Free speech? - NOT amateur radio

It would seem the administration of President Trump has deported a Palestinian man called Mahmoud Kahlil because of his pro-Palestine activity. Now, I do not know the full facts, but this seems to fly in the face of a country where free speech is meant to be important.

6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

 As 10m was so good, I QSYed to 6m with my 6W FT8.

UPDATE 1457z:  So far, just 4 English spots of me.

Magpies - NOT amateur radio

 

For nearly 40 years I travelled about 10 miles into Cambridge for work. 

In all that time I never saw a magpie. 

Now they’re very common. I believe they raid birds nests to eat chicks or eggs.

8m experiments

In many ways I am extremely disappointed with the RSGB, OFCOM and the FCC for the very negative attitude to real propagation research at 8m. 

My experiment (which I had to pay for!) was to see what would be possible with really low ERP. With Es we know all of Europe would be in range, but around sunspot maximum the MUF might reach 8m, but not 6m.

What we have been dealt is a wall of reasons why radio amateurs cannot have even a very tiny 8m allocation.

I give up!!

Collective memory - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday I mentioned that we had been re-watching "Quatermass and the Pit", which was first shown as a TV series on BBC TV in 1957. Some programmes look very dated, but this did not.

One of the themes explored was of racial memory, deep within us. This got me thinking.

Just as a bird knows how to migrate or build a nest, what do we have as humans deep within us? What unknown features do we possess that we are totally unaware about? Do we all have an evil streak deep within us, perhaps triggered by something? Maybe it is something else, more benign, that somehow binds all humanity?

The truth is we are aware of so little about ourselves. Maybe over time we will learn more about ourselves. Really we know so little.

10m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My IC-705 was turned on at 6W at about 0715z on 10m FT8.

UPDATE 1050z:  137 stations have spotted me with the furthermost India and the Seychelles. On RX 275 stations were spotted with the furthermost Indonesia. 

UPDATE 1452z:  410 spots of my QRP today and 755 stations spotted here on 10m FT8. The map shows the stations spotting me.

Nature reserve this weekend - NOT amateur radio

This was Kingfisher Bridge nature reserve, near Ely UK, this weekend. 

As well as many birds (including marsh harriers) we saw Konik ponies (used to keep the grass short) plus water buffalo and daffodils with Ely Cathedral on the horizon.

EI7GL blog

A reminder that one of the best amateur radio blogs I have come across is the one by John Desmond EI7GL.   Whenever I look it is a goldmine of information.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/ .

Time synchronisation

All this with Windows 10. I have no idea what happens in Windows 11.

For years I used an internet time service to ensure my PC time was accurate. A few months ago Steve G1KQH pointed out that internet time sync is built in to Windows 10 and I assume Windows 11. 

Just right click on the date and time in the bottom right of your screen. Choose "adjust date/time" from the menu that appears. 

A box appears and select "sync now". When the tick appears you know your PC is synced to internet time. 

I am not sure how long this syncs for, but on my PC I have had absolutely no issues for a whole day at all using modes in WSJT-X making additional programs for time sync unnecessary. 

Although I am unsure how often you should re-sync, I do this whenever I turn on my PC i.e once a day.

Sunspots - Monday March 17th

 Solar flux is 186 and the SSN 185.  A=10 and K=3.