Visitor - NOT amateur radio

This picture was a Facebook memory from last year.  It rested on a white background long enough for a photo.

Not including the antennae, it was about 3cm long. I don't think these can fly.

I have not seen one this year.

East Cambs 2m FM net

Every Monday night at 8pm UK time, we hold the East Cambs net on 144.575MHz FM vertical. Usually we are on for about 30 minutes. Sometimes there are technical discussions, although this is usually just someone sharing their knowledge to help someone out.  It is rare for deep technical discussions to take place. All are always welcomed.

Government U-turn - NOT amateur radio

After a public protest, the government has been forced to make a U-turn over A level and GCSE grades. These are usually given as a result of exams held in the summer term. This year, these were not possible because of Covid-19. A level grades are used for offers of university places. Many grade predictions made by teachers were down-graded by an algorithm designed to normalise results.

After a public outcry in England the government has decided to use teachers predictions after all. Although they will be humiliated (again) over this, at least they saw sense in the end.

Flood - NOT amateur radio

For a few minutes yesterday, it rained very heavily. For the first time since this happened, I went into the shack just now. The floor of the shack is about 10cm lower than the rest of the bungalow.

Much to my surprise some of the floor carpet is wet. Luckily nowhere else in the shack or house seems to have been affected. I have placed a convector heater in the little room to dry the carpet. I hope it does not leave a bad stain.

10m FT8

I have just switched my 4W 10m FT8 to the indoor loop on. We had thunder and my son and family staying, hence the late start today. Within a few minutes my 4W was spotted by 20 stations (mainly in eastern Europe) via Es. 3 stations spotted on RX so far. It is now 1445z.

UPDATE 1544z:  Even though I have not been on long, 28 stations have already spotted my 4W 10m FT8 signal today so far.

UPDATE 1745z: 30 stations have spotted me today so far.

Gifts - NOT amateur radio

We had some gifts brought back from Brittany by our son's family. See the photo.

10m FT8 on Sunday

Until we had thunder and heavy rain yesterday, I was on 10m FT8 with 4W and the tiny indoor loop antenna. There was plenty of Es about.

In all, I was spotted by 65 stations and I spotted 247 stations on RX. I was only on for a few hours too!

Sunspots - Monday August 17th 2020

Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 0.  A=4 and K=1.

Rain stops play

About 15 minutes ago all leads to the rig, PC and PSU were disconnected as we have heavy rain and thunder. It is the first decent rain for weeks. Luckily I cut the front hedge and lawn earlier!

Yesterday on 10m FT8 (4W and the indoor loop)

Yesterday, I went on 10m FT8 with the tiny indoor loop antenna. It was a successful day with my 4W spotted by no less than 67 stations across Europe. On RX I spotted 62 stations.

What is not clear is how far down the loop is on an external antenna like a dipole. At a guess I reckon this must be less than 6dB based on results.

This difference could be important with weak signals, but is probably less important with Es. As mentioned before, I'd like to get an external 10m antenna up soon.

No spots from South America.