UK General Election, December 12th - NOT amateur radio

On December 12th 2019, the UK has a General Election.

The ruling government is campaigning mostly on BREXIT. The outcome is anyone's guess. The opinion polls show the ruling Conservatives consistently in front, but whether they get a clear majority is far from certain. A hung parliament might get us a softer EU exit eventually,  but many in the UK are now sick and tired of delay, with many wanting this over and done with. The trouble is all major parties promise a lot, but rarely deliver. The UK Prime Minister is not trusted by many.

With just a few days to go, I have no idea who to vote for and I am sure very many others are also confused.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49798197

IC-705

Many people are following the European and USA release of this new radio from ICOM with great interest. At the moment the price and availability are not known. The release date in Japan was April 2020 I believe.  I try to update my website as I get new data. Personally, I think they would be stupid to release this without at least the option of an internal auto-ATU.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/ic705

Austalian super-DX on 70cm

EI7GL reports that the 70cm record has been extended (2806km) in Australia. The contact was using FT8.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2019/12/australian-70cms-digital-record.html

2m FT8

In the last few hours 7 stations spotted in 3 countries on 2m FT8 RX with best DX being EI3KD (583km). Antenna is the big-wheel omni.

UPDATE 1219z:  21 stations in 6 countries spotted so far today on 2m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1415z:  29 stations in 6 countries spotted so far today.

UPDATE 1455z: A recent 2m FT8 CQ was spotted by 9 stations in 2 ires.countries (no QSOs) with the best DX being G8WXV (277km).

UPDATE 1642z: Now 34 stations in 6 countries spotted.

UPDATE  1820z: A recent 10W 2m FT8 CQ was spotted by 9 stations in 4 countries including Eire and Germany. Again, the antenna was the big-wheel omni.  No QSOs resulted though. On 2m FT8 RX 40 stations in 9 countries so far spotted today.

UPDATE 1950z: A recent CQ was spotted by 8 stations in 4 countries.

UPDATE 2038z: The map shows the stations spotted so far on 2m FT8 RX today.

SAQ - Dec 24th transmission

The heritage VLF alternator transmitter on 17.2kHz CW in Sweden has a special transmission on December 24th. See their website for more details. Somewhere I have a QSL card for a transmission some years ago. You amy want to consider this PC receiver. It works very well.

See https://grimeton.org/event/?lang=en

Sunspots - Sunday December 8th 2019

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=2 and K=0.

2m FT8

Stations that spotted me this afternoon on 2m FT8 RX

Just now I called CQ on 2m FT8 with about 10W to the big-wheel omni. In all, 31 stations spotted me with the best DX report being by S51AT (1251km). Judging by the strong report (0dB S/N) from a couple of Slovenians, I think this was aircraft scatter.

On RX 40 stations spotted on 2m FT8 with best DX being YT5DEY (1752km). Again signal report suggests aircraft scatter.

UPDATE 2339z: At bedtime 66 stations spotted on 2m FT8 RX. As you will see below from Jan, he thinks my DX may be MS or winter Es.

Burwell, Cambs, UK - NOT amateur radio

Since 1975, we have lived in this East Cambridgeshire village. It is about 10 miles from Cambridge, 4 miles from Newmarket, 17 miles from Bury-St-Edmunds and 12 miles from Ely. In recent years the population has soared to about 6500. When we came it was about 4000. Luckily, it still feels like a friendly village.

The village has a fine church (see photo) and fully restored 200 year old windmill, the latter being part of one of the best local museums in the whole UK.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burwell,_Cambridgeshire

Lesser Chirpy (10m)

At the moment, at the depths of sunspot minimum, 10m is not exactly busy! In the late spring and summer 10m can be very good for Es communications up to around 1500km. Often, much further can be reached with 10m Es. Es can be effective at any part of the solar cycle.

Years ago, when 10m was good, I designed the Lesser Chirpy ultra-simple 10m transceiver. Like all simple transceivers, it is a compromise, but it is fun.

In the Es season it is capable of decent QSOs e.g. from the UK into Europe. In decent F2 conditions (may be a few years off yet) it should be possible to cross the Atlantic with it. The main limitation is the RX. Only TX if you know the frequency is clear.

Oscar 100

From time to time I look at the webSDR at Goonhilly in Cornwall monitoring the narrowband transponder of this geosynchronous satellite. This is a very unscientific look at activity levels, which must vary a lot depending on the day and time of day. Nonetheless, it provides a snapshot of activity levels.

As far as I can tell, it is beginning to get a bit busier, approaching levels I might have expected. The last time I looked (albeit a weekend morning) there were 10 stations on SSB. This is more than I have observed in the past, suggesting more people are becoming active. By now, I was expecting the narrowband section to be full. Even now, there is plenty of space.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ .