Is spring ever coming? - NOT amateur radio

It seems to have been having a long, dark and very wet period that has been going on for months. It is now very windy too. Hopefully spring will come ...... sometime!

It is very odd. Many things are early, yet spring seems late. Usually by now we have some good, settled weather. Not so this year.

10m QRPP WSPR (Tuesday)

My 500uW 10m WSPR has been spotted (again) in the Canary Is by EA8BFK (2880km). He has spotted me on multiple occasions for days on end in the early morning. This is almost becoming routine and I have to pinch myself that he is so regularly copying my 500uW (0.5mW) beacon.

UPDATE 1519z: 37 spots of my 500uW 10m WSPR all by EA8BFK.

8m FT8 RX (Tuesday)

 As I decided not to ask for a new 8m TX permit (which I still think is totally wrong that you have to pay!!), but instead test with 10mW ERP under ISM rules this Es season, I am on 8m FT8 RX today.

Our garden - NOT amateur radio

Spring has sprung. Blossom in our garden yesterday.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

Not a bad session with a little DX to Norway. I shall stick with it for longer!

Sunspots - Tuesday April 9th

 Solar flux is 125 and the SSN 79. A=8 and K=2.

At the moment, it looks like numbers are declining. Will we have a second peak?

2m activity contest last Tuesday

Although there is absolutely no chance of me coming remotely close to winning and despite only stopping on for 15 minutes, I usually submit an entry if I am home. This time I totally forgot to submit my entry. Just now I remembered!

630m QRP WSPR overnight

With 11 stations spotting my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR overnight, it was a mixed time. No real DX but a reasonable number of stations.

Brilliant day on 10m QRPP yesterday

With 49 spots of my 500uW WSPR from the Canary Islands and one from the USA yesterday, this must go down as a very good day. What puzzles me is sunspots were average and A and K indicators were not exceptional. Let’s see what happens today.

UPDATE 0850z:  Already plenty of spots from the Canary Is.  I wonder if EA8BFK (2880km) has got a better antenna recently?

UPDATE 2200z:  Plenty of spots of me by EA8BFK but nobody else today. When it’s good it’s like a pipe between us. I wonder what the path loss should be by F2?

Sunspots - Monday April 8th

 Solar flux is 125 and the SSN 79. A=8 and K=0.