House plants - NOT amateur radio

My wife always has house plants to brighten up the place. This November is no exception. 

These plants (see photo) brighten up the dullest of days!

Parks on the air (POTA)

Not sure if this is popular in Europe, but I know some in the USA enjoy this. I know Summits on the Air (SOTA) has its followers. There are some YouTube videos on POTA activations.

Labels: are they used? - NOT amateur radio

Most times, when I remember, I add labels to posts so people can search previous posts for the same subject. I have no idea if these are used. 

Please would you tell me if these are helpful. If I do not hear, I shall stop, although I am happy to carry on adding these.

10m FT8 QRP (Sunday)

At about 1030z, I turned on 10m FT8 with the indoor loop and 2.5W. The band feels lively. 1 station spotted on RX: RD4D (3180km).

UPDATE 1212z: 25 stations spotted on RX. Nobody has spotted my 2.5W yet today.

UPDATE 1355z: 28 stations spotted with best DX spotted WP3PZ (6898km) in Puerto Rico. Still no-one has spotted me and no 10m FT8 QSOs.

UPDATE 1515z:  Much to my surprise, no more stations spotted on 10m FT8 this afternoon. I was expecting to spot a few North and South Americans, but spotted none. I shall give it a few more hours then QSY to 2m.

Yet more IC-705 videos

It is hard to keep up with all the videos on YouTube on the IC-705. This one may be of interest. The best thing to do is go to YouTube and search "IC-705".  

Many are Japanese where this product was first launched. At the moment MLS is offering a 5 year warranty at extra cost. I suspect they will soon be offering this in the selling price. A 5 year warranty is probably a good idea.

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.