Sunspots - Wednesday April 19th 2023

Solar flux is 147 and the SSN 140. A=17 and K=1. 

Oscar 100

Activity on the geosynchronous Oscar 100 remains low. I look at the web SDR at Goonhilly Down. Last time I looked was on a weekday evening in Europe. Activity has always been lower than I expected. 

Salisbury cathedral - NOT amateur radio

 

This is the highest cathedral spire in the UK at over 100m tall. 

Salisbury Market - NOT amateur radio

 

Tuesday is market day in Salisbury, 

Sunspots - Tuesday April 18th 2023

Solar flux is 167 and the SSN 162 A=6 and K=3.

Loop antennas

Loops work remarkably well. They can be quite small. Their main drawback is they are narrowband so have to be retuned if moving too far in frequency. If using WSPR or FT8 this does not matter. For good efficiency, the inductor is usually made from copper pipe or coax cable. 

Sunspots - Monday April 17th 2023

 Solar flux is 178 and the SSN 155.  A=4 and K=1.

Anglesey Abbey this morning - NOT amateur radio

 

We go here every month. It is not very far by car. The photo shows some of the flowers out.

FT-710 webpage now ready

In the last hour, I have added the FT-710 page to my website. Over time, I hope to expand this.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/commercial-rigs/yaesu-ft-710 .

10m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

For about 30 minutes (it is now 1021z) I have been on 10m QRP FT8. So far this morning 7 spots of my QRP.

Stations spotting my QRP 10m FT8 today

UPDATE  1906z:  82 stations have spotted my 10m QRP FT8 with the QDX (see map). Interesting, that North America was spotting me whereas not yesterday.

UPDATE 2024z:  88 stations have my 10m QRP FT8 today.