Sunspots - Sunday October 27th 2019

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0.  A=18 and K=3.

UK Election and BREXIT - NOT amateur radio

This could be a momentous week in UK politics. Firstly on Monday, only if passed with a two-thirds majority, we could have a General Election on December 12th. On October 31st we are meant to be leaving the EU.

Somehow, I suspect neither will happen.

630m WSPR after a break

As 2m FT8 is a waste of time overnight, I have decided to go on 472kHz (630m) WSPR  overnight tonight. My first 2 minute 10mW ERP transmission was spotted by 4 stations. So far, after about 30 minutes I have spotted 3 stations including 2 Germans.  Will I be spotted in Norway overnight? Sadly there are only two stations on 472kHz WSPR TX this evening. One is the huge signal of G3KEV and the other is mine!

World Cup Rugby - NOT amateur radio

I am not a great rugby fan, but to beat the NZ all-blacks is a big deal, that much I do know. In the end England won 19-7, which is quite a margin, so they now play in the final. At the end of the day it is just a game, but the English team must be very pleased. Wales play tomorrow. It would be good if they won too.

The Pixie and Micro-80 transceivers

Many years ago I wrote about these simple 80m CW transceivers. In recent years 40m versions have been available from China at very low prices. My website is very old now (at least 6 years old in the main).

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/pixie

Laser information

In the past, I only tried 481THz (red light) transmissions with LEDs, but Peter Thornton G6NGR kindly sent me a useful link. There is lots of other interesting stuff on that website too.

See http://maxmcarter.com/lasrstuf/concentrator2.html

Daytime 2m FT8

2m FT8 (2.5W to the big-wheel omni antenna) was turned on just before 0900z. A CQ call was spotted by 3 stations with the best being GI6ATZ (479km). On 2m FT8 RX nothing yet spotted.

UPDATE 1148z: On 2m FT8 RX 22 stations in 7 countries spotted so far today.

2m FT8 RX spots here to 1725z

UPDATE 1725z: On 2m FT8 RX 50 stations in 8 countries spotted today so far with best DX being DL3TX (655km).

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.