Peter Alliss - NOT amateur radio

Many in the UK will recognise the voice of Peter Alliss, aged 89, who commentated on many golf games over many years. In the UK he was the voice of golf. He has died and will be greatly missed.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/55204070

Sunspots - Monday December 7th 2020

Solar flux is 91 and the SSN 25.  A=6 and K=0. Quite surprised how good the sunspot count is this soon after the minimum.

QSYed to 2m FT8 QRP (Sunday)

As 17m FT8 was fading out, I have QSYed to 2m FT8 using 2.5W and the big-wheel omni antenna. Just 1 local spot so far from G0LRD (26km). Nothing yet on RX. His grabber is useful.

See http://82.71.9.63:8080/cap/

UPDATE 1650z:  5 stations spotted on RX. 8 stations have spotted me with the furthermost EI2FG (565km). See map for spots of me on QRP TX.

UPDATE 1846z:  So far today 11 stations in 5 countries have spotted me on QRP TX and I have spotted 11 stations in 4 countries on 2m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 2232z: 16 stations spotted on 2m FT8 RX this evening.  QRT. 

Virtual concert - NOT amateur radio

Last night my wife took part in a virtual concert online. 

There we were people from all over the world. My wife had been practicing for weeks. It was set in virtual Vienna. 

Amazing what can be done .

17m FT8

As 10m FT8 was poor here, I QSYed to 17m FT8. Immediately stations were spotted.  It is now 1328z and 4 stations have spotted my 2.5W to the indoor loop on TX. On 17m FT8 RX 72 stations so far spotted.

UPDATE 1356z:  7 stations have spotted me so far.  On 17m FT8 RX 110 stations spotted here so far today (see map). At the moment, 17m seems far more lively than 10m despite the loop being far less efficient on that band compared with 10m.

UPDATE 1504z:  138 stations spotted on RX and 11 spots of me on TX (see 2nd map).

Misty - NOT amateur radio

This morning it's cold and misty. The sun is trying to break through, but has not yet succeeded. It is thoroughly miserable. All our snow went yesterday.

10m FT8 RX

At 1017z I QSYed to 10m FT8 RX with the indoor loop and the FT817ND. 

UPDATED 1040z:  Nothing spotted yet on 10m FT8. It is interesting how different 15m and 10m are. On 15m FT8 I had no problems spotting loads of stations, whereas, so far, nothing at all spotted on 10m FT8 here today. By now I would have expected to have spotted a few stations.

UPDATE 1217z:  Still nothing spotted. Reloaded and briefly on TX. May go to 17m FT8.

Religions - NOT amateur radio

My wife is just off to church. As a youngster I had quite a strong faith. These days I am agnostic. 

I find it hard to believe that the Christian faith is the one when there are so many other faiths in the world. If I had been born in India, Iran or Japan for example I would probably believed just as strongly in some other religion. 

I have said before that it is almost as if all religions are hints at a greater truth. They are all reflections of a belief that this life is not the whole story.

In all honesty, I just do not know. I try to live a kind life, am fully aware of my imperfections and accept (sort of) that death and endings are painful parts of life.

WSJT-X bug fixed?

Since changing to the latest release candidate version of WSJT-X it has been totally stable on FT8, whereas with V2.2.2 I often had issues with my USB SignaLink with no decodes and smeary waterfalls.  I use Windows 10 and I wonder if they did a bug fix?  The difference is very noticeable.

15m FT8 RX

At 0915z I switched on 15m FT8 RX using the FT817ND and the indoor loop. It is currently 0937z and so far 37 stations have already been spotted.

UPDATE 1007z:  83 stations spotted today so far on 15m FT8 RX. As 15m is looking so much like yesterday, maybe I should QSY to 10m FT8?

UPDATE 1030z: 99 stations spotted. Now QSYed to 10m.