International Lighthouses and Lightships Weekend (ILLW)

This usually takes place in late August with the aim to activate these entities, often in rare squares.

See https://illw.net .

10m QRP FT8

Just after lunch, I QSYed to 10m FT8 as 10m WSPR was bad.

UPDATE 1229z: 10 European stations have spotted my QRP 10m FT8.

10m WSPR QRP TX (500mW)

This morning, just a single spot by EA1FAQ (1249km) on 10m WSPR with the W5OLF beacon. Not very good today.

UPDATE 2000z:  32 stations have spotted me this evening.

Jaws? - NOT amateur radio

When I saw this on the mill leat at Anglesey Abbey earlier I immediately thought of the film "Jaws" as I was reminded of a shark.

Actually it was an old piece of wood! 

Chuckle time - NOT amateur radio

This appeared on Facebook earlier. I have no idea where it originated. It made me laugh. 

We went some years ago from San Francisco to New Zealand and went economy plus for extra room. Until about a minute before we left, the seat next to us was empty. Then a huge NZ rugby player sat in it!! 

8m experiment (Wednesday)

We are going out shortly, but my plan is to go on 8m QRP FT8 TX on 40.680 MHz USB dial later and 10m QRP WSPR TX. 

UPDATE 1101z: Just a single spot of my 8m QRP by HC02 (1808km) in Portugal. I was surprised even to get this as 10m was so poor. So far, I have been spotted in 14 countries on 8m FT8 QRP TX. Nobody spotted on RX.

UPDATE 1244z:  Now QSYed to 10m FT8.

UPDATE 2006z:  4 stations have spotted me today. Good Es on 8m FT8.

Orchid - NOT amateur radio

This photo was on 365project about a month ago. It shows an orchid. I think it was taken in Shetland. 

Sunspots - Wednesday July 27th 2022

Solar flux is 99 and the SSN 78. A=8 and K=3. 

QDX for the higher HF bands?

The QDX is a tiny,digital, 5W, transceiver for the HF bands. For some time, Hans Summers has been catching up on the kit backlog, no doubt made worse by the semiconductor shortage. As he has almost caught up, he hopes to turn his attention to doing a higher band version. I have no availability dates. As a keen WSJT-X user, this could be very useful. Hans makes good stuff. He will be around when many have given up.

See https://www.qrp-labs.com/ .

Spot the snake? - NOT amateur radio

I didn't at first. One of our sons is with his inlaws in Australia. Here they are holding a python, as you do. I assume it is harmless!!