Zoom dinners - NOT amateur radio

On the second Thursday of the month several old work colleagues would travel to different pubs in the area in turn for a meal and meet-up. The venue for the next meeting was decided at the end of each meal. We tried to vary the location so that on average most had venues near to them throughout the year. We met once a month. Attendance varied between 6 and 10.

With Covid-19 this is no longer possible so we meet instead, with a glass in hand, from our homes. These have been surprisingly successful. We meet again at 8pm tonight. I shall have a glass of whisky! One advantage is that nobody has to travel, so attendance has been good.

D4VHF (Cape Verde Is) antenna changes

John EI7GL has a piece on his blog about changes to the antennas at D4VHF.  They seem to be well equipped and the better stations in Europe, and elsewhere, are working them on many VHF bands.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2020/07/upgrade-of-d4vhf-station-vhf-microwave.html

Sunspots - Thursday July 9th 2020

Solar flux is 67 and the sunspot number 0.  A=2 and K=1.

6m FT8 (10W and the V2000 vertical omni)

For about 10 minutes I have been active on 6m FT8. It is now 0850z. Already 13 spots (mainly UK). Best DX spot is by SP7CDG (1429km). No QSOs yet.

UPDATE 1055z:  38 spots of me so far and 1 UK QSO.

UPDATE 1616z:  3 USA stations spotted my 10W to the vertical omni antenna earlier on 6m FT8. So far today, 73 stations have spotted me on 6m FT8. Best DX on 6m FT8 RX is K1OR (5258km).

UPDATE 1820z: 95 stations have spotted my 10W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni on 6m today so far.

10m WSPR TX beacon (500mW into the indoor loop)

10m WSPR TX has just been turned on at 0840z. No spots yet.

UPDATE 1056z:  No spots received yet today on 10m WSPR.

Stations spotting me to 1920z

UPDATE 1920z:  So far today, 10 unique stations have spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR to the indoor loop.

Oscar 100 (geosynchronous) update

Every few weeks I try to give an update on activity levels on Oscar 100. I do this by checking the online SDR at Goonhilly Down in Cornwall.

My latest look suggests that activity levels are still quite low. To be honest activity levels look lower than the last time I looked. This is not scientific, more of a quick look to see how things are going.

It seems to me that people enjoy the challenge of getting a signal through the device then lose interest.

UPDATE 0856z:  On the narrowband section there were only 2 active stations just now!  I am quite surprised how quiet things are. I bet if there was a "black box" ŧhere would be far more activity. These days there are few real experimenters sadly.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

Even more ICOM IC-705 videos

Looking on YouTube I see there are loads of videos appearing about the IC-705. This is now on sale in Japan, so I can only look at the pictures as I speak no Japanese. Although I intended to give some links, I think it is better you look yourselves.

Passed the minimum?

My favourite solar forecast site still thinks we have passed the solar minimum and are on the up towards solar peak 25. It shows the minimum as most likely having occurred at the end of last year. They expect sunspot numbers to be approaching 20 by the end of the year. I hope they are right.

I have yet to see revised forecasts for the size of the next peak. A little while ago they were predicting the next peak would be of similar size to the last one. Normally, these predictions are revised once the next cycle starts.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/images/cycles23_24.png

Windmill sails in action - NOT amateur radio

For some reason, my G3XBM video channel has this video "unlisted". I shall change this. It shows the windmill next door with the sails turning.

For safety reasons both the local museum and windmill are currently closed.

2m activity contest (UKAC)

Stations worked last night on 2m SSB

Last night I managed 8 contacts in the low power section using 10W and the big-wheel omni antenna. After an hour I had had enough, although several workable stations were missed. Usually an hour leaves me exhausted. Several ONs and PA0s were heard plus one F.

Interesting that these are hard work in the UKAC sessions on SSB but easily worked on FT8.