Sunspots - Sunday February 28th 2021

 Solar flux is 79 and the SSN 14. A=4 and K=2.

Silver birch - NOT amateur radio

This photo shows a silver birch tree seen on our walk yesterday in our village here in East Anglia, UK.

As you can tell, the last few days have felt mild and spring like.

According to the UK Met Office, Monday is the first day of spring.

2m FT8 RX today

On 2m FT8 today, I have been RX only with the FT817ND and the big-wheel omni antenna. 

156 stations in 9 countries spotted by teatime. 

UPDATE 2250z: QRT.

Cambridge Radio Club Zoom talk

Last evening, CDARC had another excellent Zoom talk. 

Being on Zoom, speakers can be anywhere and this time the speaker was in Canada! 

I like Zoom talks as these can be seen all over the world. As well as the speaker, there was someone else in Canada taking part I believe.

Zoom has surprised me. By sharing the screen, slides can be seen as easily as in a room. Also, all taking part can chat, by video or just mic if they prefer to wear their bedclothes!

Almost spring - NOT amateur radio

We went for a walk around the village earlier. It felt very mild and springlike. Daffodils are coming out widely now as shown in the photo. 

As we are only in February there is every chance for some bad weather and snow still.

Pirate

Last evening the reports of distant stations on 2m FT8 was clearly the work of a pirate. 

Sunspots - Saturday February 27th 2021

Solar flux is 80 and the SSN 16. A=11 and K=2. 

2m FT8 QRP ( Friday)

At 1905z I QSYed to 2m FT8 QRP with 2.5W and the big-wheel omni antenna. 

So far, 3 stations in 3 countries have spotted my QRP TX. On RX 10 stations in 2 countries spotted here so far.

Stations spotted on 2m FT8
RX this evening

UPDATE 2220z: Plenty of spots of eastern Europeans on 2m FT8 RX. If this is tropo, these are a very long distance away. I am puzzled what sort of propagation this is. In all, 47 stations spotted on RX. Furthermost is,supposedly,  UA3PRS (2481km) which is almost unbelievable. I wonder if some pirate is having a laugh?

UPDATE 2300z: As conditions seem good, I have decided to stay RX only on 2m FT8 overnight.

Batteries catching fire

Some years ago, when I was still working, there was a small risk of batteries being damaged and catching fire. 

When battery packs catch fire the result can be dramatic. LiIon batteries were especially vulnerable, especially if dropped or abused. The incidence was probably about 1 in 150,000 packs. Failures, especially causing fire, cause customer alarm. In the limit, this can warrant a product recall. Recalls can be very expensive. You can imagine the cost of recalls if you sell mobile phones or laptops. A manufacturer will do everything possible to deny this and avoid the cost of a recall.

According to the BBC, Hyundai is replacing 82000 batteries in some electric cars at crippling cost. I pity them. This must be a nightmare for manufacturers of electric vehicles.

From personal experience, LiIon battery packs can be little bombs. I never, ever, risk leaving them charging without supervision. One person we have met left her mobile phone charging and burnt down her flat. Such incidents are rare, but they do happen. Modern technologies may be safer, but treat all batteries as potential bombs.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56156801 .

15m FT8 QRP (Friday)

The 15m FT8 QRP gear was turned on just before 1030z. As usual, I am using 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop on the shack windowsill. No spots yet.

UPDATE 1055z:  Just EA8ACW (2988km) spotted so far.

UPDATE 1240z:  Just 3 EA8s spotted on RX. Nobody has spotted me on TX. 

UPDATE 1538z:  Just 7 stations spotted on 15m FT8 RX today and nobody has spotted me on QRP TX. A few South Americans only spotted.

UPDATE 1844z:  So far, 1 station has spotted my QRP (2.5W) TX:  EA8BFK (2881km). On RX, 10 station have been spotted. Quite a poor day.