16 Mar 2020

President Trump (allegedly) - NOT amateur radio

Sorry that the quotes may not be clear because of the white background.

These were sent to me. I assume they are true, but I have no way of verifying them. They are all supposed to be said by President Trump.

January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”

February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”

February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

February 25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”

February 25: “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”

February 26: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”

February 26: “We're going very substantially down, not up.”

February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”

February 28: “We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”

March 2: “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don't think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”

March 2: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”

March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”

March 5: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.”

March 5: “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”

March 6: “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”

March 6: “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”

March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”

March 6: “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.”

March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”

March 9: “This blindsided the world.”


March 13: "I am declaring a state of emergency"

ARRL HQ

According to Southgate News the ARRL is trying to minimise the risks to its staff by stopping visitors. Someone had better tell the US President.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/march/announcement-from-american-radio-relay-league-headquarters.htm#.Xm6O1MiTK00

Sunspots - Monday March 16th 2020

Solar flux is only 70 and the SSN 0. A=5 and K=1.

15 Mar 2020

Lighter evenings - NOT amateur radio

The seasons are wonderful.

Mid-winter it is dark by 4pm.  At the moment it is light to about 6.30pm. In mid summer it is light until about 10.45pm.

This photo shows our windmill right next door shortly before dark.

2m FT8

At about 1730z I QSYed to 2m FT8 from 20m FT8. Still using about 10W to the big-wheel omni.

UPDATE 1744z:  So far, 22 stations in 5 countries have already spotted me. I am convinced this is some sort of scatter, not aircraft scatter, as it is so consistent. Polarisation seems less important as I get nearly as many spots with the vertical omni.  Best DX is a spot by DF6PW (562km).

UPDATE 1822:  Well that was odd!  After about 40 minutes I was seeing stations but these were not appearing on PSKreporter. In the end, I restarted the PC and all now seems well. I can only conclude this was some sort of software issue that was cleared by resetting the PC. On RX 2 spots so far in 2 countries with the best DX being GW8ASA (301km). 26 spots of me so far today.

UPDATE 2229z: Now spotted by 31 stations in 5 countries. Going QRT shortly.

Coronavirus step change - NOT amateur radio

In the last week we have seen a step change in the UK over coronavirus. A week ago we were hardly affected, whereas now we seem to be on a war footing.  People seem to have changed.

XBS Telecom

This EU company seems to offer very good prices with VAT added and good guarantees. I have never used them, so have no experience. If other have, perhaps they could share their experiences here.

It is interesting that many dealers are now offering the ICOM IC7300 with free gifts. It appears that ICOM are resisting dropping the basic unit price.

See https://www.xbstelecom.eu/shop/en/12-ham-radio

20m FT8

A few moments ago I went on 20m FT8 with 10W to the tiny indoor loop.

It is now 1426z and 36 stations spotted on RX and just 1 spot on TX by II0IDR (1442km).

UPDATE 1450z: No other spots of me on TX. When a strong signal appears I can get swamped. I have just moved about 100Hz LF to see if that makes a difference. I always check I am on a clear spot, but this does not always work!

UPDATE 1725z:  Now spotted by 18 stations across Europe.

Webcams - NOT amateur radio

It seems possible that some of the next few months we will be stuck at home under quarantine. Thank goodness for webcams!

Earlier today my brother was in Devon at Buckfastleigh at the South Devon Railway. He alerted me on WhatsApp so I was able to see him on the platform with his grandson. There are plenty of other webcams around the world. Some are live.

See https://www.earthcam.com/

New life - NOT amateur radio

Every year the daffodils in the churchyard look a picture giving us hope of spring and better weather. In these Covid-19 filled times it good to see nature getting on with life.