Sunspots - Tuesday March 8th 2022

Solar flux is 118 and the SSN 84.  A=9 and K=2. 

17m FT8 RX (Monday)

At 2008z, I turned on 17m FT8 RX using the tiny loop antenna on the shack windowsill. So far, 4 USA stations spotted. I suspect the band is just closing.

UPDATE 2117z:   9 stations spotted.

UPDATE 2140z:   It seems the band has now closed.  QRT soon. I may try again tomorrow morning.

UPDATE 2207z:   Not quite closed!  There are still Ws coming through, so I have left things running a bit longer.

Spring blossom - NOT amateur radio

A sure sign of spring is the appearance of blossom on the tree near our post office. It looks great right now, but it will soon be gone.

Loop TX antenna

Last year, I used this tiny antenna on many HF bands. 

It is only about 50cm across and sits on the shack windowsill, but worked remarkably well on FT8. 

I must try it again on bands like 17m.

SW broadcast interval signals

 See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/sw-interval-signals .

This was created a long time ago, so I hope the links still work.

10m FT8 RX (Monday)

 At the moment I am on 10m FT8 RX. Plenty coming through. 

UPDATE 1710z:   500 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 1926z:   603 stations spotted. Stragglers are North and South Americans mainly. QRT soon.

Oscar 100 activity

Every few weeks I take a peek at activity on the geosynchronous satellite Oscar 100. Activity levels are similar to the last time I looked: not high and still plenty of space. 

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ .

Sunspots - Monday March 7th 2022

Solar flux is 116 and the SSN 82. A=18 and K=3.

Low pass filter design

With my upcoming permit to test on 8m, I may need to add external low pass filtering to ensure my TX is totally clean. There are several circuit calculators on the Internet. The one below is an example. It seems daft to buy one when a simple one can so easily be made.

See https://rf-tools.com/lc-filter/ .

Radio amateurs in Ukraine

Since the recent troubles began, radio amateurs in Ukraine have been asked to keep off the air on TX. This has largely been observed. 

Whatever your views, innocent civilians are being killed or displaced. I hope a peaceful way can be found to stop the bloodshed.

Even at the height of the Cold War, radio amateur chats with stations behind the Iron Curtain continued. In a small way, we all tried to break down barriers.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2022/march/ukraine-maintains-ham-radio-silence-in-state-of-emergency.htm#.YiTBi4rP3rc .