Although there are no thunderstorms locally at present, the risk exists. Accordingly, I shall probably give the radio a miss today.
See https://www.lightningmaps.org/#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=;ts=0; .
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.
Although there are no thunderstorms locally at present, the risk exists. Accordingly, I shall probably give the radio a miss today.
See https://www.lightningmaps.org/#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=;ts=0; .
Every few weeks (if I remember!) I try to give an update on activity through the narrowband transponder of this geosynchronous satellite.
It has now been up for several years yet activity is tragically low considering it allows DX QSOs with much of the planet at any time without QSB with small fixed antennas.
My last peek was mid-afternoon, mid-week in Europe. There was hardly anybody on.
My theory is that unlike the few that rise to the challenge of assembling a ground station, most find this just too hard and instead just get out their credit cards so the dealer can buy a flashier car.
This was the back of my garage at the old QTH where most of my building was done . Since moving to my new QTH in the following year I have a dedicated room for building and operating.
Solar flux is 174 and the SSN 160. A=32 and K=3.
There are many answers to this. It usually involves some element of compromise (usually with the receiver), but time and again people have shown that really simple gear works. I guess the "holy grail" is the rig that has the fewest compromises, yet gives you plenty of contacts. I am still looking!
One of the rigs I have tried is the Micro80 and the Pixie. A few years ago (possibly still) 40m Pixie kits could be bought with airmail from China for a few pounds. I have built versions for 80m and 40m and they have all worked. Albeit, the RX was far from perfect but they worked and resulted in QSOs.
The circuit is a typical Pixie.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/8040m-pixie-and-micro80-transceivers .
As mentioned before, one of my friends on 365project lives in the Faroe Islands. This was one of his photos from a few weeks ago.
My beacon has been on for about 40 minutes. So far, just spots by local G4KPX (14km).
UPDATE 1356z: EA8BFK (2880km) has spotted me 14 times.
My 2.5W 6m FT8 was turned on at about 1045z after we returned from shopping. So far, 6 stations have spotted me.
UPDATE 1225z: 7 English stations have spotted me today. See map.
This fearsome looking insect was on our garage door after breakfast. It was still there after lunch. I think it is a wood wasp, but I am no...