Covid-19 spread - NOT amateur radio

If you are like me, you are probably fed up with talk about Covid-19.

This map seems quite good. You can animate it to show how the disease has spread across the planet.

With a vaccine likely to be some way in the future, I hope they can re-purpose some existing anti-viral drug to lessen Covid-19s effects. Some are already being trialled.

Another rally postponed

I have been informed about another rally that has been postponed. If the background makes this hard to read I apologise, but this is as I received it.

Sunday 22 MARCH : POSTPONED

CW BOOT CAMP. Stirling and District ARS, Unit 68, Bandeath Industrial Estate, Throsk FK7 7NP GMDX in conjunction with Stirling & District ARS are running a CW Boot Camp in Stirling. Great opportunity to improve you CW skills, registration open to all. Further information at https://www.gmdx.org.uk/cwbootcamp.

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

20m FT8

For about 15 minutes, I have been on 20m FT8 with 10W to the tiny indoor loop.

Already over 40 stations have been spotted, but no spots yet on TX. Although I thought that I chose a clear frequency, I must be swamped by a big station that I cannot see. If this persists, I might try a QSY.

UPDATE 1047z: Now QSYed.  70 stations spotted and I have been spotted by 3 Europeans so far.

UPDATE 1345z: So far today, 31 stations have spotted my 10W 20m FT8 including 4 in the USA.

UPDATE 1505z: Now 36 stations spotting me today so far.

UPDATE 1703z: Now 77 stations spotting my 10W FT8 on 20m. On 20m FT8 RX 442 stations spotted with best DX E20EHQ (9459km).

Amateur VLF

The photo shows the amateur VLF activity received here 9 years ago.

Amateur VLF activity is only possible with very stable signals and very long integration periods.

The exception is earth-mode, which can cover some remarkable ranges with low power and simple equipment. My best DX on earth-mode is nearly 6km with just 5W.

Wicken Fen on Tuesday - NOT amateur radio

This is me at Wicken Fen on Tuesday.

Sunspots - Thursday March 19th 2020

Solar flux is 72 and the SSN 0. A=6 and K=3.

Eurovision Song Contest cancelled - NOT amateur radio

This event has been cancelled as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51870325

OFCOM and shared rural networks

There are more details on the OFCOM website about efforts by the big 4 mobile network providers to provide a shared rural network for 4G in rural areas in the coming years.

20m FT8 (10W) again

At about 1250z I turned on 20m FT8. No spots yet on TX, although the usual clutch on RX. I must be on the same frequency as a "big" station that is not visible here.

UPDATE 1330z :  On RX 46 stations spotted so far and just one station spotting me today.

UPDATE 1626z: 28 stations have spotted me so far today. On 20m FT8 RX 223 spots of other stations in 4 continents so far today with the indoor 45cm diameter loop antenna.

UPDATE 2130z: 53 spots of my 10W FT8 today including 12 in the USA. On RX 470 stations spotted. A few QSOs were had too.

Oscar 100 upconverter

AMSAT-DL has produced a small up-converter design that can use either 70cm or 23cm input and produce 6W direct from the board at 13cm. This is quite enough output for CW/SSB in most cases. It can also take a reference frequency from an external source.

At 189.5 Euros this looks quite good value. It means a whole Oscar 100 station could be put together for far less than an HF transceiver. I am not sure if these units can be obtained ready built.

The geosynchronous Oscar 100 has been up for about a year now.

See https://amsat-dl.org/en/der-neue-qo-100-upconverter-mit-integrierter-pa-upcon6w/