Late start on 10m WSPR TX

Rather later than normal, I have turned on my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon using the indoor loop antenna in the shack. Gear was turned on at about 1340z.

UPDATE 1455z:  No spots of me yet today.

Windmill next door - NOT amateur radio

This photo appeared as a FB memory today. It shows the windmill next door at 10.10pm local time.

Sunspots - Monday July 13th 2020

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0. A=3 and K=1. Poor.

Rear garden - NOT amateur radio

Earlier in the spring we thought our garden would look sparse with the lockdown, but actually it looks better than normal! The photo shows our rear garden just now.

6m FT8

Since just before lunch I have been on 6m FT8 with 10W and the V2000 vertical omni antenna.  Mostly spotted in Scandinavia.

UPDATE 1550z:  Today, 97 stations have spotted my 10W 6m FT8 TX. Just one transatlantic station copied me VE1PZ (4501km) in FN85 square, Nova Scotia, Canada. On 6m FT8 RX I have spotted 106 stations so far. 3 of these were transatlantic.

UPDATE 2117z:  Several QSOs today, all in Europe. In all, 537 stations spotted today including 4 transatlantic. Most interesting was JW7QIA (2949km) in Svalbard in the high Arctic. My own signal was spotted in Canada and it almost feels incidental!

10m WSPR TX beacon

Since just before lunch I have been on 10m WSPR TX using 500mW to the tiny indoor loop antenna. No spots of me yet.

UPDATE 1655z:  A few spots received, but not many. With WSPR it is definitely harder to be spotted than with FT8 even though FT8 is less sensitive. There are far more people using FT8 now.

UPDATE 2145z:  7 unique stations spotted my little beacon today. QRT.

Hanging Basket - NOT amateur radio

We have just got back from a walk around the village. This hanging basket puts ours to shame!

Poppies - NOT amateur radio

My wife took this photo yesterday on our walk. It shows poppies beside a ripening cornfield.

Sunspots - Sunday July 12th 2020

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0 again. A=3 and K=1.

Swallows - NOT amateur radio

Swallows (barn swallows in some countries) have had numbers down this year. This could just be a blip or it could be a trend. It was good to see some on our walk earlier.