Cycle 25?

From regular visits to my favourite site for solar data, it looks far more likely that we have passed solar minimum. Most days now we see some sunspots and indicators are increasingly good.

As mentioned before, it could be some time before HF conditions get noticeably better. With luck we should see more openings to "real DX" on bands like 10m, 12m and 10m.

This is the first time we will have had FT8 available as a tool on the climb up to solar maximum. It is probably worth monitoring the FT8 frequencies on 10m, as I suspect the band is open far more often than is realised.

2m FT8

Following a poor outing on 6m and 10m FT8, I have returned to 2m FT8. So far, my 10W to the big-wheel omni antenna has been spotted by 23 stations in 3 countries at 1400z includin Northern Irelaand and Germany.

Stations spotting me to 2010z

UPDATE 1607z: Now 29 stations in 5 countries have spotted my 10W 2m FT8 today.

UPDATE 2010z:  36 stations spotted me today on 2m FT8.

UPDATE 2200z : Now QRT. 37 St spotted me today on 2m FT8 using 10W and the big-wheel omni antenna.

Salcombe, Devon, UK - NOT amateur radio

As a child I lived and was brought up in Salcombe, Devon. We took it all for granted, not appreciating just how lucky we were.

I have mentioned before how the light reflected off the water made patterns on the ceiling of the classroom. It was a long time before I realised what it was!

There are several videos on YouTube including these here.

2m progress

When I was first interested in amateur radio AM was king on 2m. Working 10km with a Heathkit HW30 "Twoer" seemed good. Nowadays working 200km with 10W of SSB is commonplace with a big-wheel omni antenna. With FT8 distances of 500km seem possible at any time. We have come a long way.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/lunchbox

Sunspots - Friday August 21st 2020

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 13.  A=3 and K=1.

2m FT8

At about 1600z, I decided to QSY to 2m FT8. On 10m FT8,  I was again widely spotted across Europe despite running just 4W to the indoor loop.

On 2m I am running the usual 10W (high power eh?) and the big-wheel omni antenna. So far, 12 spots of me already in the first 5 minutes!

Stations spotting me at 1610z

UPDATE 1610z: Already spotted on the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland after just a few minutes.

UPDATE 2050z:  QRT.  In all today, my 10W was spotted 40 stations in 7 countries.

International Lighthouse Weekend 2020

For this year, the ILLW event when lighthouses around the world are activated has been moved to this weekend Aug 22nd/23rd. This is NOT a contest. Google for more details.

Flash floods - NOT amateur radio

After the floods 

A few days ago, the heavens opened and it rained so heavily that the drains could not cope. One of our old neighbours really suffered badly. I feel sorry for people who have their homes ruined by floods.

Cambridge shopping - NOT amateur radio

For the first time since March we ventured into Cambridge. We went shopping. It was busier than I expected, but still easy to social distance.

10m FT8

It is now 0836z. My 4W to the tiny indoor loop antenna has been on for about 15 minutes. So far no spots on RX and on TX 2 spots.