Sunspots - Saturday December 16th 2023

 Solar flux is 144 and the SSN 130. A=12 and K=4.

630m QRP WSPR (Friday)

My 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground was turned on just after teatime. So far, 3 stations have spotted me this evening.

UPDATE 1937z:  5 stations have so far spotted me. Nobody new sadly.

UPDATE 2009z:  It is interesting to see how well some other stations are being received. Take for example G3XIZ who has been copied by 67 unique stations. I have no idea of his ERP but he clearly does really well on 630m. In contrast, I have been spotted by just 6 stations! It would suggest his ERP is some 10-20dB better.

UPDATE 2215z:   OH1LSQ (1733km) has spotted me.

Good job my name is quite uncommon in our village

Recently I got a package from Banggood. The address label just had my name and the village name. I had given them my full address. Thickies. 

How was the Post Office meant to find me? If this is the quality of their labelling, I shall think twice about using them again. Luckily my wife used to teach the son of our postman, so this helped.

Imagine the fun if my name was a common one!! This was my birthday present too - a manual ATU!

Christmas cheer - NOT amateur radio

 

We have our main Christmas tree in the garden room at the back of the house. This is in our lounge.

8m QRP FT8 (Friday)

My 2.5W FT8 was turned on at about 1415z. 

UPDATE 1620z:  No spots. F2 conditions seemed to have gone down a bit. Maybe we'll see a bit of winter Es at the turn of the year on 8m?

They are going

 This came from a local friend yesterday.

"Your crystal ball is working well. I rang the telephone number on the Waters & Stanton website and was told by Mr Fortune that Nevada Radio and Waters & Stanton had now combined and were trading under the Moonraker name and from the same W&S place near Woburn Sands."

I think we could all read the runes. In the future we can expect fewer dealers and fewer ads in magazines and probably fewer mags or smaller mags.  

In the last 20 years look at what has happened to radio mags on sale!

500uW 10m WSPR experiment - last day?

For a couple of weeks I have tried 10m WSPR at 500uW (0.5mW).

After this, I have proved to myself that this power is enough when conditions are good. 

My inclination is to stop now.

UPDATE 1510z:  Once again, my 500uW (0.5mW) has been spotted in the Canary Is.

Christmas meal - NOT amateur radio

Every month a group of old work colleagues meet up for a meal in a different pub in the area. 

The photo shows the December meeting.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

 

Only 7 stations spotted me last night. I think people are losing interest in 630m WSPR or are they trying new modes?

Sunspots- Friday December 15th 2023

 Solar flux is 155 and the SSN 126. A=16 and K=3.