Pheasant breakfast - NOT amateur radio

My brother has tame pheasants in his garden in Devon as the photo shows. 

Here they are eating breakfast. They eat from his hand.

EI7GL on 10m

At the moment, 10m has not "got going" . The Es season has not properly started and the F2 openings are few. 

Better equipped stations are copying more than me. John in Eire is certainly doing a bit better than me! I am not sure what gear and antenna he uses. It certainly must be better than my indoor loop made with thin wire, HI.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/ .

Sixbox - simple 6m AM rig

It was way back in 2009 that I designed and built the Sixbox rig. Unlike the Fredbox for 2m, the Sixbox did not use a PCB. 

It is not suitable for DX, but could be useful for local natters.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/sixbox .

Cambridge quiet - NOT amateur radio

Don't think this has been on before (as I post on 365project and FaceBook too), but make no apologies if it has. 

Cambridge is usually busy with overseas visitors, but these are absent this year. Hopefully they will be back in 2022. 

The compensation is we have all these sights to enjoy!

10m FT8 RX

As yesterday (ever hopeful!), I am on 10m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop on the windowsill. Yesterday I only copied 2 Gs on 10m. Maybe today will be better? 

On 10m, I get RF feedback on the indoor loop even when on QRP TX. I have tried ferrite beads, but without success, so RX only at the moment. This is with the FT817ND. It works fine on 20m, 17m and 15m TX.

UPDATE 1701z:  No spots. So far today quite dreadful on 10m FT8 RX here. 

UPDATE 1925z:  No Spots!! Even worse than yesterday.

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 .