UK General Election year - NOT amateur radio

Every 5 years (at least) the UK population holds an election to choose a governing party. .

We are expecting one this year.  For many years the government has been by the Conservative Party, which likes to tax less and people themselves decide how they spend their money. In recent years, Covid has cost a lot, so taxes are higher than they would like.

According to the polls, the opposition Labour party should win.

Politics has a habit of throwing surprises and it would not surprise me at all, if the outcome, in the end, is far closer than many suggest. All parties have good and bad things.

My politics tends to be near the centre.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68079726 .

Near Charing Cross station on Saturday - NOT amateur radio

A selfie taken by one of our grandsons in London on Saturday.

OFCOM reminders

When I remember, I  tell people that OFCOM updates the data it holds on licences etc regularly. It also consults on lots of things. See the OFCOM website of details.

10m 500mW (QRO for me!!) WSPR (Monday)

 My 500mW WSPR TX was turned on at 1115z. Already 5 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1206z: Spotted by 10 stations so far on 10m QRP WSPR TX.

Looking for very old WSPR spots with WSPR Rocks

 The creator of WSPR Rocks, Phill VK7JJ has been very helpful and has helped show me how to access WSPR spots back to 2008 using the SQL feature.

Perhaps it is best I share from the email he sent me. Clearly, you will have to adapt the query to suite your needs, but you get the idea.

" 1.  click the SQL tab in http://wspr.rocks and copy and paste the redish text below into the upper editing panel on the SQL page

2.  click the [run query here] button to test your query.  If it returns a bunch of spots rather than an error message that's good, so click the [run query in wspr.rocks] button to execute it in wspr.rocks.

The time, callsign and band criteria should just about be self explanatory, adjust the times to suit but retain the exact format.

If you end up exceeding the 5,000 spot display limit then let me know.  If you want to get rid of the false decode of OH3FR then include this line in the query:   and rx_sign != 'OH3FR'

73  Phil

select * from wspr.rx where

time between '2023-12-01 00:00:00' and '2024-01-24 00:00:00'

and tx_sign = 'G3XBM'

and band = 28

order by time desc    "

630m QRP WSPR overnight

In the last day (and overnight) my 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground has been spotted by 16 stations with the furthermost LA3EQ (769km).

Sunspots - Monday January 29th

 Solar flux is 141 and the SSN 75.  A=8 and K=1.

630m 10mW ERP WSPR (Sunday)

 My gear was re-synced about and hour ago. So far this evening, I have been spotted by  4 unique stations.

Shetland Waves - NOT amateur radio

 

These northerly islands in Scotland are characterised by long days in summer and long nights in winter. Wind can be very strong.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Sunday)

At about 1545z, I turned on the PA on my 10m WSPR TX beacon. Immediately, spots of me were received, so the 30dB power difference is very significant. I guess unless the local noise level is very low, stations struggle unless propagation is very good. 

Until the Es season, I do not propose to try 500uW WSPR on 10m again. I shall stick with 500mW. During the Es season I may well try 500uW again.

23 stations have spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR TX .