Winter sun - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday was cold and bright, so we did a walk around the village. At this time of year the sun is low and trees are mostly bare. 

We have far more mud these days. It is much wetter in this part of England. I suspect climate change. 

Sunspots - Thursday January 6th 2022

Solar flux is 84 and the SSN 24. A=3 and K=0. 

2m FT8 activity contest

It was so busy that I am now RX only. So far, my QRP (2.5W to the big-wheel omni antenna) has been spotted by 6 stations. On RX, I have spotted 66 stations in 6 countries.

UPDATE 1955z: 87 stations in 7 countries spotted on 2m FT8 RX.

8m NoV - nothing heard!!

It is now about 3 months since I applied for a low power, 8m permit to TX during the Es season. So far, I have heard absolutely nothing! Am I surprised? No. You would have thought by now, they would have said "no" or "yes" or asked a few questions.

OFCOM obviously has a hard job allocating me a low power, time limited, permit to carry out valuable research, when they can allocate 2MHz of "precious" VHF spectrum, seemingly indefinitely, for DATV experiments! My opinion of OFCOM remains low. Unless it is going to make them billions, they are not really interested.

Come on boys and girls - playtime over.

Spring coming - NOT amateur radio

 

Yet more signs of spring coming. Not yet, but soon.

10m FT8 RX (Wednesday)

 At 0945z, I turned on my 10m FT8 RX gear. At 1005z,10 stations spotted.

UPDATE 1047z: 16 stations spotted with the furthermost 5B4AIF (3197km).

UPDATE 1212z:  Just 22 spots so far. Pretty poor.

UPDATE  1825z: 33 spots on 10m FT8 RX with the furthermost LU9VIC (12074km).

2m activity contest (UKAC) last evening

Last evening I took part in the UKAC activity contest organised by the RSGB. Running 10W to the big-wheel omni antenna, I managed 5 QSOs before I had to stop after about 45 minutes because of my poor voice.

There is a 2m FT8 activity contest this evening starting at 1900z for 2 hours. As my voice is not involved, I may try this with 2.5W.

Oscar 100 - activity very low!

Every few weeks I take a very unscientific look at activity levels on this geosynchronous satellite. The last peek was at 1250z on Tuesday. Most activity seems to be from Europe and this was probably not the best time to look as it was in the middle of the working day.

However, activity seemed to be at an all time low with just 1 QSO taking place! My impression is people either find accessing this too hard or they are just not interested. I wonder what activity is like in the evenings in Europe?

Spring coming? - NOT amateur radio

We went for a walk at nearby Anglesey Abbey yesterday. Most of the snowdrops are on the verge of coming out and some daffodils are out. In a few weeks most will be out.  

Spring and hope are around the corner.

Sunspots - Wednesday January 5th 2022

 Solar flux is 86 and the SSN 12.  A=6 and K=1.