Hoswick Bay, Shetland - NOT amateur radio

This brilliant photo by Richard Lewis who lives in the Shetland Isles, Scotland was posted on 365project recently. 

Being so far north, days are shorter in winter. They also get lots of wind and have few trees.

Green fingers? - NOT amateur radio

My wife seems to have a "touch" with house plants with many lasting far longer than we might expect. We have some orchids that have lasted many years. 

She says the secret with orchids is just a thimble of water once a week. Whatever, she has the touch!

10m 500mW WSPR (Tuesday)

My beacon has been on most of the morning. 14 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1915z:  43 stations have spotted me today. 

QMX+ still failing to initialise

After trying for about 10 times, my QMX+ (which is great once initialised!) has failed to initialise. Probably Wednesday, I shall go on 6m FT8 with the IC-705 instead.

UPDATE  1440z:  Although both the QDX and QMX+ rigs are very good, I am very disappointed that I am having so much trouble with Windows 10. It takes several goes to get the PC to "see" the audio on the QDX and the initialisation of the QMX+ is "flaky" at best: when it works great, but it should not be this hard to get started. I hope this initialisation is better with more recent software. It lets down an otherwise great radio.

Sunspots - Tuesday November 19th

 Solar flux is 165 and the SSN 118.  A=4 and K=1.

Gifts - NOT amateur radio

It is getting closer to the season when, in many cultures, gifts are exchanged. This was in the Grand Arcade, Cambridge earlier today.

6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My QRP FT8 has been on 50.313MHz with my QMX+ since just before breakfast. 14 stations have spotted me.  See map.

UPDATE 2004z:   QRT.  55 stations have spotted my QRP 6m FT8  today.  See map.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Monday)

My QRP beacon has been on since just before breakfast. So far, just 25 spots by EA8BFK (2880km).

UPDATE 1933z:  Now QRT after 40 stations spotted my QRP today.

6m MSK144 - total failure

 Overnight I monitored 50.280MHz MS144, which was supposed to be the best place to lurk for 6m MS in the Leonid meteor shower that was due to peak November 17th. In total, I spotted precisely nothing at all! It was a total failure. 

I was wondering if my internet connection had failed but there was nothing on my screen either, suggesting nothing had been received. Perhaps people have moved to a different mode or it was  a poor shower?

Sunspots - Monday November 18th

 Solar flux is 146 and the SSN 117.  A=8 and K=2.