Huge flint - NOT amateur radio

This huge piece of flint was seen on a walk recently. It was probably about 30cm long. 

Sunspots - Saturday April 10th 2021

Solar flux is 78 and the SSN 0.  A=3 and K=2. 

Counting birds - NOT amateur radio

Every month, my brother and his wife count birds on parts of the Kingsbridge Estuary in Devon. This is part of their "patch". 

Maltings/Oast House - NOT amateur radio

Originally, maltings were places where malt was made from barley and oast houses where hops were dried, both for beer making.

This one (oast house?) is at Dalham, near Newmarket. I do not know when it was last used. It is by the road and looks fascinating. I have no idea what it is used for now.

As you will see in the comment from Chris below there are  differences between maltings and oast houses. I have changed the text as a result of the feedback from Chris.

CDARC (Cambridge) Zoom talks

Every few weeks, the Cambridge club has Zoom talks. I think I have watched every one. This week the talk is about the remote station that the club has available of those with suitable licences. All talks have been excellent. 

One advantage of Zoom is both the speakers and viewers can be anywhere on the planet. A few weeks ago we had a talk from Canada.

Although clearly aimed at club members, I think others are able to watch. Who knows, you may want to join as a country member!

This week's talk is at 1900z and is by G4AWP. The link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86735471090 .

Japan from Western Europe on 6m

As regular as clockwork, stations in western Europe make contact with Japan on 6m in June. I was reminded of this by mention of sprites in the USA on Southgate News. 

Personally I believe these Japanese openings are due to E layer ionisation as a result of noctilucent clouds.

Prince Philip dies - NOT amateur radio

Although I am not a great royalist, the death just announced today of the death of the queen's husband at 99 years of age is a sad day, especially for the queen. It is a pity he just missed his 100th birthday.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11437314 .

Oscar 100 activity

Every few weeks I take a peek at activity on the narrowband transponder of this geosynchronous satellite. My last look was the morning of Friday April 9th at 1048z. I check on the webSDR at Goonhilly. When I looked there were no stations at all active! I have never, ever seen it so quiet. 

There were a handful of stations on shortly after as the photo shows

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ .

1st swallow seen - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday I saw my first swallow this year. My son saw one near here a week ago and they have been seen in Devon for a couple of weeks. Last year it was April 15th before I saw one. 

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/swallow/ .

10m FT8 RX

Today I decided to go on 10m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop antenna. No spots yet. 

UPDATE 1610z: No spots so far.

UPDATE 1830z: Just a single G spot all day.

UPDATE 2050z:  QRT.  Just 2 Gs spotted all day.

At the moment, 10m seems a bit too high for consistent DX certainly with my loop. It opens at times, but lower bands are better.