Sunspots - Sunday April 19th 2020

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=1 .

UK Coronavirus - NOT amateur radio

It is too early to tell, but there are hints that we just may have passed the peak of hospital admissions in the UK. I sincerely hope this is the case.

Wild roses? - NOT amateur radio

We saw these on our walk earlier. They are very early for wild roses.

10m FT8

In a few moments I shall be on 10m FT8 with the tiny indoor loop antenna and 2.5W. It cannot be worse than yesterday!

UPDATE 0910z: All 10m FT8 gear turned on at 0855z. So far just M1BXF (13km) spotting me. No RX spots yet.

UPDATE 1350z: Just 3 G spots of me so far today. No Es here so far today.

UPDATE 1455z: On RX just 1 station spotted PP5JR (10069km).

UPDATE 1824z:  Now 6 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX including 2 in NE Spain, presumably by Es.

UPDATE 2040z:  QRT. In the end 5 G stations spotted me. No Es here today.

Dull start - NOT amateur radio

For several days now we have had fine sunny weather, so it is a bit sad to see the weather dull here this morning. Next week should be fine again. All being well we hope to collect some garden plants from our local nursery at 9.30am. This has been arranged. With garden centres closed getting bedding plants is more difficult this year. You would have expected garden centres to have massively ramped up mail orders and delivery, but many have missed this opportunity.

UPDATE 0930z: All plants picked up.  Only ordered yesterday! Excellent service. All the plants look strong. We will use Burwell Nursery again next year.

Sunspots - Saturday April 18th 2020

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=2. Basically poor!

Coronavirus vaccines - NOT amateur radio

The race is on across the world to find a safe and effective vaccine against Coronavirus. Although this could be 12-18 months away, one UK group is so confident that it intends to produce 1 million does by September in parallel with trials.

In the meantime, I certainly hope they can repurpose some existing drugs to help us fight the pandemic.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52329659

Shed cleaning - NOT amateur radio

Well there's a surprise! Our garden shed actually has a floor! Being at home means some jobs like cleaning the shed get done.

24GHz WBFM?

These days one can buy very low cost HB100 10GHz Doppler modules on eBay from various sources. There are various ways of using these in amateur projects. I have seen these in ATV kit and I am sure there will be WBFM 10GHz transceiver designs based on these if I look. As there are 24GHz radar modules, I am wondering if there are WBFM designs based on these?

Perhaps some reader can point me in the direction of 10GHz and 24GHz WBFM transceivers based on the HB100 for 10GHz and similar units for 24GHz.

UPDATE 1810z:   Looking on the internet, there are plenty of resources for WBFM 10GHz transceivers based on the HB100.

OFCOM board appointment

Never mind Covid-19, OFCOM provides us all with gripping news. Today we learn that Kevin Bakhurst has been appointed to the board. Such earth shattering stuff. See their website for this and other exciting news.  zzz