It is a dead certainty that I have never even come close to winning the AL section of this contest! Why? 10W to a 2m big-wheel omni antenna and well less than an hour of operating.
The results were published earlier and I remain 51st out of 92 stations in the low power (AL) section. I am certain that if my voice allowed me to stop on longer, a much better score would be possible. I only really take part because of the activity. It is also good for my voice.
My QMX+ has been on since about 1035z. So far, 5 English stations have spotted me. The QMX+ initialised after a few minutes!
It is a very odd person (probably living on Planet Zog) that cannot see that our climate is changing. We may argue if this is cyclical or as a result of man, but changing it is.
In some countries it is of minor significance, whereas for some it is becoming an existential crisis. In some places there have been devastating floods, or droughts or very powerful hurricanes. If sea levels rise whole nations could disappear beneath the waves.
A fact of life is that poor countries suffer the most. Many of these we depend on for food. In the long run we will all suffer if we are selfish as nations.
This is a link I came across when looking at videos about LongChat (see previous post). I think it was done before FT8 appeared. I think FT8 works down to about -21dB S/N although I have had some decodes at -24dB S/N.
This is a mode of message transmission I had not heard about before. It is claimed messages can be sent using extremely low power using chirped signals. I am no expert at all on digital communications!
Two things I have put down to my 2013 stroke may seem bizarre to others. They are my perception of speed (as mentioned before) and sneezing.
For some time I have been aware that my perception of speed is "different" in that I feel I am going 20mph faster than I am. I was not aware of this in a coach until this week. On the way to London in a coach we seemed to be going very fast. In a car this is noticeable when I think I am going over 60mph and look at the speedometer and see I am doing less than 50mph and there is a queue of cars behind me!
The second thing seems trivial, but when I feel a sneeze coming on I always sneeze. I am sure this is different.
These are only mentioned as they are subtle artefacts I think of my stroke. Probably others affected by strokes have noticed other things affecting them.
Some of the old buildings are known the world over.
We went there on Thursday with our village theatre group by coach.
Once my QMX+ initiates, I intend to try 6m QRP FT8 again. Yet again, it has not yet initiated. I hope there is a fix for this in later software or hardware as I am suffering this bug most times I switch the transceiver on. It otherwise is a very good rig that I enjoy using. On early production, I suppose this is to be expected.
UPDATE 1006z: The QMX+ has initiated, but I do not know how long it took. So far just 4 English stations have spotted me.
