Our political leaders

Certainly in the UK, Russia, Belarus and the USA it would appear our leaders are out of touch with reality. I am not a political animal, but it would help if they were honest. Honesty and the ability to admit mistakes seems in very short supply.

As mentioned before, I find it very hard indeed to find anyone in politics these days who is there for anything other than their vested self interests. We desperately need real leaders with backbone and integrity. 

Oh, there's another pig flying by......

Beach Huts - NOT amateur radio

 

These colourful beach huts were photographed earlier in the week at Sheringham,  Norfolk. We spent 5 nights at Sheringham.

2m FT8 (10W and big-wheel omni antenna)

For about an hour I have been on 2m FT8 with 10W to the big-wheel omni antenna. 50 stations in 7 countries have already spotted me. It is now 0955z.  

On 2m FT8 RX 36 stations in 6 countries spotted the furthermost being DL3TW (655km) not far from Denmark. One G QSO so far.

UPDATE 1211z:  67 stations in 10 countries have spotted me with 2 QSOs. On RX 57 stations in 8 countries spotted. 2m dead?

Joint Zoom meeting

Last evening, the Cambridge and Antrim clubs held an informal meeting and quiz by Zoom. It was a resounding success. 

One of the positives of lockdown is the proof that clubs can come together even though they are miles apart. Someone from the Antrim club mentioned that they had had a speaker from the USA on a recent Zoom meeting. 

Sunspots - Wednesday September 16th 2020

 Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0. A=7 and K=0.

2m FT8

My 10W to the big-wheel omni on 2m has been spotted by 31 stations already (after about 20 minutes) in 6 countries. So far, just one Welsh station spotted on RX.

Although this could be aircraft scatter, I suspect some other sort of scatter as it seems to work at almost any time. 

UPDATE 2140z:  59 stations in 10 countries have spotted my 10W to the big-wheel 2m omni today.  Now QRT. Although not shown on PSKreporter, the most distant station copied was in Sweden.

Home again

For the last few days we have been in north Norfolk on holiday. I am about to turn on 2m FT8. 

2m activity contest results published

The 2m UKAC activity contest results for September have been published. In the low power section I came 62nd out of 204, despite being on for under an hour with an omni antenna. 

Zoom quiz

This evening the Cambridge and Antrim radio clubs are joining forces by Zoom for a quiz at 1830z. This is one of the positives of the current odd times as people are brought together. Certainly I have seen far more lectures by the Cambridge club by Zoom than I would have if I had had to journey into Cambridge at night. 

Simple pleasures - NOT amateur radio

When in Norfolk we eat at the Old Reading Room in Kelling. This is a second hand bookshop and tea room. The food is nothing special, but it has been run by the same people for many years. These are simple Norfolk folk who are just themselves. One of the pleasures is it never changes.