Yesterday I think the lack of spots was due to a coax fault now mended.
Overnight I was surprised to be spotted by 6 stations some right in the middle of the night.
Simple QRP projects, 10m, 8m, 6m, 4m, FT8, 160m, WSPR, LF/MF, sub-9kHz, nanowaves and other random stuff, some not related to amateur radio.
Yesterday I think the lack of spots was due to a coax fault now mended.
Overnight I was surprised to be spotted by 6 stations some right in the middle of the night.
The common view is that swifts are in decline too. That is not my experience. Although this may be local, I have found more swifts this summer than the last few years. Last summer I could look skywards and wait 30 minutes to see a swift. This summer, I look up and almost immediately see a swift. It would be good to know the experience of others in the UK.
Certainly, many swift nest sites have gone. Have they adapted? It would be good if this was true.
We have come a very long way in 30 years. Back then few had heard of the internet. As far I can tell this is the very first webpage:
See https://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
When I am pushing up daisies in 30 years' time I wonder what my grandchildren will be amazed at?
My first website is still there on the Wayback Machine. It dates from the mid 1990s. In a way, I was a trail blazer!
See https://web.archive.org/web/19970328203144/http://www.lapr.demon.co.uk/ .
Trevor G0KTN is trying some tests with this mode this week on 8m. Although I have not been successful receiving him so far, I shall try again this week.
UPDATE 1236z: Monitoring 8m Q65. Switched to RX on the V2000 vertical (was on the Par endfed for 10m). No spots.
UPDATE 1603z: No spots of G0KTN.
In the past I have mentioned a phenomenon that could be pure coincidence or some Es mechanism not understood.
Later in the Es season I seem to get more northerly Es openings, particularly towards Scandinavia. There are still plenty of stations from other directions, but stations in Norway, Sweden, Scotland and Finland seem far more noticeable than earlier in the Es season. I have noticed this over several summers.
As I have said, this could be nothing, but I don't think so.
"Theories on a postcard" please as they say!
The photo shows my beacon, that was connected to 100mm drain pipe and a Poundland lens. The LED was bought off eBay. Latterly I bought some much brighter Phlatlights, but I never got around to using them before fate intervened.
I was always amazed how well my tiny signal was copied over the horizon. I presume this was clear air scattering as there were no clouds.
My favourite site for solar data pushed into this year the peak of solar cycle 25. It was November 2023 for some time. I am wondering if this has to be adjusted yet again, based on the high solar activity this month? They take an average so the peak is always some months ahead of the month with the highest numbers.
When I got back from Cambridge, I turned on my little stand-alone 10m WSPR TX beacon. Just F2 spots (see table).