22 Apr 2020

15m FT8

Rather earlier than usual, I am on 15m FT8 with 2.5W and the 45cm indoor loop. It is now 0615z. No spots yet.

UPDATE 0922z: No spots.

UPDATE 1040z: One G spotted on RX and one G spotting me so far.

UPDATE 1215z:  5 stations in Europe and North Africa have been spotted on 15m FT8 RX. So far, just the 1 station has spotted my 2.5W.

UPDATE 2011z :  QRT.

Birthday boy - NOT amateur radio

One of our sons is 42 today. This photo of when he was 35 appeared as a FB memory today.

The second photo shows them today.

Sunspots - Wednesday April 22nd 2020

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0. A=9 and K=3

21 Apr 2020

Notre Dame - NOT amateur radio

We just got this lovely pop-up card from 2 of our grandchildren.

Village walk - NOT amateur radio

Most mornings we do a walk before it gets too hot. The photo shows our walk earlier.

It was about 3.5 miles.  These regular walks must help to keep us fit!

15m FT8

After breakfast I intend to go on 15m FT8 (2.5W to the indoor loop).

UPDATE 0730z:  All turned on at 0720z.

UPDATE 1032z:  Although 3 Europeans spotted so far on 15m FT8 RX, no-one has yet spotted me.

UPDATE 1140z: 7 Europeans spotted so far and 1 spot by LA6RJA (794km) of my 2.5W to the tiny indoor loop antenna.

Stations spotting me to 1253z
UPDATE 1253z:  Quite a few spots of my 2.5W to the tiny 45cm indoor loop mainly from Scandinavia. 17 spots on RX.

UPDATE 1932z:  On 15m FT8 RX a total of 72 stations were spotted and 13 Europeans spotted my 2.5W tiny indoor loop.

UPDATE 2151z:  QRT.

QSX all band, all mode transceiver kit

QRP-labs has the multi-mode QSX transceiver in development.

The single band QCX CW transceiver is good value for money with many complex features. I am sure the multi-band QSX transceiver will be pretty good too. The QSX is expected to have a built-in spectrum analyser to help with filter alignment.

As I am poor at kit building these days, since my 2013 stroke I am wondering if they are also offering built units too when the release date comes? I am pretty sure that the finished unit design will be very good.

See https://www.qrp-labs.com/qsx.html

Sunspots - Tuesday April 21st 2020

Solar flux is 68 and the sunspot number 0. A=18 and K=2. These figures look really poor and are the worst for some time.

20 Apr 2020

US oil prices - NOT amateur radio

As I write, the West Texas oil prices have recovered after turning negative! These are strange Covid-19 times indeed with demand slumping and storage capacity in the USA now full.

In the morning things could well have changed again. As I write, WTI oil prices have recovered a bit.

Portuguese amateur - abandoned house

Southgate News has a piece found on YouTube showing an abandoned house in Portugal. The shack uncovered has many old QSL cards on the walls.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/april/abandoned-mansion-of-a-portuguese-radio-amateur-found-his-radio-room.htm#.Xp2mwWjYq00