September swift - NOT amateur radio

Today, with lots of young swallows, I saw one late swift. I think this is the latest I have ever seen one in the UK. Most have now gone. 

8m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

At 1103z I QSYed to 8m FT8 QRP on 40.680 MHz. No spots. 

UPDATE 2042z:   QRT with no 8m spots all day. I think I shall concentrate on QRP 6m FT8 unless there are clear signs of Es about. 8m has too few monitors, which is a shame.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Saturday)

4 stations spotting me today on my 500mW 10m WSPR TX. 

UPDATE 2052z:   10 spots of me today. Now QRT.

6m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

Mostly Gs spotting my 2.5W but one station from S. Spain. 

Sunspots - Saturday September 2nd 2023

 Solar flux is 136 and the SSN 83. A=12 and K=5.

OFCOM publications

A reminder that every week OFCOM updates the data it holds on licences etc.  They also have some new publications. See the OFCOM website. 

Changing interests?

At one time, I got very excited about working new DXCC countries. A 2-way QSO with a DXCC entity with QRP was important to me. In recent years this aspect of our hobby has become far less important. 2-way voice QSOs are hard for me nowadays as my voice is poor following my 2013 stroke.

However, I suspect I am not alone, especially with those of "advancing years".  To me, I am far more interested in beaconing using WSPR or FT8 and seeing where my signal is picked up. My favourite bands for this are 10m, 8m, 6m and 2m. 

Although I still use FM (for local nets) and SSB (for 2m and 70cm contests) these aspects are now less important to me. I am far more interested in propagation research.

Fuel Prices - NOT amateur radio

 Certainly in the UK, and I suspect elsewhere, fuel prices have been climbing up. Members of OPEC+ including Saudi Arabia and Russia are cutting production in the hope of stabilizing prices. Earlier this year prices were falling. 

Those who use cars and vans for work are the hardest hit. Personally, I hope there is a competitive price war and prices are driven down.

Amusing short video - NOT amateur radio

 The link to this video joke was sent to me earlier.

Solar cycle peak still this year?

My favourite site for solar data was updated today. It still shows the peak of solar cycle 25 as November 2023. This is early and conditions of late were on the slide. Unless we get a higher peak we could already be on the downward slopes. As mentioned before, solar conditions could be good for several years still.