recent 2m FT8 CQ (10W to the big-wheel) was spotted by 24 stations and resulted in 2 QSOs. I get the feeling most of these are "flat band" tropo with the occasional enhancement by aircraft scatter. As an example, a station in N. Ireland is almost always spotted, but just occasionally he is 20dB stronger.

UPDATE 1918z: A recent 2m FT8 CQ (10W) was spotted by 24 stations and 2 QSOs. DL6YBF (471km) seems to be workable in any conditions on FT8.

UPDATE 2100z:  In the last day, 50 stations in 8 countries spotted on 2m FT8 RX.

6m FT8

Although I have been on much of the morning and called FT8 CQ a few times, no spots at all on RX or TX.

UPDATE 1100z: Just a single G spot from my recent 6m FT8 (10W) CQ call. This was G3SYP (222km). Really 6m is hardly worth the effort at this time of year in sunspot minimum with my vertical omni.

Sunspots - Friday October 4th 2019

Solar flux is 67 and the sunspot number 0. A=13 and K=3.

BREXIT deal? - NOT amateur radio

The Prime Minister has lodged formal proposals on leaving the EU. So far, the feedback from the EU is not good, but at least they are still talking. A better man than me may be able to forecast the outcome in the coming days.

My hopes rest on the EU wanting a deal and that the current proposal is a basis for further compromises on both sides. Whatever our views on BREXIT, most in the UK are fed up now and want a deal sooner rather than later.

Local History - NOT amateur radio

Even though we have lived in this area (East Cambridgeshire) for almost 50 years, it is natural to have a "pull" to where one originates from. In my case this is South Devon and my wife Sheffield.

Today we went to an interesting talk on the history of Newmarket, which is our nearest town. Considering its many royal connections going back many centuries and it being the worldwide centre for horse racing, it is quite scruffy. With all the wealth around we would have expected the town to be quite a classy place. Sadly it is not.

They have a good local history society.

See http://www.newmarketlhs.org.uk/Index.htm

Big-wheel antennas

As many know, I opted for a 2m big-wheel antenna rather than a beam and rotator. This seems to match my sort of operating well. My noise level on 2m is still low thankfully and it was far cheaper than a beam and rotator. On FT8 it gets me considerable distances even in flat conditions and even with QRP SSB it usually gets me over 200km.

The big-wheel has a real fan here!

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

Dahlia - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday we visited nearby Anglesey Abbey where the dahlias are starting to change. Another few weeks and they will be well past their best. We saw this one yesterday. At the moment most are still looking good.