Sunspots - Thursday May 29th

 Solar flux is 145 and the SSN 126. A=63 and K=5.

HF antenna

I think this steerable HF antenna is for a broadcast station.

I am sure the neighbours would complain it I had it!!

10m 500mW WSPR (Wednesday)

My QRP WSPR beacon was turned on at about 1030z.

UPDATE 1540z:  47 spots of me.

Rain at last - NOT amateur radio

 

After almost a month with no rain, this week has been dull with some rain as this photo from a friend on 365project.org shows.

6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

My IC-705 at 5W was turned on at 1030z.

UPDATE 1550z:   493 spots of me so far, with plenty of Es. See map. When Es is good all Europe and North Africa is possible with 6m QRP.  On 6m Es I get far more spots than I did on 8m sadly. On 6m FT8 RX  the furthest is UN7AM (3816km) in Kazakhstan.

Sunspots - Wednesday May 28th

 Solar flux is 137 and the SSN 116. A=15 and K=4.

Cold War radio broadcasts

 Many of us will recall the radio broadcasts by countries during the cold war. All sides tried to outdo the other with  propaganda. I recall getting some excellent gifts from Radio Peking, even though I had no interest in their, or anybody else's, propaganda!

One of the  famous ones was Radio Moscow. I heard this very well with my shortwave crystal set and remembering getting a QSL  card from this and many.  I have attached a link to their interval signal. It is quite a large MP3 file (22M) so may take a time to come through.

Hornet or wasp? - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday, my son sent me this photo from Kent.  

He says it was huge and thinks it was a hornet, although I am less sure.

Sporadic-E (Es)

 In the late spring and early summer we get sporadic-E in the northern hemisphere. Bands it most impacts are 10m-4m with occasional openings on Band 2 FM and rarely on 2m.

When Es is good there are widespread, strong openings and, QRM allowing, only really low power is needed. Indeed last year I was spotted across Europe on many occasions on 6m FT8 with less than 10mW ERP.

It usually starts in early May and disappears around early August, with the best months being May and June. Occasionally multi-hop or chordal hop Es can cover astounding distances, which is one reason 6m is called "the magic band".  Many years ago I recall working the USA with QRP one summer on 6m CW

Es can occur at any time of year but is best in late spring and early summer.

UK National Health Service - NOT amateur radio

Since 1948, the UK has had a health service free at the point of delivery. 12 years ago I had a stroke and was hospitalised for 3.5 months and the care was very good.

However, I am aware of many inefficiencies. Things (hopefully!) have improved. It appeared that the same information was asked for again and again. I am aware of a neighbour that cancelled a hospital appointment weeks in advance and yet an ambulance came to pick up the patient!  It was as if the right hand did not know what the left was doing. Things were not joined up! 

This very morning my wife tried to phone a local hospital multiple times to cancel an appointment. She gave up.

You are left with the impression that this is a totally inefficient service that must waste millions each year. I am sure the doctors, nurses and support staff are overworked and underpaid and this is part (but not all) of the problem.

In my view the UK National Health Service wants looking at anew and made fit for the nations in the years ahead. 

We like our NHS, but like all organisations, it has to work well. Also the social care service is poor, yet every government seems to "kick the can down the road" rather than fixing it.