Bury St Edmunds - NOT amateur radio

As our car was in for a service and MOT, we went on the bus to Bury St Edmunds, about 17 miles away. 

It was a great, free (with our bus passes) trip with an excellent tapas lunch. It was a good trip out. On the way there we sat at the top front so we had a very good view. You can see so much more from the top of a double decker bus.

15m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop

Again I am on 15m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop antenna. This just sits on the shack windowsill and is about 50cm diameter. For the size, it is remarkable. 

UPDATE 1635z: 409 stations spotted on RX today. Unlike yesterday, there were plenty of stations from the USA.  Perhaps conditions were disturbed yesterday?

UPDATE 1840z:  473 stations spotted today. With very few additional ones, I may soon go QRT and QSY to a lower band.

UPDATE 1850z:  Although I am unsure when this happened, my tiny loop had fallen over. There was still plenty of DX coming through just now when I QSYed to 160m FT8 RX.

Really long distance 6m QSOs

In the last few days the EI7GL blog has been reporting some extremely long distance QSOs on 6m. 

These are eye watering distances and although TEP may explain some of this, it makes you wonder what propagation mechanisms were involved. 

No wonder they call it "the magic band". 

Sad day - NOT amateur radio

With people in Ukraine dying or being made homeless needlessly, it seems selfish to grieve for a pet. 

However, pets become members of the family.

My son's cat was run over and killed last week sadly. We buried him yesterday. All of us were upset. 

Sunspots - Tuesday March 15th 2022

Solar flux is 115 and the SSN 82. A=14 and K=2.

Suddenly spring - NOT amateur radio

A few weeks ago we had snowdrops everywhere. Now it is the turn of the daffodils. They seem to be everywhere!! Spring has arrived. 

2m activity contest results

 A few weeks ago I entered this 2m activity contest organised by the RSGB. After just 1 QSO I gave up with my low power and omni antenna. My poor voice is not really any good in contests these days!

These activity "contests" are more about activity than contesting. In the past, I have always found them friendly.

The results are now available.

See https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfresults.pl?Contest=144MHz%20UKAC&Date=&year=2022 .

OFCOM and limited range broadcasts

OFCOM is looking to change the rules governing broadcasting for events and similar where the range is limited. See the OFCOM website for details. 

This makes sense when the intended range is very limited, such as hospital radio.  Hopefully, this will lead to better use of the spectrum and more reuse. Some broadcasts are for a limited time too.

15m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop

From about 1000z, I have been on 15m FT8 RX with the tiny loop on the shack windowsill. So far today, 35 stations already spotted.

UPDATE 1135z: 120 stations spotted so far today on 15m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop antenna. Furthermost is BD6RN (8841km) in Hubei, China.

UPDATE 1245z:  174 stations spotted so far.

UPDATE 1554z:  295 stations spotted so far, with nothing at all from South America. I guess that could be conditions, time of day, or antenna directionality. I find it surprising that not a single South American has been spotted so far. Come to think of it, just 1 Florida station in the USA spotted.

UPDATE 1725z:  331 stations spotted, but very very few from the Americas.

UPDATE 1855z:  341 stations spotted today.

UPDATE 2210z: 343 stations spotted today (see map). Now QRT. Not sure when the loop fell over, but I think it must have been quite late!

Lichen - NOT amateur radio

This tree with lichen was seen on our walk on Saturday.