6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My gear at 5W has been on most of the morning.

UPDATE 1326z:  393 stations have spotted me including 5 in Canada. Multi hop or chordal Es?

UPDATE 1416z:  9 stations in Canada and the USA have spotted my 6m 5W FT8 to the vertical omni antenna. Altogether, spotted by 603 stations.

Spots of my 5W 6m FT8
to the vertical omni today

UPDATE 1850z:  761 stations have spotted me in the last day on 6m 5W FT8. Even further west in the USA N0KB (6468km) has spotted me .

Butterfly - NOT amateur radio

This was seen at nearby Anglesey Abbey last week. It was sunning itself on a marble seat before flying off. 

Sunspots - Sunday July 20th

 Solar flux is 153 and the SSN 139. A=7 and K=1.

Meshtatic and MeshCore - NOT amateur radio

Some people look for ways to communicate that do not depend on the internet. I have no experience of these which use licence free Lora to join up stations without the internet. 

In theory, if the network is big enough almost anyone should be able to message anyone. I have no idea how large these meshes are.

The aim is to have nationwide (or even international) networks that allow text messages to be exchanged in public or as a private message without the internet.  

It looks like apps are available for Android or iOS phones.

There is a map of Meshtatic nodes.

UK swift (bird) numbers - NOT amateur radio

 According to conventional wisdom, the numbers of swifts should be down as there are fewer nest sites. Certainly around here in East Anglia we have seen far fewer swallows, although I have seen them elsewhere.

As far as I can tell, there are more swifts than last year here. This is a good sign and others have noticed this too locally.  Maybe they are adapting and finding new places to nest.  I really hope so. Some are erecting swift nestboxes or "swift bricks" to encourage them.

I would be interested to know what others in the UK are finding. Swifts screaming in feeding parties signify summer in England. They only come here for a few months to breed.

10m 500mW WSPR (Saturday)

 My beacon was turned on early morning.

UPDATE 1824z:  36 stations have spotted me. Mainly Es I think.

Do you speak Chinese?

My Chinese is non existent, but I see AliExpress is selling a multi-band crystal set with a Band II FM stereo radio included for good measure. All the markings appear to be in Chinese, so I cannot tell what they say. The price seems very high.

6m 5W FT8 (Saturday)

My gear has been on since about 0855z.

UPDATE 1827z: 270 spots of me. Also VO1SIX (3933km) has spotted me again. Es?

Tempted

 At the moment we have had very little rain and no storms. I am tempted to try 6m QRP FT8 and 10m QRP WSPR, if only for a few hours.

Early experiment

 

In 1924 an experiment was held in which an amateur radio station was set up on a moving train. I have no idea what the antenna was. Communication was established with several stations on the route.