630m QRP WSPR

 Since about 2000z I have been on 630m WSPR with my 10mW ERP. So far, just one station spotting me. A few months back I would have been spotted by many more. Let’s see how many by breakfast time.

2m FT8 activity contest (Wednesday)

After working a local, I am now RX only on 2m FT8. The furthermost copied is DK0TR (617km).  With FT8 I am sure we are able to tap into some kind of scatter. My own 2.5W to the big-wheel omni antenna was copied by by 14 stations with the furthermost G7RAU (461km) in Cornwall.

Mysore Trumpetvine? - NOT amateur radio

We saw lots of plants at the Cambridge Botanic Gardens earlier today. I think this is called Mysore Trumpetvine, although I am no expert.

10m 10mW WSPR (Wednesday)

Apart from a single spot by OE3GBB (1233km), there have been no spots of my 10mW WSPR today. I expect this was a brief patch of Es.

UPDATE  1830z:   EA8BFK (2880km) has now also spotted me.

630m WSPR going "off the boil"

With only 3 stations spotting my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR overnight it looks like 630m WSPR is getting worse. I shall try again overnight, but it would appear only the true diehards are still monitoring. Also, noise levels are probably higher as we approach summer, making copy of weak signals harder.

Beetle - NOT amateur radio

This small beetle was seen in the Cambridge Botanical Gardens earlier. At a guess I would say it’s about 1cm long.

Police and crime commissioner - NOT amateur radio

This Thursday in the UK there are some local elections and the election of new police and crime commissioners. As in 2016, I have no idea who my police and crime commissioner is and I have had nothing through the mail.

In my view, police and crime commissioners are a total waste of time and UK tax payers money. I shall NOT be voting for this government quango.

Sunspots - Wednesday May 1st

 Solar flux is 130 and the SSN 85.  A=12 and K=2.

Oscar 100 activity

It seems ages since I gave an update on Oscar 100, which is the Qatari geosynchronous satellite. When I looked mid afternoon UK time there was some activity, but it was hardly busy. 

I look on the narrowband web SDR at Goonhilly Downs in Cornwall, UK.

Probably the lack of "black box" solutions puts many off, although it allows much of the planet to be worked without QSB and with a small fixed antenna at any time. I remain surprised that it is still so quiet. No need for linears or towers!

Sadly, many in the amateur radio community are "black box" operators who would rather spend money than experiment. In my view this will lead to the death of the hobby.

Solar predictions

Usually, near the start of the month my favourite site for solar data has a major update. This last few weeks have seen days with high solar flux and sunspot numbers, so it will be interesting to see if forecasts have changed much.