Sunspots - Thursday April 8th 2021

Solar flux is 76 and the SSN 0. A=17 and K=1.

Tree stump - NOT amateur radio

On our walk at Dalham near Newmarket a few days ago we saw this felled tree. 

I am not sure if it was diseased or was felled for safety reasons. 

There is a long avenue of trees from the village to the church - a long walk uphill for the villagers, whereas right next door for the lord of the manor!

Blog changes

On the side you will see a couple of changes. 

Firstly I have removed a link to a blog that no longer works and added a link to the excellent blog at EI7GL.

Secondly, I have given you the chance to buy me a virtual cup of coffee. This takes you to a page where you can donate a small amount to offset some of my project costs. 

This is entirely voluntary. There is absolutely no compulsion to give anything. The fact that you enjoy the blog is great.

2m UKAC last evening

Last evening I went on the 2m activity contest organised by the RSGB. I used the IC-705 for the first time with the big wheel omni antenna. 7 QSOs were made in an hour with 10W then I stopped. Furthermost was G4CLA (105km).

Quite a different technique being able to see the whole SSB band slot at one time.

Our windmill - NOT amateur radio

 This is a photo of our windmill next door.

Kingfisher - NOT amateur radio

It's some time since I last saw a kingfisher. My son saw one a few weeks ago. 

The photo shows the one seen by an ex work colleague (Richard) early this morning whilst walking his dog. 

Cottages - NOT amateur radio

 

The collage shows some of the lovely cottages not far from where we live. 

There are some very pretty villages in this part of England.

15m FT8 QRP (Wednesday)

At 0850z I turned on my 2.5W FT8 station using the tiny indoor loop antenna. All quiet so far.

UPDATE 1514z:  7 stations have spotted my QRP TX so far today.  Plenty of stations spotted on RX.

Sunspots - Wednesday April 7th 2021

 Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 11. A=3 and K=2.

Dalham walk - NOT amateur radio

This morning was bright with a cold northerly wind. We went for one of our favourite walks around the village of Dalham near Newmarket.  This has some hills (unusual here in this part of the UK!) and some lovely thatched cottages. Dalham is on the chalk hills whereas much of Cambridgeshire is in the Fens and hence with peat soil.

Most of the mud has dried now. There were some great daffodils out.