Sunspots - Wednesday September 28th 2022

Solar flux is 135 and the SSN 110. A=24 and K=2.

8m GB3MCB beacon

This is being copied in Eire by EI9KP by weak tropo, but after several days I have had no sign here in East Anglia. I only have a low dipole and it is obviously too weak for tropo and with MS or aircraft, I almost certainly need more time for a decode on FT8. 

I shall try again when there is a decent MS shower, hoping the Doppler doesn't kill the FT8!

ICOM IC-703

This is one of the best QRP transceivers I have ever owned. The best was the Yaesu FT7, but the IC-703 is very considerably smaller and covers more bands with speech processing and an auto ATU. Many years ago, I sold this to a local amateur, Ted  G4NUA. Ted is now a silent key sadly. He was a keen experimenter, especially with 20m WSPR.

Sunspots - Tuesday September 27th 2022

Solar flux is 135 and the SSN 120. A=6 and K=6.

Cambridge University Church - NOT amateur radio

This is the exit from the University Church in Cambridge called Great St Mary's. It is next to the market and very near King's College Chapel. It is very central in Cambridge.

Many famous people have given sermons here. I have heard a few in years past.

See https://www.greatstmarys.org/.

Chinese lanterns - NOT amateur radio

 

These plants are commonly seen at this time of year and are popular in indoor displays.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Monday)

Gear turned on earlier this morning. As usual, running 500mW from my WSPR beacon.

UPDATE 1300z:  Just 3 unique stations spotting me so far today. These are one local and 2 in the Canary Is.  The Canary Is looks like F2 propagation.

Yosemite National Park - NOT amateur radio

This photo shows a ledge in the Yosemite National Park. Rather him than me!

I visited there in the late 1990s when working in California, USA. 

No, that is definitely not me!

See https://www.yosemite.com/.

Plans for today

 Although I suspect my chances are low, I am continuing to monitor the beacon GB3MCB in Cornwall on 40.050 MHz FT8.

As the 10m antenna is free I shall probably go on 10m QRP WSPR TX with my 500mW W5OLF beacon.

UPDATE 0825z: 10m QRP WSPR TX turned on and PC manually re-synced "just in case".

PC time syncing

Many digital modes like WSPR and FT8 depend on accurate timing.  

For the last few weeks I have just used Windows 10 to sync PC time.  As a matter of habit I do a re-sync perhaps once a day "just in case".  

Judging by results on FT8, I am perfectly sure this is fine. In the past I used special software for this. My advice is do not bother. 

Make sure your settings for time automatically sync. This is extremely easy.