Baby crocodile - NOT amateur radio

 

When I saw this twig on our walk yesterday, I immediately thought of a baby crocodile. 

I know it is not, but it is funny how the mind works.

Solar peak - cycle 25

My favourite site for solar data is now showing the smoothed peak of cycle 25 as this October at 162.8. At one time they were showing a much smaller peak last November. 

This suggests good F2 conditions this autumn and spring.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Thursday)

My beacon was turned on at about 0800z. 

UPDATE 1525z:  No spots. I suspect fewer people use WSPR now preferring FT8. Perhaps I should try 10m FT8 tomorrow?

6m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

My QRP 6m FT8 was turned on about 0800z.  

UPDATE 1046z:  10 English stations have spotted me See map.

UPDATE 1255z:   11 stations spotting me.

UPDATE 1518z:  12 stations have spotted me. See map.

Websites and dates

This really annoys me. It would be really helpful if people put dates when webpages were updated. I can’t tell you how often I have seen data only to see it was created some years ago and the data is out of date!! 

As an example CQWW contest website. Dates are shown for 2024, but were these written last year? The last blog update was April. 

This has happened so many times. All it needs is a footer saying when the webpage was last updated.

Sunspots - Thursday August 22nd

 Solar flux is 239 and the SSN 176. A=8 and K=2.

Brandon Country Park - NOT amateur radio

This is about 30km from us. 

It has a series of lovely woodland walks with plenty of heather in bloom on the heath as the photo shows.  

As you would expect with a large quantity of trees, many are felled or fall down naturally.

10m 500mW WSPR (Wednesday)

Whilst on 6m, I keep forgetting the 10m antenna is available, so I can use my 10m WSPR TX beacon.

UPDATE  0952z:  No spots of me.

UPDATE 1715z:  Spotted by 6 stations.

6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

My 2.5W 6m FT8 was turned on about 0800z. 

UPDATE 0843z:  Spotted by 9 English stations. It makes you think how useful 6m FT8 could be inter-G when the band is not "open". Also many of those spotting me so far are probably cross polarised and using horizontal antennas. Just one G spotted on RX.

UPDATE 1721z:  20 stations spotted.  One might be Es.

CQWW contests?

As I recall, CQ magazine has stopped. At one time the CQWW contests were perhaps the most popular in the world. Even without submitting an entry, it was a way to contact new countries. When my voice was good I used to fill pages in the logbook. In later years, it has become too hard for me.

With the demise of CQ, I wonder what is happening with these contests?