That crash - NOT amateur radio

Anyone looking at the stock markets, oil prices and currencies in the UK will realise this was a very bad day.

Clearly people are spooked by the Coronavirus and how it is being dealt with. A year from now we will, hopefully, look back at this time in amazement. I think the biggest thing is the uncertainty: nothing quite like this has ever happened in our lifetimes and we are all grappling with uncertainties. The virus seems more easy to catch than flu. At the moment we have no immunity.

With luck and good hygiene, these very bad times will pass and things will recover. In the meantime, batten down the hatches!

6m UKAC

Tonight is the March leg of the 6m activity contest starting at 2000z.

The only antenna for the band is my V2000 vertical omni. I'll try with 10W and see how it goes. Usually less than an hour on air is enough for my poor voice in the 2m UKAC.

See https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/contest_rules.pl?year=2020&contest=6mukac

UPDATE 2114z: Never again!! With my vertical antenna it was very noisy and only 2 signals were heard and not one worked! With my 6m set-up, this is one contest I am happy to ignore.

Amateur radio and coronavirus cancellations

In the months ahead, we can expect more amateur events to be postponed or cancelled. At the moment (as far as I know) Dayton and Friedrichshafen are still on. If these were cancelled it would be a huge thing.

Rally cancelled

As the Coronavirus bites, I think we can expect more rallies to be cancelled in the weeks ahead.

Sunday 15 MARCH : CANCELLED  35th WYTHALL RADIO CLUB HAMFEST. 

Red-legged partridge - NOT amateur radio

These birds are becoming quite common. It is not unusual to see 2 or 3 in our garden. They were introduced (I think) in the 1800s and are now more common than the common partridge. They are handsome birds that can become very tame.

10m news

As many will already know, I am not a great fan of Tony's 10m Band Report on Southgate News.  To me, it would be more useful if it showed just DX worked from the UK or Western Europe. OK, it shows stations active, but can give the impression the band is busy. Yes, the propagation is there more often than we might think, but at this part of the solar cycle it can be much harder to find.

UPDATE 2136z: See my short article about 10m on p32 of the RSGB April RadCom.

Canute? - NOT amateur radio

The recent (partial) travel ban from Europe reminds me of King Canute who thought he could command the sea (if I recall my history correctly). Does President Trump not know that Coronavirus is already in the USA and spreading? The UK (excluded from the ban) has more cases than some countries he has banned!

20m FT8 with the tiny indoor loop

If you have no access to outside antennas I can thoroughly recommend loops. As you know from earlier posts I like FT8 as frequency changes are very small, so once on frequency there is little need to retune. For their size, these work far better than expected.

I have not been on 20m FT8 very long, but my 10W has already been spotted in 2 countries and I have spotted 13 stations. One issue I find is a lack of reports if I am on the same frequency as a much stronger station. A small change of frequency (100-200Hz) normally solves the problem.

UPDATE 1020z:  Now 31 stations (all European) copied so far today on 20m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1147z:  Now 48 spots of my 10W 20m FT8 with the best being a spot by J69DS (6840km). On 20m FT8 RX now 119 spots including Japan, the Caribbean and the USA.

UPDATE 1352z:  Now 69 stations have spotted my tiny signal today on 20m FT8. On 20m FT8 RX 230 stations spotted so far today.

Stations spotting my 10W 20m FT8 TX today 

UPDATE 1620z: 108 spots of my 10W so far today on 20m FT8 TX with the tiny indoor loop. On RX 327 stations spotted so far.

UPDATE 1910z: 110 stations have spotted me today and 500 stations were spotted me today on 20m FT8.

UPDATE 2116z: QRT now after my best outing yet on 20m FT8 with the tiny loop. Quite remarkable!

Sunspots - Thursday March 12th 2020

Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 0. A=3 and K=2.

70cm FT8 contest this evening

A few moments ago I remembered that tonight is the March 70cm FT8 contest. USB 432.174MHz is where to look. As I have no 70cm horizontal antennas I am using my 2m big-wheel antenna.

70cm FT8 RX

UPDATE 1926z:  My signal has been spotted by G4WSZ (12km) and G3YDY (64km). On RX the best DX spotted is PA3BGQ (272km). G3YDY worked.

70cm FT8 TX

UPDATE 1930z: ON4QJ (347km) now spotted. This is the most 70cm FT8 activity I have ever seen. Again, it shows how effective FT8 can be.