Sunspots - Sunday November 29th 2020

Solar flux is 110 and the SSN 67. A=10 and K=3.  For so close to the sunspot minimum, these are very high figures.

Trump and recounts - NOT amateur radio

Assuming this is true and not "fake news",  apparently President Trump has paid $3M to have the recheck done in Wisconsin. The result? More Trump votes, but even more for Biden. 😆

2m FT8 QRP (Saturday)

At 1640z, I QSYed from 10m to 2m FT8 using 2.5W and the big-wheel omni antennna. 

Already 5 spots of me on TX including G7RAU (461km). If he is active I get spotted every time, irrespective of the time of day. Also, 1 station spotted on RX.

UPDATE 1947z:  15 stations spotted this evening on 2m FT8 with the furthermost being DD7DAC (520km). On TX 12 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 2025z: On TX 13 stations have spotted me. On RX 18 stations spotted in 4 countries.

eHam reviews of the IC-705

The last time I looked there were just 2 reviews, whereas today there are 6 reviews. All are 5 stars, meaning the owners love them. Apart from the price, which is far too high, it has a very good feature set and coverage.

I wonder if anyone has widebanded it for 472kHz yet? There are several mods for the IC-706.

See https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=14776

Solar cycle 25 - latest predictions

It is some time since I saw predictions for the next solar cycle, but we have got off to a roaring start. I am no expert, but signs are promising. Who would have expected solar flux and sunspots to be this good?

The climb up from solar minimum has been dramatic and fast with sunspot numbers and solar flux levels much greater than we all expected. 

We should deal in averages and this could just be a blip, but I hope the next solar cycle is a decent one. No doubt the latest NOAA and NASA forecasts are worth a look.

Virtual radio clubs?

Many of us have been pleasantly surprised just how successful radio club meetings and talks have been over Zoom. 

It would not surprise me if several radio clubs adopt this as a permanent model to replace club meetings, especially if rooms have to be hired. 

Many like the social interaction of a physical meeting especially if they live alone. However, it means people from across the world can join a club for talks or informal meetings.

It would be interesting to hear your views.

IC-705 desk stand

One of the complaints about the IC-705 (other than the price and lack of internal auto-ATU!) is the lack of a desk stand. I expect these will soon be available as add-ons from other suppliers. One solution is to make your own with a 3D printer as shown in the video.

F2 on 10m?

Even with my tiny loop indoors, I am spotting plenty of stations in Eastern Europe and the Canaries on 10m FT8. This looks like F2 propagation. In the last few days there has been propagation to the southern USA as well on 10m.

If things continue like this, 10m could again be a really good DX band certainly by next autumn.

Online Foundation licence training

If you want to get into this hobby, you may be interested in this online training course.

See https://www.essexham.co.uk/train/foundation-online/

10m FT8 QRP (Saturday)

At the moment, I am on 10m FT8 with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop on the shack windowsill indoors. So far (1040z) no-one has spotted me on TX, but I have spotted 3 stations already on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1135z:  So far today, 15 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1246z: 16 stations spotted on RX with the furthermost being UA4NF (3257km)  and 2 stations in the Canaries have spotted my QRP on TX.

UPDATE 1445z:  17 stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX and still just the 2 spots of me on TX.