Sunspots - Monday January 31st 2022

Solar flux is 130 and the SSN 70.  A=10 and K=3.

10m WSPR TX beacon using 500mW

At the moment I am on 10m WSPR TX using 500mW from the W5OLF beacon. So far, 4 unique stations have spotted me. 

UPDATE 1555z: 4 unique stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 2130z:  6 unique stations spotted me with the furthermost W4WLO/B11 (7271km). Now QRT.

2m FT8 RX

Most of the morning I've been on 2m FT8 RX using the omni big-wheel antenna. So far, 24 stations spotted. 

UPDATE 1559z:   64 stations in 7 countries spotted.

UPDATE 2030z:   91 stations spotted with the furthermost F1GTU (788km).  I suspect some of these will be tropo, but I think some are scatter.

UPDATE 2130z:  93 stations spotted on RX.  A brief 2.5W TX was spotted by 6 stations with the furthermost G4LOH (455km) in Cornwall.

Ickworth - NOT amateur radio

In the winter sun we went for a walk around the grounds at Ickworth near Bury St Edmunds. This is owned by the National Trust. 

160m FT8 overnight

214 stations spotted on RX overnight with the non resonant 10m antenna and just one in the USA. 

Sunspots - Sunday January 30th 2022

Solar flux is 125 and the SSN 74.  A=17 and K=3. 

On 160m FT8 RX again

This evening I again on 160m FT8 RX using the non-resonant 10m antenna. This clashes with a contest, so there is competition from CW stations. Despite this, lots of Europeans spotted so far. 

UPDATE 2200z: 149 stations spotted on 160m FT8 RX.

Tent - NOT amateur radio

 

My son has bought a tent. It is currently in his garden.

FT8 versus WSPR

Both these modes are part of the WSJT-X suite from Joe Taylor. 

WSPR needs about 6Hz of spectrum (not much) and 2 minutes for the most common form of WSPR.  WSPR is really a beaconing mode.  

FT8 is a communications mode and needs about 50Hz with 15 second TX slots. WSPR works with signals much weaker than FT8. FT8 works with signals much weaker than SSB or CW.

Both offer the minimum exchange of data and neither are "chatting" modes. As they work with very weak signals and need so little bandwidth they have been transformative in amateur radio. They are not instead of speech modes, but as well as.

There are other modes also available in the free WSJT-X suite.

Personally, I enjoy both modes, especially as my voice is poor since my 2013 stroke.

War - NOT amateur radio

In my view, wars solve little. One wonders how many wars in history would not have happened had women been in charge. 

During WW2, my dad was a Pathfinder. These were the bravest of airmen, the elite.  He survived the war, but rarely wanted to speak about those times. He was lucky to have survived as many did not. One of my greatest regrets was not talking with him before he died in 1987 about those dark days . 

He must have been so brave as were people who have fought in wars from the dawn of history.