Sunspots - Tuesday June 23rd 2020

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=1.

Garden lantern - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows a garden lantern in some flowers. I quite like the shadow.

SPRAT magazine

SPRAT is the quarterly magazine of the GQRP club. It is a small A5 sized magazine in full colour.

Of all the amateur magazines, it is the very best. It is entirely produced by volunteers. Many times in the past I have said it would be the last one to go if I fell on hard times.

Past editions are available on a DVD that is incredible value, especially if you are a GQRP club member. It is almost worth joining just for the DVD.

Every edition is packed with good ideas for simple projects and news. I love it.

See http://www.gqrp.com/sprat.htm

Exhaustion - NOT amateur radio

As many know, I had a stroke back in 2013. Despite being giddy all the time and my voice being poor, most of me recovered and I have enjoyed almost 7 years of good health.

More recently I seem to be more exhausted and more giddy. This may be age catching up with me. I am still determined to do what I can. "Onwards and upwards", as they say!

In this situation, some could give up. That is not my way.

6m FT8

53 spots of my 10W to the V2000 vertical omni antenna on 6m FT8 so far this morning and 21 stations spotted on RX. No QSOs yet. I see Spanish stations are calling Japanese stations, although nothing from the Far East spotted here and my signal is not being copied there. It is now 0832z.

UPDATE 1005z:  80 stations have spotted my 6m FT8 10W so far this morning.

UPDATE 1310z: First spot of me today in the USA on 6m FT8 TX by W6IZT (4147 miles). So far today 144 spots of me.

UPDATE  2040z:  Now QRT. In all, 151 stations have spotted me on 6m FT8 in 3 continents.

10m WSPR TX (500mW to the indoor loop)

Since just before breakfast, I have been on 10m WSPR TX with the 500mW beacon. At first I got excited thinking 2 Germans had spotted me. Then I realised this was last evening! No spots of me as yet today.

UPDATE 1006z:   Still no spots today.

UPDATE 2040z:  6 stations spotted me today (see table).

Sunspots - Monday June 22nd 2020

Solar flux is 68 and the sunspot number still 0. A=4 and K=1. Basically poor!

Optical communications

Because of my health, it is some years since I experimented with optical communications.

Although I have had line of sight speech contacts, my special interest was weak signal "over the horizon" communication using a PC to decode the signal.

Results surprised me as signals could be decoded with no visible sign in the sky of a signal. The photo shows my RX kit and PC on a dark night.

East Anglian skies - NOT amateur radio

Compared with some parts of the UK, East Anglia is flat, but we can get some great skies. On our walk earlier it threatened rain although we missed it.

6m FT8

Transmitting in the first period on 50.313MHz I am about to start FT8 on 6m with 10W to the V2000 vertical omni. It is now 0802z.

As I am now Txing when most Europeans are calling CQ, one consequence is I spot fewer Europeans!

UPDATE 0906z: Spotted by 62 stations, but no QSOs yet today. Best DX is a spot by RA4DX (3071km).

UPDATE 1145z: Spots received from 88 stations on 6m FT8. No QSOs. On RX, 150 stations spotted here.