Sunspots - Thursday August 15th

 Solar flux is 248 and the SSN 194. A=12 and K=2.

13 years ago on VLF

Before I had my stroke I used to enjoy going out to see how far I could get on VLF earthmode. With 5W 6km was spanned, but much further is possible.

10m 500mW WSPR (Wednesday)

My 500mW WSPR TX beacon has been on for over an hour.  3 stations have spotted me - 1 local, 1 probably F2 and 1 that may have been a patch of Es.  Aircraft reflection is unlikely as the signal has to be present for nearly 2 minutes.

6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

This morning, my 2.5W FT8 to the vertical omni antenna is on 6m.  I am wondering, if as on 2m, I am tapping into some sort of troposcatter mode?

As well as the usual G spots I have been spotted in Sicily and Eire. FT8 works with signals even weaker than CW. I guess it could also be aircraft reflection?

UPDATE 1245z: 37 stations have spotted me on 6m FT8 and I have spotted 23. I think this is Es.

UPDATE 1800z: 52 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 31 stations here. See map for stations spotting my QRP 6m FT8 today.

Wildfires - NOT amateur radio

We may argue whether or not this is a short-term blip or a longer-term trend, but the Earth is definitely warmer and the evidence seems to point to the influence of  man.  Wildfires seem more common, oceans are warming and hurricanes seem more common.

There is no doubt, whatever your views on origin, that moving away from fossil fuels will help in the longer term. We need more, lower cost ways of storing renewables. We need electric cars with better ranges that do not depend on mining rare materials, we need to be able to charge far less frequently, we need electric cars to compete with fossil fuelled cars on price.

My view is that when the time is right, we will all be driving some sort of vehicle that does not depend on fossil fuel. I just hope the turning point arrives sooner than later. Imagine if we all still had film cameras and cathode ray tubes and valves! Things change.

Plans for Wednesday

10m seems pretty good on FT8, so I shall learn little. Maybe I shall give 6m QRP FT8 a go?  As the 10m antenna won't be used I could put my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon on.

UPDATE 0806z:  10m QRP WSPR beacon and 6m QRP FT8 turned on at about 0800z. 3 Gs have spotted me on 6m FT8, but no spots of my 500mW 10m WSPR.

70cm activity contest yesterday evening

With 10W SSB and a 2m big-wheel omni I usually struggle in the 70cm UKAC (activity contest), but I usually manage a few contacts. Last night was different. 

Firstly, the impression I had was there were fewer people on.  This could partly be due to the holiday season and people being away.

Also those that were on I could not work. After about 20 minutes I just gave up having worked nobody! Perhaps the combination of higher local noise and fewer people make all the difference to QRP stations like mine.

I should be on the 70cm UKAC next month. We'll see.

Old radios

 This photo was seen recently and shows a collection of old broadcast receivers.

My QTH

 

This photo was taken last year. It shows my QTH. The V2000 tri-band vertical can be seen on the left.

Sunspots - Wednesday August 14th

 Solar flux is 260 and SSN 199.  A=17 and K=4.