Arecibo dish disaster

Earlier, I read that one of the supports holding the large Arecibo dish in the Caribbean had broken. The main use of this 50 year dish radio telescope was for research by the University of Florida. Until this dish is repaired (no mean task) no work can carry on.

Back in the 1960s, this dish was used for amateur 70cm EME tests. Because of its huge size, it allowed access to EME QSOs not possible at the time with more modest stations. It appeared on the cover of the RSGB Bulletin. I think this was 1965.

See https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/08/arecibo-radio-telescope-goes-dark-after-snapped-cable-shreds-dish

Last evening on 2m FT8

Although a very brief time was on TX, most of the time was spent on RX.

There was a lift on probably as stations as far apart as Eire, Ulster, Isle of Man and Sweden were copied. QRT was at about 2215z.

10m FT8 (4W and indoor loop)

As 6m was so dire, I decided to try 10m FT8 with 4W and the indoor loop. Already an EA3 spotted on RX. On TX spotted by F4FOM (1024km) in the south of France as well as a couple of others by Es. It is now 1030z.  At the moment, 10m FT8 seems the best bet as there is still Es around.

UPDATE 1048z:  Currently spotted by 7 stations with the furthermost being R1CAA (2040km).  As far as I recall, I have not been spotted outside Europe on the indoor 10m loop, although I hspotsave been spotted in South America on the (inferior) loop on lower bands.

UPDATE 1232z:  31 stations have spotted my 4W 10m FT8 signal to the indoor loop.

UPDATE 1435z:  39 stations have spotted my 4W on 10m FT8 so far today. Still plenty of Es in evidence on 10m.

UPDATE 1543z:  No recent spots of my TX. All my spots (RX and TX) today are Europeans. Nothing (yet) from South America.

Spots of me today

UPDATE 1845z: 49 spots of my 4W to the indoor loop today. One of these supposedly copied me in the Far East an hour ago. I am pretty sure this is a European pirate.

IC-705 PSU

MyDel is producing a small PSU to go with the IC-705 QRP rig. MLS is selling it.

It is not clear if this is a linear or switched mode design. It does not have a fan.

See https://www.hamradio.co.uk/accessories-power-supplies/mydel/mydel-mp-705-pd-5271.php

6m FT8

Just after 0900z I QSYed to 6m FT8 with 10W and the V2000 vertical omni. It is now 0905z. No spot given or received yet.

UPDATE 0957z:  Just 1 G spot of me by G3NSM (123km). I have moved the audio LF a bit and checked the SWR in case something was amiss. The SWR looked normal. Basically, as exciting as watching paint dry!

UPDATE 1020z:  Just Jim G3YLA (64km) spotted on 6m FT8 RX and no further spots on TX.

Logbooks

Some, not all, of my early logbooks are available as PDF files online. Most of these PDF files were created when I was still at work, which is over 12 years ago!

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/logs

Alstromerias - NOT amateur radio

One of the plants in our rear garden is called an alstromeria. We have several in pots. They seem to do well.

See https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/popular/alstroemeria/growing-guide

2m FT8

Using my 10W to the big-wheel, I have been on 2m FT8 since breakfast. I have already been spotted in Cornwall and Germany.  On 2m FT8 RX, 14 stations in 4 countries spotted so far. No QSOs yet.

2m MSK144 RX (MS Perseids)

Overnight, I tried watching 144.360MHz MSK144, in the hope of catching some MS activity on 2m. In the end just 1 G copied calling a UR4.

As usual, the antenna was the big-wheel omni. Either I was too late, few were on 144.360MHz MSK144, or my system was not up to it. I doubt the latter as I have copied MS signals before with this antenna. Also, in MS showers signals are usually strong, but short-lived.

Maybe, it would have been better a day sooner?

Sunspots - Friday August 14th 2020

Solar flux is 72 and the SSN 11. A=4 and K=1.