Orchids - NOT amateur radio

My wife has a way with orchids, many lasting for years. One secret is not over-watering giving them just a thimble of water a week. 

At the moment, I think we have seven on the go.

6m FT8 (Tuesday)

After a brief session on 2.5W TX (5 UK spots of me, but no QSOs) I am RX only. 3 UK stations spotted so far.  At the moment (0805z) it seems there is no Es noticeable here. As before, my antenna is the V2000 omni vertical.

UPDATE 0840z:  Just 6 G stations spotted so far today. At this time yesterday 6m FT8 was really good. I guess as time progresses we will still get openings, but less often.

UPDATE 1010z:   17 stations spotted so far. Just recently, a couple in the Ukraine spotted, probably by Es

10m WSPR

Been on 10m WSPR TX (500mW) since 0752z. Nobody has spotted me yet.

UPDATE 1014z:  Still nobody has spotted me yet. 

UPDATE 1119z:  2 spots of my QRP so far today. At least this beacon can just quietly run in the background.

6m FT8 yesterday

503 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX yesterday. This was a good Es day on 6m FT8 RX. 

Oh to be young! - NOT amateur radio

My grandson surfing. He has good balance, unlike his grandfather! 

He looks a natural.

I was like that, but it was a very long time ago!

6m Europe to Australia (again)

According to John's blog, there was another Europe to Australia opening on 6m. The furthermost was over 17000km, which is quite mind blowing on a VHF band. This is not a pirate as multiple stations were involved. Amazing!  This seems extremely unlikely to be multi-hop Es. I am sure we have lots to learn still!

Also on the blog is a report of the South African 8m beacon being copied in SE England.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/ .

Gatekeeper butterfly - NOT amateur radio

Butterflies are in decline, so we have been asked to do a survey to work out how many there are.

See https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/about .

Sunspots - Tuesday July 20th 2021

Solar flux is 83 and the SSN 45.  A=7 and K=3.

OFCOM statement

OFCOM has committed to make innovation the heart of UK wireless future. 

I hope this means access to more spectrum for serious radio amateurs interested in real radio science. See the OFCOM website. 

Would not access to some spectrum on a shared, non interference, basis be a good idea?

Switzerland - NOT amateur radio

This, I think, is Lake Geneva. It was posted by a friend on 365project earlier. They have had quite heavy rain there in the last few days.