Sunspots - Friday September 13th

 Solar flux is 201 and the SSN 160. A=67 and K=3.

10m QRP WSPR (Thursday)

 My 500mW 10m WSPR TX was turned on just after 1700z, So far, just spotted by EA8BFK (2880km).

Rallies this weekend

 The following have been notified to me. As always, please  check bore going a long way.

• September 14th/15th - Broadcast Engineering Museum open days, Near Gainsborough, DN2 15XS. Contact contactus@becg.org.uk .
• Sunday September 15th -  British Vintage Wireless Society Swapmeet and Auction, Biggleswade,SG18 8JH. Contact secretary@bvws.org.uk .

OFCOM and shared rural coverage in the UK

OFCOM agreed certain targets for rural mobile phone coverage with the major UK mobile operators. It looks as if these targets have been met, but not in Scotland yet. See the OFCOM website for details.

Anglesey Abbey - NOT amateur radio

 

This National Trust property is not far from us. We went for a walk there earlier. 

In each season there is something to see. At the moment, it is a good time to see dahlias.

8m FT8 RX (Thursday)

My "proper" 8m dipole has still to be erected as I need some help putting it up as I am very giddy now on a ladder. 

Instead, I am on my endfed Par antenna on 8m FT8 RX where the match on 8m is not very good. This was the antenna with which I worked 2 Spanish stations on 8m FT8 over the summer. As the match on 8m is poor, I do not like to TX on 8m FT8 with this antenna for too long.

I hope to be on 8m QRP FT8 TX very soon with the dipole and a good match.

Stations monitoring
8m FT8 today

UPDATE 1435z:  No spots on TX or RX. I am briefly on 8m QRP FT8 TX. It is encouraging to see so many stations in Europe now monitoring 8m FT8 (see map). If you want to monitor this autumn 40.680 USB dial is where the FT8 activity is. The European DX record with just 10mW and a 35m longwire is now HA to EA8 (Canaries) which is a long way! Under ISM rules you do not need a permit, licence or even a callsign (certainly in the UK). In the UK ISM rules mean 2-way contacts are not the intention although I imagine OFCOM are unlikely to police this, especially if the intention is scientific research.

UPDATE  1723z: ZS3/V51NJ  in Namibia spotted calling CQ. No spots of me.

70cm FT8 activity contest

Last night was the September 70cm activity contest (UKAC). I usually TX for a short while and then go RX only. I usually do not submit an entry for this contest, coming on for the activity. 

It never fails to amaze me what distances can be spotted at any time on 70cm. My antenna is just a 2m omni big-wheel. Imagine if I had a 70cm yagi on a mast! It is a great pity 70cm is underused. Especially with FT8, I would expect it to be a great band for working Western Europe and the UK.

The disappearance of AM broadcasters

Many AM broadcasters are closing down. 

In 10 years' time the MW and LW broadcast bands may be empty of AM stations. This is a great pity as many of us came into RF via simple MW and LW crystal sets. These are easy to make.

Many AM shortwave broadcasters are also closing down as many now prefer to access these stations via the internet. This is also cheaper.

In 20 years' time I wonder what MF and HF will sound like? I suppose much of this spectrum will be kept by the military "just in case" it is ever needed if the satellites were jammed or destroyed.

It seems the shortwaves will largely be abandoned. In this case, I do hope amateurs (or licence free services) are granted access to a wider array of frequencies. Not that I can see it ever happening, but wouldn't it be great if we were granted access to all of HF at low power on a non-interference basis?

Sunspots - Thursday September 12th

 Solar flux is 207 and the SSN 179. A=8 and K=4.

365project - NOT amateur radio

One of the pleasures of 365project.org is seeing some wonderful photos from around the world. 

One of my friends is Elizabeth Saeter who lives in Norway and posts some splendid photos especially of sunsets. As an example, see the photo attached.