8m QRP FT8

Since 1359z, I have been on 8m FT8 QRP. So far,  no spots.

UPDATE 1505z:  No spots.

10m QRP WSPR TX

Since 1358z I have been on 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW W5OLF beacon. It is now 1310z and so far no spots.

UPDATE 1326z:  Spotted several times in the Canary Islands. 

UPDATE 1546z:  First spot today from the USA received on 10m WSPR. It is a pity the USA stations no longer have prefixes that point to locations. In years gone past W7 would have meant western USA. No longer!

UPDATE 1707z:  Just 3 unique stations spotted today.

Sunspots - Friday January 6th 2023

Solar flux is 154 and the SSN 103. A=8 and K=1.

Spring coming - NOT amateur radio

We went for a walk at nearby Anglesey Abbey. There are some spring flowers coming. 

As the weeks progress we will see more. In the last 7 days many more snowdrops have appeared and we saw the first daffodils of the season. 

Tactile tree bark - NOT amateur radio

This tree at Anglesey Abbey, not far from us, must be one of the most touched trees in the world. It is on the winter walk there and many people who pass it feel compelled to touch it.

8m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

Since doing a system restore on my shack PC, I have been on 8m with 2.5W FT8 on 40.680 MHz, but no spots at 1030z.

UPDATE  2014z:  Spotted by WESSEXSDR (265km) earlier. Now QRT.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Thursday)

For about an hour I have been on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW from the W5OLF beacon. So far, spots of me from 2 unique stations at 1022z. 

UPDATE 1036z:  FR1GZ (9724km) is now spotting me too.

UPDATE 1241z:  7 stations spotted so far.

UPDATE 1448z:  The 10 spots of my 500mW so far today are shown on the map.

UPDATE 2020z:   14 spots of me today.

See http://wspr.rocks/ .

System restore - NOT amateur radio

As my PC was not communicating with my SignaLink USB since installing the driver for my SDR, I did a system restore. FT8 is again working. I shall try the SDR on a different PC!! 

Sunspots - Thursday January 5th 2023

Solar flux is 151 and the SSN 86. A=21 and K=1. 

SDR issues

About a week ago I bought an Neoelec SDR (highly rated) from Amazon. For various reasons, I have not been able to set this up.

It seems incredibly difficult to install the driver. In my view, the instructions were useless. I have now installed the driver, but it no longer recognises the SignaLink USB, so I cannot, at present, operate FT8. I am sure the solutions are relatively easy, but I was expecting this to be dead easy.

Although I have installed the recommended SDR software I have still not got it working.

It is all not helped by having brain fog as a result of my 2013 stroke. It is like wading through treacle and I cannot think clearly.