Snow in Kent - NOT amateur radio

 

They have had plenty of snow in Kent as the photo shows.

You can see they are having fun!

Snow in Burwell - NOT amateur radio

At last in this cold snap we had snow overnight and there are slight snow flurries now. 

This winter is proving colder than for several years and this is the second "proper" snowfall. It is much worse to the east of us. 

At least the children can go sledging and build snowmen. These are rare treats nowadays here.

15m FT8 QRP (Monday)

Shortly, I shall go on 15m FT8 with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop. 15m seems a good compromise at the moment: open more than 10m, but the loop is still OK.

UPDATE 0940z:  Gear turned on. Much to my surprise, already my 2.5W has been spotted in Finland on TX and I have spotted 5 stations on RX. This is after 8 minutes!!

UPDATE 1112z: 2 spots of my QRP TX so far.  On RX, 46 spots as far away as Australia. The furthermost is VK8NSB (13781km).

Sunspots - Monday February 8th 2021

 Solar flux is 73 and the SSN 0. A=21 and K=1.

2m FT8 QRP (Sunday)

At 1655z I QSYed from 15m to 2m FT8 QRP using 2.5W and the big-wheel omni antenna. So far this evening, I have been spotted on TX by 5 stations in 2 countries after just a few minutes. On RX 5 stations spotted here. It is now 1708z.

UPDATE 1940z:  So far today, spotted on TX by 16 stations with the furthermost being EI2FG (565km). Every day I seem to be spotted by EI2FG. Although this could be aircraft reflection, this seems to be too random. I still find it amazing that with simple, QRP 2m gear and an omni-directional antenna, these sort of ranges are possible every single day.

No snow.....yet - NOT amateur radio

Although we have snow to the east of us, there is no snow here yet. I expect we will see some this week, although it often manages to just miss us.  Snow looks nice for a few days, but icy pavements can be a fall hazard best avoided.

UPDATE 2000z:  Still no snow here.

Quantum RX

Southgate News has a piece on some army research into quantum receivers that can look at the entire 0-20GHz spectrum in one go.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2021/january/new-quantum-receiver.htm#.YB_2lyuTLrc .

Hare Park Chippenham - NOT amateur radio

 

This is another view of Hare Park, Chippenham, near Cambridge last week. 

This is definitely the best snowdrop display in the area.

15m FT8 QRP (Sunday)

It is now 0950z. About 30 minutes ago I turned on my 2.5W FT8 15m QRP to the tiny i has spotted ndoor loop on the shack windowsill. Just 1 spot on RX of 4X1WW (3644km). Nobody has spotted my QRP TX.

UPDATE 1014z: Now 9 stations spotted on 15m FT8 RX with the furthermost V51WW (8080km) in Namibia. Nothing yet spotted of my 2.5W on TX.

UPDATE 1200z:  26 stations spotted on RX. Nobody has spotted my QRP on TX.

UPDATE 1553z:  Just a single spot on TX of my QRP (from the Azores) and 75 stations spotted on RX today. 

Sunspots - Sunday February 7th 2021

Solar flux is 73 and the SSN 0.  A=7 and K=3.