Lightning risk

Lightning is an increased risk in the summer months. Although a direct strike is unlikely, close lighting can still do a lot of damage to radio gear. I take no chances disconnecting antennas and mains connectors. Up to now this policy has kept my gear safe from harm.

A useful guide is the realtime lighting map. If lightning is possible locally I disconnect things before the risk is here.

The map is an example showing the lightning last evening at about 2010z.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=;ts=0;y=51.7212;x=0.2069;z=8;d=2;dl=2;dc=0;

Sunspots - Friday Aug 2nd

 Solar flux is 234 and the SSN 260. A=22 and K=2.

8m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

After failing to receive G0KTN on 8m Q65, I am on 40.680 MHz QRP FT8 hoping that someone will spot me.  As there is a possibility of thunder,  I shall disconnect everything later "just in case".

UPDATE 2047z: No spots of me. 

Lundy - NOT amateur radio

Lundy is a small island in the Bristol Channel. As a young teenager I was totally fascinated by it. It is a granite plateau famous for its puffins. 

Rallies at the weekend

 The following have been notified to me. It is always advisable to check details before travelling.

• Sunday August 4th - BATC Convention, Coventry,CV3 4FR. No contact given.
• Sunday August 4th - British Vintage Wireless Society (BVWS) swapmeet. Members only. Punnetts Town (where is this?). No postcode given and nobody to contact.
• Sunday August 4th - Kings Lynn ARC, King Lynn, PE30 4EL. See www.klarc.co.uk .

Solar cycle progression

In July, we have had some very high numbers. I suspect the smoothed solar peak of cycle 25 will now be far later in this year than once thought. 

What is interesting is the formation of new spots that declined in July 2024.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

8m Q65 120E experiment

Trevor G0KTN is again experimenting with 8m Q65. This time he is trying Q65 120E. As yet, I have yet to spot him. Ours is a difficult path. I shall keep monitoring today.

UPDATE 1613z:   No copy at all sadly.

Sleepy Reach - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday, we did a very early walk around this nearby village before it got too hot. There are no shops but it was an important port in Roman times and has had a fair since the 1200s.  Today, it feels like a sleepy backwater.

Oscar 100 geosynchronous - narrowband transponder activity

 In a word?   Dire.

Every few weeks I try to give a very unscientific appraisal of activity through the narrowband transponder on this geosynchronous satellite. I do this by looking at the web SDR at Goonhilly in Cornwall, UK. It is a while since I did an update.  This time it was a mid afternoon, mid-week, in Europe.

Whilst I admit that some have enjoyed the challenge of building or assembling microwave kit to create a ground station, the level of activity has fallen well below that I was expecting.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ .

I have said before, I suspect the lack of commercial ready made gear has put off "appliance operators" who prefer to spend their money on shiny boxes from Japan.

In my view this tells us a lot about the state of amateur radio.  Most have become "black box" operators, who probably have no idea about the technology of the box they are using. Quite probably the vast majority of operators today have never, ever, done any experimentation. More than ever I can see the day coming when amateur radio ceases to exist.

Sunspots - August 1st

 Solar flux is 235 and the SSN 271. A=17 and K=4.