10m WSPR beacon

As usual, I have turned on the 500mW 10m WSPR beacon with the indoor loop antenna. Amazingly, already a spot from Switzerland.

UPDATE 0934z: Already spots received from 5 different stations across Europe.

UPDATE 1935z: 11 unique stations have spotted me today on 10m WSPR.

VERY old photo - NOT amateur radio

This photo first appeared on my blog in 2010. It shows a man who is supposed to have been been born in 1746!

If correct, this must be one of the earliest photos of a human being ever. This is well before the French Revolution, when the USA colonies were still "owned"  by Great Britain and more than a century before the American Civil War.

I have no idea where this first appeared. As I recall, the first photos were taken in the late 1830s or early 1840s.

Sunspots - Saturday June 27th 2020

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0. A=6 and K=1.

2m FT8

At about 1235z I turned on 2m FT8. I am using 10W to the big-wheel omni antenna. So far, 8 stations have spotted me and no others have been spotted. A local, G0LRD has a very useful 2m FT8 screen grab so locals can check their signals.

See http://82.71.9.63:8080/cap/

UPDATE 1352z:   21 stations in 5 countries have spotted me already on 2m FT8 TX.  Not a single yet spotted on RX, despite my noise floor being vert low. No QSOs. Best spot was GI4SNA (491km) in N.Ireland. These sort of ranges seem always possible even though I only use 10W and the big wheel omni.

UPDATE 1548z:  QRT - thunder all around.

6m FT8

At 1130z my 6m FT8 gear was turned on.

UPDATE 1229z:  8 stations have spotted my 10W to the V2000 vertical omni.

10m WSPR TX

At about 1130z the 500mW 10m WSPR beacon was turned on dodging the thunder risk. It should be OK for the next hour or so.

UPDATE 1550z:  QRT thunder risk.

Storm risk?

Tree at Anglesey Abbey 

We booked on-line to visit a local National Trust property this morning as the weather forecast was good. In the last 6 hours it has changed twice, at one point predicting thunderstorms! Honestly they have no idea. Now it looks quite good. All my radio gear is disconnected, just in case!

UPDATE 1112z: In the end it was dry and hot. If you want to know the weather look out of the window!

2020 - NOT amateur radio

This photo summarises most countries in the world in 2020 with few if any expecting the impact of Covid-19 to be as it is.

Valve site

G8ALB has a site that is mostly about valves. I arrived on the scene just after transistors came in and I never got to build anything with valves. The nearest I got was a stroboscope.  A VHF RX based on the 955 acorn valve, was on the drawing board, but was never made.

See http://www.tetrode.co.uk/

Folk club - NOT amateur radio

Last night, our local folk club held an outdoor meeting outside the windmill next door. The weather was perfect - warm and sunny. I guess they cannot hold indoor meetings at the moment.