Clematis - NOT amateur radio

 

My wife saw this clematis yesterday walking back from the dentist.

Intelligent life in the universe - NOT amateur radio

This is a subject I have discussed before. Some estimates put the number of planets in the visible universe as capable of having intelligent life as as high as 1400000000000000. Others say intelligent life is incredibly rare.

As far as I know, we have been looking with SETI since the mid 1960s and have, so far, found zero evidence.  Maybe we are looking in the wrong way? As time goes by, we have more sophisticated ways of looking with ever greater sensitivity. Mind you we only discovered electro-magnetic radiation a few hundred years ago. Maybe many societies have discovered something better?

One thing is certain: should we find any signs of intelligent life "out there", it could have profound effects on human life.

10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R

Just before breakfast I turned on the 10FT8R RX (4 transistors) with the tiny indoor loop antenna. It is now 0818z and 29 stations already spotted via Es.

UPDATE 0835z:  34 stations spotted so far.

UPDATE 0915z: 50 stations so far spotted today.

UPDATE 1131z: 101 stations spotted so far on 10m FT8 RX with the little 10FT8R receiver and the tiny indoor loop.

UPDATE 1426z: 164 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX so far today.

UPDATE 1740z: 222 stations so far spotted on 10m FT8 RX with the furthermost W1JR (5267km) in New Hampshire, USA, I think this was Es (see map). No South Americans logged today on the tiny indoor loop.

Sunspots - Wednesday May 19th 2021

Solar flux is 76 and the SSN 24 again. A=10 and K=1. 

Thunder

As a precaution, I have disconnected my mains PSU and PC in my shack. My antenna that is connected to my little 10m FT8 RX is indoors (the tiny loop). There is thunder about. I think it is some way off, but better safe than sorry.

We have hail now at 1607z.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=;ts=0;z=4;y=35.8839;x=5.7931;d=2;dl=2;dc=0;

Seen on a recent amateur radio post

 This appeared recently just below the signature. It made me laugh! 😊

"Cheer up, things could get worse..so I cheered up and, sure enough, things got worse!"

OFCOM and EMF

OFCOM has announced some changes to licence conditions. I think these are about EMF. They are sending revised licences to those affected. See the OFCOM website for more details.

10FT8R - continued experiments

This morning, I am again on 10m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop. Late yesterday, I removed the last AF stage, but spotted no stations. There were lots of spikes and I am not sure what they were. Later, I shall stick the last audio stage back again to see if this was important.

UPDATE 1010z: Something is wrong. On the 10FT8R RX no spots, yet when I went back to the FT817ND spots right away. Some spots were strong. I must be doing something stupid. More investigation needed.

UPDATE 1206z:  9 spots so far.

UPDATE 1411z: I have put back the final audio stage on the 10FT8R RX and the spikes have gone (no idea why) and I am spotting lots of stations again with this little RX connected to my indoor loop. At the moment this is the RX being used on 10m FT8 RX. So far, since reconnecting it, 20 stations spotted.

South Devon - NOT amateur radio

This is a another photo of where I come from in South Devon. In the distance are Dartmoor and Cornwall. 

Sunspots - Tuesday May 18th 2021

 Solar flux is 75 and the SSN 11. A=6 and K=3.