Butterflies - NOT amateur radio

One of our grandchildren with butterfly stickers on her face yesterday. 

Sunspots - Wednesday October 27th 2021

Solar flux is 109 and the SSN 95 (pretty good). A=5 and K=1. 

Building a radio

 

This was my grandson in the shack learning to solder and building a radio. He got the hang of soldering very quickly. 

Whether he will have a lifelong hobby only time will tell.

He was thrilled that he could hear signals.

Coffee in the garden - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday one of our granddaughters came 3rd out of 20 in a ballet contest. She wanted to demonstrate her moves whilst we enjoyed coffee in the mild October sunshine.

CQ WW DX SSB contest

This weekend is the CQWW DX contest SSB leg. In years gone by, I filled pages in my logbook with QSOs, but since my stroke it has been far harder. This year, 10m should be pretty good after poor conditions for several years. I hope to pop on to work a few stations, although I never submit a contest log. Many times I forget it is on! It runs all weekend and usually the HF bands are buzzing.

See https://www.cqww.com/ .

Cactus Day - NOT amateur radio

Around now in late October we have celebrated Cactus Day with our grandchildren. Don't ask why it is called Cactus Day!! This was lunch time. 

10m FT8 RX (Tuesday)

My gear was turned on at about 1050z.  So far, 115 stations spotted.

UPDATE 1316z:  198 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX. 

Ferrite rod loading

On both 630m WSPR and 160m FT8 RX I have had great success using the FT817ND and the coax to my 2m big-wheel antenna. Just a mains earth was used in my case. If you cannot use this I expect a simple external ground would do instead.  The tapped ferrite rod is shown. This was used as an ATU. The coax is quite short and the big-wheel about 5m at its highest. At its lowest the coax is about 50cm off the ground. 

On 160m my noise level is S8-9. Despite this I can copy loads on FT8.

Sunspots - Tuesday October 26th 2021

 Solar flux is 101 and the SSN 81.  A=5 and K=1. 

Start them young

With my own sons I totally failed! Maybe I shall succeed with my grandson ? This was him learning to solder earlier.