Sunspots - Thursday December 12th

 Solar flux is 161 and the SSN 114. A=6 and K=2.

Changing times

Back in the 1960s, 2m was almost exclusively AM and 70cm was the frontier. These days many (probably most)  prefer digital modes like FT8. When first active in the late 1960s people used to come on just to chat. 

These days there are many other ways to do this not involving amateur radio or licences. Radio is no longer magic for most: video chats across the world for free on the internet are easy. My wife talks to a friend in Australia on video as if she is in the next room.

Back in the late 1960s I really wanted a Heathkit Twoer HW30 kit. This was a 5W AM transceiver with a super-regen RX. In those days of very low activity, this was probably all you needed. Selectivity was poor, not that it really mattered most of the time.

Interesting reflection - NOT amateur radio

 

This photo was taken by my wife some years ago. It is of a glass on a restaurant table.

6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

My QRP  6m FT8 has been on since about 1100z. So far, I have been spotted by 14 English stations at 1133z.

UPDATE 1444z:  23 stations have spotted me on 6m QRP FT8, mostly English.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

My stand-alone 500mW 10m WSPR beacon has been on for a little while.  At 1125z, I had been spotted by 3 Finnish stations.

UPDATE 1445z:  21 stations have spotted me today.

Optical DX - NOT amateur radio

For years I have been fascinated by mirages and increases in refractive index at optical frequencies. What is often not realised is that how far we can see changes depending on the refractive index .This photo was a Facebook memory from some years ago.

Sunspots - Wednesday December 11th

 Solar flux is 172 and the SSN 125. A=8 and K=2.

Notre Dame, Paris - NOT amateur radio

This was badly damaged by fire 5 years ago (my half French grandchildren cried buckets) but has now been reborn . 

This is it now.

How ignorant we are - NOT amateur radio

 As part of my University of the Third Age course in Cambridge I was studying great physicists. The take-away remark is just how little we know! 

For centuries great minds have tried hard to better understand the universe at macro and micro level, without really understanding it.

Quantum mechanics was only put forward a little over one hundred years ago. All we really know is that everything is stranger than we ever imagined.

I don't think our human brains are capable of fully comprehending this.

Next term I am studying "Computers, the Brain and AI".  Perhaps AI could help?

The other course (totally different!) was about the Balkans.

6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

My gear was turned on at about 1005z. Already spotted by 19 stations including many in continental Europe.

UPDATE 1832z:  57 Europeans spotted me today on 6m QRP FT8.