Space weather forecast by the UK Met Office

Southgate News regularly carries the space weather, but there is also a forecast by the UK Met Office.

See https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/specialist-forecasts/space-weather

15m FT8

As I have no external antennas for 15m, I am again using the indoor magnetic loop antenna on the windowsill. Only 1 station spotted so far  - OD5ZZ (3438km) and no-one has spotted my 10W yet.

UPDATE 1415z: No spots yet of my 10W FT8 to the magnetic loop. 2 EA8s and 1 OD5 spotted on 15m FT8 RX so far.

UPDATE 1435z:  After calling CQ on 15m with 10W FT8 for about 40 minutes with no success, I have returned to 15m FT8 RX only.

Cowfield - NOT amateur radio

Where we used to live backed onto fields. For years, we had cattle in the fields in summer and we could hear them munching over the fence. Many years ago the 11 acre site was bought for the village by the local council. It is a real meadow and has the remains of a Roman settlement as well as a castle built nearly 1000 years ago in the time of King Stephen. We walk there often. The photo shows the field in summer. Even now we still call it the cowfield.

Sunspots - Monday February 3rd 2020

Solar flux is 72 and the SSN 0. A=6 and K=2.

Magpies - NOT amateur radio

These magpies (see photo) were at Anglesey Abbey recently. A few years ago magpies were rare in this part of the UK. In nearly 40 years of travelling 12 miles into Cambridge for work I saw not a single magpie. These days I see them almost daily. At one time, buzzards were rare up here . Now we regularly see them. Red kites were limited to Wales. Now we see them often near major roads. Since the  1980s little egrets have become common in the UK.

Declining radio amateur numbers?

Southgate News has a piece today about declining amateur numbers in Germany. This is mirrored elsewhere. In 20 years' time, unless things change, we could see steep declines in our hobby.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/february/germany-ham-radio-decline-continues.htm#.XjbnpY6TLnE

DNA memories? - NOT amateur radio

It is well known that physically characteristics can be passed down the generations. As an example, my brother-in-law looks just like a relative from 100 years ago.

Years ago I met a distant relative who branched away from our family tree in the 1700s. He looked remarkably like my uncle! That was over 200 years ago!

Now, I am no human biologist, but I gather much of our DNA is not used to create us physically. So, I wonder what it is for? Will we ever find out? Do we have hidden in our DNA, ancient memories? Maybe one day we will find out.

Yorkshire pudding - NOT amateur radio

When our granddaughter comes to stay, she loves to make Yorkshire pudding. This is a savoury dish served with or before a meal. It is great with stews.

The photo shows one she recently made. Apart from putting it into a very hot oven, she does everything. Even her brother thinks they are good!

Magnetic loop on windowsill

After the recent experiments with the Rybakov antenna, I am trying the tiny magnetic loop antenna on the windowsill indoors (see photo). Although it matches on all HF bands, I get some RF feedback on some bands.

On 15m RX it seems to do pretty well.

UPDATE 1347z: On 17m FT8 it works (see logbook and map) with 6 stations spotting my 10W to the magnetic loop so far.

17m FT8 TX with 10W to the tiny magnetic loop

UPDATE  1356z: Just after posting the above I get spotted by WN4N (4339 miles) in Florida on 17m FT8!! Not bad with this tiny magnetic loop and 10W. Also spotted by 5T5PA (3791km) in Mauritania, West Africa on 17m FT8.

UPDATE 1420z: 8 stations in 3 continents  spotting my 10W 17m FT8 TX to the tiny indoor magnetic loop antenna so far today. Quite amazing.

UPDATE 1429z: 111 stations spotted so far today on 17 FT8 RX with the tiny indoor magnetic loop antenna.

UPDATE 1452z: A 2-way QSO with AV4VV (3938 miles) in North Carolina with 10W 17m FT8 to the tiny magnetic loop. I am now beginning to believe anything is possible!

UPDATE 1511z: Quite remarkable the stations spotted so far today on 17m FT8 RX with the tiny loop.

Stations spotted so far today on 17m FT8 RX
with the tiny magnetic loop on the windowsill

UPDATE 1530z: I am wondering if 17m is fading out now? There would appear to be far fewer stations on 17m FT8 RX now.

UPDATE 1735z:  In all, I was spotted 8 times by USA stations on 17m FT8 with the tiny magnetic loop on the windowsill indoors.

Stations spotting my 10W 17m
FT8 with the magnetic loop today

A Rybakov antenna on the bench?

In the garage I have a virtually unused SRC X80 end-fed vertical antenna. This was very briefly erected in about 2011 and has remained unused for years. I took it down as reports said it blew around in high winds and at the time my interest was mainly on 10m for which I had a suitable antenna at that time.

The X80 is a sort of Rybakov antenna. These are end fed antennas fed via a unun transformer so the very high end impedance is transformed into a VSWR less than 3:1 that can usually be matched via the auto-ATUs in most modern HF rigs.

As an experiment, I tried loading up the coax to my 2m big-wheel via this Rybakov transformer. I can get quite a good match on a couple of HF bands (at least) but on some bands the VWSR was so bad that the rig just turned off!

By ear, I think my small indoor magnetic loop is as good!