20 Jul 2022

Thunderstorms - NOT amateur radio

Last night we had a brief thunderstorm. More could happen later today. All my appliances and antennas remain disconnected. 

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/ .

Sunspots - Wednesday July 20th 2022

Solar flux is 144 and the SSN 114.  A=26 and K=2.

19 Jul 2022

10m QRP FT8

 

Since before breakfast I have been on 10m FT8. Lots of spots already on TX and RX. 

Sunspots - Tuesday July 19th 2022

Solar flux is 152 and the SSN 125. A=8 and K=3.

18 Jul 2022

Russia and Google - NOT amateur radio

The BBC reports that Russia has fined Google for spreading "fake news" about the "special operation" in Ukraine. Outside Russia it is called war, although by tight control of the media, most Russians are unaware.

I am puzzled why Russia is carrying out such aggression against people who (were) so close. It is clear that most in Ukraine hate Russia now and Mr Putin has even more countries now wanting to join NATO. Such aggression has no place in the 21st century.

Why?

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62214564 .

10m FT8 QRP - like a different band?

For the last few minutes. I have been on 10m FT8 QRP with the FT817. It is like a different band. Already, I have been spotted by 19 stations. On RX several South Americans spotted.

UPDATE 1945z: Spotted by 24 stations so far on 10m FT8 QRP.  All these were in Europe apart from 1 in Israel. No spots from South America.  Although there is a "hard core" of 10m WSPR monitors, one gets the feeling most are now using FT8.

Early morning walk - NOT amateur radio

Today is expected to be very hot today with UK weather records being broken, so we did an early walk.  It is currently late morning and it is already 31C. Our lawns are dry and brown.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Monday)

So far, just one station in Denmark spotting my 500mW QRP  WSPR beacon. There are good days and bad days of Es. Up to now, today has been a bad day.

UPDATE 1243z: 5 unique stations have spotted me today with the furthermost EA8BFK (2880km).

8m experiment (Monday)

I get the feeling that the 8m experiment is losing interest. There are still some monitors, but the Es season is coming to an end. There are still openings, but these seem less frequent. I have been on 40.680 MHz USB dial QRP FT8, but sadly no spots on TX or RX.

UPDATE 1514z: Still no spots today. I am beginning to think I can learn little more until a lot more stations are active.



Sunspots - Monday July 18th 2022

Solar flux is 166 and the SSN 166. A=6 and K=1.