Sunspots - Tuesday Sept 7th 2021

 Solar flux is 100 (the first time for many years I think) and the SSN 80.  A=6 and K=1. Things are getting respectable again - promising.

WSPR Snake

Jay, W5OLF has produced a new version of his WSPR beacon (see photo). It is simpler than his earlier version, the WSPR-AXE-CW.

He writes:

 "I have finished my WSPR-Snake stand-alone transmitter. The snake name is because it is programmed in the ‘Python’ language and, as with the WSPR-AXE-CW, the repeated random 2min intervals on the spectral display to me look like the trail of a snake.  Differences between it and your‘s are that it only puts out 375mW (on 10M) but runs off of USB 5V sources. One can plug it into the common wall cell phone charger or into the cell phone recharge batteries they sell. It uses the Adafruit Trinket micro board which has a 3.3V regulator on it for the VCO.  Like yours you turn the PA off when not actively checking propagation and you can even put in a switch to turn the VCO off (reducing standby current to 10mA). That allows transport (say backpacking) without loosing the precise time you set back at the shack. Speaking of the precise clock, this version uses the clock circuit for both WSPR symbol timing (exactly) as well as 2min interval timing; expected drift when set - and the crystal aged - is about 0.5sec per month. Otherwise, I use the same single 2N7000 for the final in a class-E, high efficiency, design. "

Crab Apples - NOT amateur radio

We have one small crabapple tree. Every other year it gives a decent crop. 

Last year we had 15 crabapples. This year we probably have over 500, so some nice crabapple jelly!

Over a century ago - NOT amateur radio

In my teenage years I lived in Kingsbridge, Devon. This photo was taken well over 100 years ago. There are no cars visible! 

10m FT8 QRP (Monday)

Before breakfast, I was briefly on 10m FT8 TX with 2.5W, but was spotted by nobody. It is now 0722z and I am RX only. Unsurprisingly, no spots yet!

UPDATE 0750z:   Just 2 Gs spotted so far in the Birmingham area at 160km.

UPDATE 1300z:  Just before lunch I had a very brief period on TX with 2.5W. No QSOs  resulted, but I was spotted by G0FWX (160km).  On 10m FT8 RX 28 stations have been spotted with the furthermost  ZS6NJ (9115km).

UPDATE 1916z:  34 stations spotted on RX today.  A brief TX period (2.5W) resulted in 3 Es spots of me from Southern Europe, but no QSOs.

UPDATE 2023z:  43 stations spotted today with the furthermost PY2VCS (9593km).

Me in 1967 - NOT amateur radio

One of my Facebook memories today was this photo of me in 1967 when I had hair and most of my life was ahead of me. 

I lost most of my hair a few years later! 

Sunspots - Monday September 6th 2021

Solar flux is 94 and the SSN 66.  A=6 and K=1. 

630m (472kHz) WSPR RX using the indoor active loop

 At the moment, I am on 630m WSPR RX with the Wellgood active loop. So far no spots.

UPDATE 2136z:  Still no spots this evening. I have to turn things off soon too and go QRT.

160m FT8 RX with the indoor active loop

At about 1435z, I turned on 160m FT8 RX with the indoor Wellgood active RX loop. It is still very clearly daylight here for several hours, so I am not expecting much until darkness falls. 

Last night, it was quite late in the evening before much European DX appeared.

UPDATE 1735z:  2 Gs spotted so far. Furthermost is G3VAO (229km).

UPDATE 1952z:  It is dark now, so plenty being spotted! 28 stations spotted with the furthermost R5DT (2541km).

The Wayback Machine - NOT amateur radio

This is an incredible resource that archives billions of old pages that no longer exist. They even have a website of mine from the 1990s! Needless to say, things have changed a bit. I think my very first website was on Compuserve in the early 1990s - not found this yet!

See https://web.archive.org/web/19981111190213/http://www.lapr.demon.co.uk/ .