Thunder?

Whenever there are storms around, I disconnect everything "just in case". Usually I disconnect antennas, mains plugs from rigs and PC.

 According to the BBC weather, there was a chance of thunder and hail, although the storm maps do not show any risk at present.

At the moment, all is still connected.

BREXIT - NOT amateur radio

Whatever your views on BREXIT are we can all agree on one thing: it has taken a very long time! In the 2016 referendum I voted narrowly to stay, despite there being a lot wrong with the EU. I thought it was better to fight for change from inside the EU than from outside.

We narrowly voted to leave and we do this at the end of January, although there is quite a long period when things won't change much. Getting a good trade deal with the EU is likely to be harder than many expect: the EU will not want us to have a favourable arrangement outside of the "club". At the same time, they will want our trade. At the moment, the UK Pound is quite reasonable against the Euro.

The longer term outlook for the UK economy is hard to discern.  We could do well, but it is hard to know.

Speech changes - NOT amateur radio

At one time I would have been appalled by the overuse of "like" and the fact that younger people tend to go up at the end of sentences.

Then I realised that speech and language are always changing!  You have only to observe how much speech has changed in the last 100 years. I expect if we heard speech from 500 years ago we would struggle to understand it.

And to think how languages have evolved in the last 1000-2000 years! No, we have to accept that speech and language will be forever changing.

OFCOM updates affecting wi-fi

OFCOM has announced opening up 100GHz frequencies for wi-fi. I have no idea how well such frequencies go through doors and walls. I hope someone has done some research. See OFCOM's website.

Not quite spring - NOT amateur radio

We still have several weeks of winter still, but at nearby Anglesey Abbey there are now several snowdrops, a few daffodils and a few hellebores. Those in the photo are examples seen.

Another good session on 472kHz WSPR TX

Last night I was on 472kHz WSPR TX (10mW ERP). 23 stations spotted me including 32 in Norway by Jan. As usual, still using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground (see yesterday for details).

Stations spotting my 10mW ERP on
472kHz WSPR TX overnight 

Peter Skellern RIP - NOT amateur radio

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
uk-england-cornwall-39006899

Peter Skellern was a unique British piano player and singer. He died a few years ago sadly. Often he was accompanied by brass bands. His sound was original.

Shortly before he died (a brain tumour) he became a priest. He lived in Cornwall and was born in Bury, Lancashire.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Skellern

Oscar 100

My occasional listens on Oscar 100 (geosynchronous) suggest slightly higher usage in the narrow-band section. I listened in the early evening (in Western Europe) on a weekday. This is a far from scientific study!

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

Have we past the solar minimum?

Although the recent days have been spotless yet again, the solar flux seems to be above 70 pretty consistently. Are we now on the start of the slow climb to the next solar maximum or is this just a blip? It will be some months before we can be certain.

Sunspots - Friday January 17th 2020

Solar flux is 72 and the sunspot number 0 again. A=5 and K=1.