Lilac - NOT amateur radio

Several years ago, one of our neighbours lilac trees blew down onto our path. We all thought that was it, so they gota new lilac and planted it a few metres from the old tree. What happened? The old tree sprouted again! We can now enjoy 3 lilac trees as the photo shows.

Disaster - NOT amateur radio

We had pasta for lunch, prepared by me. All was fine until the last minute when I accidentally tipped a whole jar of mixed herbs on it! It tasted, well, "herby".  I scraped a lot off, but it rather spoilt things. After the event we can laugh.

10m FT8

Yet again I am on 10m FT8 with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop. So far today just being spotted by locals and just 1 G spotted on RX.

UPDATE 1300z:  4 spots so far with a couple of spots from Spain. 1 QSO (in the village!) and 11 spots on RX.

UPDATE 1840z: Just 5 spots of me today and 13 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX. 1 QSO and he was in the village!

UPDATE 1935z: QRT.

Sunspots - Monday April 27th 2020

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 14.  A=6 and K=2.  Better sunspot numbers.

Zoom - NOT amateur radio

In these strange times we cannot see our grandchildren in person.

Once a week we have a family Zoom session so we can all see each other. It works well.

Yellow tipped - NOT amateur radio

My brother went for a bike ride earlier in Devon. He saw a yellow tipped butterfly (see photo).

Sporadic-E

About now it is almost like a switch being turned on. For the next few months bands like 10m, 6m, 4m and occasionally 2m will spring into life with plenty of short skip contacts. Occasionally these bands may support far more distant contacts via E layer propagation. Last year 6m opened up to Australia!! Anything is possible.

Spring - NOT amateur radio

Pretty sure this photo was on some weeks ago, but I hope you don't mind seeing it again. It shows the path up to our church some weeks ago. Most of the daffodils are now dead until next year.

Hedge trimming - NOT amateur radio

As we are busy in the garden it is unlikely that we will do a walk today. Cutting the hedge is far more tiring than I expected. As we are trying to cut the growth back quite a bit, I am having to use the mains powered trimmer that is quite heavy.

ICOM IC-705

This rig was expected to be released in Japan about now. Many were expecting the USA version to be released at Dayton. The last reports I had seen gave no European release dates.

The last I heard was this had no internal auto-ATU and it was expensive for a QRP radio. It would not surprise me if this was even more expensive now. To my mind an internal auto-ATU is essential in a QRP radio intended for field use, even if this made the box a bit thicker. Even the option of one is better than nothing.

At least the display can be turned off. I think this was as a result of feedback.

If you have any latest data, please share it.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/ic705