Historic Plaques - NOT amateur radio

Around our village we have a number of plaques to commemorate well known people or places. There is a copy of these in our superb village museum. 

4m UKAC next Thursday

I must remember to this! 

So far I have been disappointed by the lack of activity on this band outside of the Es season. Hopefully things will be better in the activity contest. 

As I recall things from many years ago, it was a good band for inter G QSOs. Since then (1970s) VHF activity has nosedived. 

Friday plans

Almost certainly I shall be on the air with the tiny QDX, although I am not sure what band. Maybe I should try 12m for a change? 

I tend to operate as a beacon and rarely chase others. To me, seeing who receives me is enough. DXCC chasing no longer appeals. 

Sunspots - Friday April 14th 2023

Solar flux is 160 and the SSN 154. A=6 and K=2.

Why I don't like lightning - NOT amateur radio

My brother just sent me some photos of a lightning strike on a house about 200m from them. My brother has no broadband and the electricity is being provided from a generator supplied by the electricity supplier. 

It can do serious damage!

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/other-amateur-radio/lightning-maps .

Not on 8m currently

Until the Es season, I have decided to give 8m a miss. 

With higher ERPs I know some remarkable DX becomes possible, but up to now my experiment has been to find out what would be possible with very low ERP. It would appear that with QRP FT8, some remarkable distances are possible in the right conditions. As the sunspot number climbs still further, we could see some remarkable reports next autumn on 8m. 

Already  the beacon ZS6WAB on 40.675 MHz has been copied in Western Australia.

Acceptance? - NOT amateur radio

Although in many ways I still feel like a teenager inside, I know I am an old man sadly. Some things that would have been easy 50 years ago are now very hard or impossible. Perhaps we all have to accept the person we are now and learn to accept that some things are now not possible - harder said than done!

10m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

Since before breakfast I have been on 10m QRP FT8 with the tiny QDX rig. So far at 0808z, I have been spotted by 17 stations, mostly in the Middle East.  The tiny QDX never fails to amaze me.

See https://qrp-labs.com/qdx.html .

UPDATE 0830z:  95 stations have been spotted on RX and I have been spotted by 20 stations.

UPDATE 1737z:  So far today, 107 stations have spotted my 10m QRP FT8 today (see map).

UPDATE 1747z:  QRT.

Sunspots - Thursday April 13th 2023

Solar flux is 154 and the SSN 127. A=4 and K=2.

Repeater closing

This morning I heard that the GB3YT ATV repeater is to permanently close this summer as the owners are getting older and can't climb ladders. How many will follow? I can imagine quite a few repeaters going with a combination of high site costs, old age and low usage. Many repeaters are totally quiet for hours on end.