11 Jun 2020

National Trust visit - NOT amateur radio

No café, so just a
hut selling snacks 
Our nearest National Trust place is Anglesey Abbey.  After months of being closed the gardens have been opened again as long as you pre-book.

It was surreal with so few people. It felt like we had the place to ourselves. It was good to be back.

Another cancelled rally

The East Suffolk Wireless Revival has been cancelled. The following may be hard to read on some screens, but this is as I get it.

Sunday 14 JUNE : CANCELLED
EAST SUFFOLK WIRELESS REVIVAL (Ipswich Radio Rally). 

Kirton Recreation Ground, Back Road, Kirton IP10 0PW (just off the A14). Doors open at 9.30am and the entry fee for visitors is £2. The venue has free car parking. Trade tables are from £10. There will be trade stands, a car boot sale, a Bring & Buy, special interest groups, GB4SWR HF station and an RSGB bookstall. Catering is available on site. Contact Kevin G8MXV, 07710 046 846. www.eswr.org.uk.

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

The next solar peak

Historically, it has been very difficult to forecast the size of the next solar peak. We are getting better. One paper compares the methods used. They forecast the next peak may be just a bit better than the last cycle.

See https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41116-020-0022-z

10m WSPR

A few moments ago (it is now 0820z) I turned on my 500mW WSPR beacon to the indoor loop. So far just spots by G4KPX (14km).

UK post Covid-19 - NOT amateur radio

The whole world is having a great shock with this virus. In the 1600s maybe, but in the 21st century?

The expectation is that we will have the deepest recession, probably for a century. We will be in uncharted territory. With stimulus measures some countries may be able to claw back to near normality. Left to purely market forces, many will be very vulnerable.

I suspect long supply chains and "just in time" policies driven by ever lower prices will be ditched in the interests of supply security. Many retail businesses will close for ever and more of us will continue to shop online. I suspect flying will be rarer with higher prices and fewer leisure trips.

We are in for a difficult few years. I hope most governments can stimulate their economies to ease the pain.

6m FT8

At 0810z my 10W to the vertical V2000 omni was turned on. 6 stations, including 2 Scandinavians have spotted me so far. It is now 0815z.

Rainy day - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows an umbrella in a shop window seen recently. Ideal for the UK weather at present - rainy and changeable.

Sunspots - Thursday June 11th 2020

Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 11. A=7 and K=1.

10 Jun 2020

2m FT8

Stations spotting my 
10W 2m FT8 to 1840z
A few moments ago I went QRT on 6m FT8 and have QSYed to 2m FT8. This was at 1800z. 16 spots in 5 countries so far. Best DX spot is by GI6ATZ (479km) in Northern Ireland.

UPDATE 1945z:  One 2m FT8 QSO so far - G0BNR (37km).

UPDATE 2035z:  22 spots of my 2m FT8 10W this evening.

UPDATE 2100z:  QRT.

VHF/UHF super-DX

Every year about now, 6m opens from Japan to western Europe. For a long time I have been of the view that this is E layer propagation, but not sporadic-E (Es). This is a very long way and it seems to be linked with noctilucent cloud formation. Southgate News reports on a Space weather piece about extremely cold temperatures in the mesosphere. Noctilucent clouds are forming at lower latitudes.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/june/record-cold-in-the-mesosphere.htm#.XuD6RIjYrrcot

I have also got views on some of the other long paths worked on 6m such as the UK to the USA and the UK to South America. I am again convinced this is some sort of E layer propagation, but think it is very unlikely to be Es. OK, some openings could be Es, but the chance of this being multiple hop Es seems very unlikely. Maybe in 20 years' time we will know. In the meantime we have fun!

I also wonder if the Japanese path would also work on microwaves. Maybe one year some suitably equipped 23cm or even 3cm stations could have a try. Quite some firsts! Imagine if some EME equipped stations had a go.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/noctilucent