I am more convinced than ever that WSJT-X has a bug with Windows-10. This never happened with earlier versions of WSJT-X. I am using the latest released version.
For some periods FT8 appears on the waterfall screen with smeary signals and no decodes. It is as if the decoder does not "get" the signals correctly. After a time it corrects itself and decoding starts.
This is a real pain.
I might try the latest release candidate to see if this is better.
APRS has never been used here, but Southgate News has a piece on using APRS for so much more.
See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/october/aprs-more-than-just-position-data.htm#.X5vZxruTK00
Solar flux is 85 and the SSN 35. A=14 and K=0. Things are definitely getting a bit better.
For the last few minutes (it is now 1900z) I have been on 2m FT8. So far, I have been spotted by 4 stations with the furthermost being G4HGI (244km). Although I have spotted some stations these appear not to have uploaded to PSKreporter.
UPDATE 2205z: QRT. 1 QSO Earlier.
Not unexpectedly, the Holsworthy rally in Devon, due to take place this Sunday, November 1st, has been cancelled.
Let us hope that things get better next year. They can hardly get worse. At least we know this is a nasty blip. We will get over it. It is hard to think that right now!
From my own limited experience, I can say that magnetic loops work and are small. They are not ideal where frequent changes of frequency are required (if efficient they are very sharp) but they are ideal for modes like FT8 or PSK where most of the time you are within a few kilohertz.
With high power, often vacuum sealed capacitors are needed. With QRP, ordinary capacitors are fine. Even though the voltages at the high impedance points are high, they are nothing like the kVs seen with higher power.
I suspect loops are down on full-sized antennas, but they work pretty well. Being narrow-band probably helps keep QRN down too. In the absence of external antennas they can be used in the shack. If making the loop yourself use the thickest material you can for the loop inductor: I use central heating copper pipe, but I suspect thick coax would be fine. You don't need much.
I see Southgate News has a piece on a new commercially available loop although it is quite easy to make your own.
See also https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/magloop
For about 20 minutes I have been on 17m FT8 (it is now 1020z) with the poorer indoor loop and 2.5W. For some reason (I have to investigate) the better loop is not tuning: something has fallen off or is broken.
So far today, 20 stations spotted on RX with the furthermost being R4PU (3262km) and nothing yet on TX.
UPDATE 1121z: 48 stations spotted so far today. Nobody has yet spotted me on TX and no QSOs.
UPDATE 1417z: 136 spots on RX and 16 spots of me on TX with the tiny indoor loop including N1NK (5327km).
UPDATE 1552z: 23 spots of me so far on 17m FT8 RX with 2.5W and the indoor loop. 192 stations spotted on RX today.
UPDATE 1845z: 28 spots of me so far on 17m FT8 TX. On RX 241 stations spotted.
It is some time since I saw a forecast for the magnitude of the next sunspot maximum.
We certainly seem to be on the up-slopes after the solar minimum. If there have been any recent forecasts, I have missed them! Please let me know if you know of any recent ones.
The last forecast I saw was expecting the next peak to be broadly similar to the last one. Compared with the huge peaks after WW2 (e.g. 1957), this was a pretty poor one, although 10m was very good at times. I remember a peak (in the 1980s?) when ZSs were coming in well on 6m SSB with just a wire dipole. It would be good to see that again.
See https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/what-will-solar-cycle-25-look-like-sun-prediction-model
Solar flux is 88 (highest for a very long time) and the SSN 36 (also highest for a long time). A=12 and K=3.
My 500mW 10m WSPR TX beacon was turned on about 1015z. At 1030z 10 stations had spotted me, by what looks like F2 propagation.
