Wicken Fen walk - NOT amateur radio

Our walk today was around the outskirts of Wicken Fen and Wicken village. The photo shows some of what we saw.

2m FT8

Since 0655z my 2m FT8 (10W and the big-wheel omni) has been turned on. 8 spots in the first 15 minutes.

10m WSPR TX beacon

My 500mW 10m WSPR beacon to the indoor loop antenna has been on since 0655z. No spots yet.

ICOM IC-705 details

The spec and other details of this new QRP radio are on the ICOM UK pages.

See https://icomuk.co.uk/IC-705/Mobile_Amateur_Radio_Ham

Sunspots - Tuesday June 30th 2020

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0.  A=3 and K=2.

Oscar 100 and SOTA

Southgate News has a piece about a recent SOTA activation using Oscar 100, the geosynchronous satellite between 2 G stations.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/june/qo-100-s2s-in-sota.htm#.XvoFkYjYq00

Walk collage - NOT amateur radio

Most days, we try to do a walk. The collage, by my wife, shows the things we saw on our walk yesterday. We try to vary where we walk.

It is surprising how many good walks there are quite close to home.

Skyscape - NOT amateur radio

East Anglia, UK, can be quite flat, but we do get some great skies as the photo shows. This was on our walk yesterday down to the River Cam, near Cambridge.

2m FT8 (1W and 10W)

At about 0845z, my 1W to the big-wheel omni was turned on. So far, 6 spots on TWX with the best being M0NPT (125km) in Nottingham. On RX 6 stations spotted so far with the best being PD4HW (294km) in Holland.

UPDATE 1118z:  So far today my 1W has been spotted by 8 stations with the best being G4RRA (333km)  in Devon. On 2m FT8 RX, 10 stations in 3 countries spotted so far today.

UPDATE 1351z:  So far today, my 1W FT8 has been spotted by 11 stations. G8VHI (127km) in the Birmingham area is showing up on the "all bands" PSKreporter map, but not on the 2m one. I have no idea why this is so. It happened briefly yesterday, but went.

UPDATE 1512z:  Increasing the power by 10dB has resulted in 23 spots of me in 6 countries. Best DX spot of me is GI6ATZ (479km).

UPDATE 2002z:  28 stations spotted me today. Now QRT.

10m WSPR TX

At about 0845z, my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon (into the indoor loop) was turned on. Already loads of spots from 4 unique stations. A promising start. No spots outside Europe on 10m WSPR this year.

Spots to 1250z today

UPDATE 1250z: 12 spots of my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon so far today. Best spot is by SM0FKI (1332km).

UPDATE 1337z:  No spots since 1056z.

UPDATE 1602z:    A spot from GM at 1526z.

UPDATE 2006z:   QRT.