Night off

Overnight all my radios were off. For several nights I have tried 2m FT8 but most activity starts at breakfast so being on overnight seems pointless. I may try 630m WSPR again tonight.

Sunspots - Saturday October 26th 2019

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0. A=29 and K=3.

Very old - NOT amateur radio

Snailwell church is one of 2 in Cambridgeshire with round towers. This one was built in 1070 just 4 years after the Norman conquest so is almost 1000 years old.

Getting older - NOT amateur radio

Whilst clearing boxes in the loft we came upon this photo, which is about 35 years old. We have aged! This is my wife with her brothers.

Farm shop lunch - NOT amateur radio

As we have one of our grandsons with us at the moment we went out for lunch at our local farm shop. As might be expected, they had lots of Halloween stuff on sale. Here is our elder grandson with a toy spider on his arm.

Old magazines online

In an email received earlier today an old colleague reminded me of this amazing online resource. It contains pdf versions of many magazines and publications of interest to amateurs. I can highly recommend it. If you are looking for it, it is probably here. Despite its title there are magazines from across the world here.

See https://www.americanradiohistory.com/index.htm

2m FT8

Yet again, laziness meant I remained on 2m FT8 RX overnight. As before, most spots were after breakfast. At the moment (0852z) 13 stations in 3 countries spotted on 2m FT8 RX today so far.

UPDATE 1425z: Now 27 stations in 7 countries spotted on 2m FT8 RX today.

Stations spotted on 2m 

FT8 RX today to 2007z.

UPDATE 1756z:  Now 39 stations in 9 countries spotted on 2m FT8 RX today. An FT8 CQ (2.5W) earlier this afternoon was spotted by 6 stations in 4 countries with best DX spot being by GI6ATZ (479km).

UPDATE 2007z: Now  46 stations in 9 countries spotted on 2m FT8 RX today.

Sunspots - Friday October 25th 2019

Solar flux is 65 and the SSN 0. A=18 and K=4.

Pumpkins - NOT amateur radio

It is Halloween season. As our elder grandson is with us before Halloween night we are celebrating it early. He still wants a party!

Poppy Day - NOT amateur radio

This morning on Breakfast Television was a piece on the making of poppy badges. These are sold about now to support the work of the British Legion. I came in late so missed most of the piece. At first I thought "how odd to be featuring poppies at this time of year". Then it dawned on me that this is the time of year when poppies are sold. Doh! Time certainly flies as in my mind it was still summer.