Near Lancaster

Our son and grandson are on their way back from Glasgow and passed Lancaster about an hour ago. My son has sent me this photo.

Swifts (birds) gone?

It is over a week since I have seen a swift. They breed here, but migrate to warmer climes until the spring. 

I guess it will be next May before I see any more here.

10m 1W FT8 (Friday)

 My gear was turned  on at about  0930z. 

UPDATE 1017z:  53 stations have spotted me.

1kHz earth-mode 2011

 

The photo shows my 2011 experiments with 5W at just over 1kHz. A range from home of 6km was made.

Sunspots - Friday August 8th

 Solar flux is 151 and the SSN 150. A=4 and K=1.

Es in August

 Although I cannot be sure, recent spots on 10m QRP WSPR and 6m QRP FT8 look like Es. 

In many ways, this has been as good as at any time this season. The usual pattern is Es diminishes about now with a small peak for some reason in December/January.

I just wonder if Es is somehow related to global warming? 

Certainly the very long 6m paths to the Far East from Europe linked to  mesospheric clouds are more common. 

10m 500mW WSPR (Thursday)

My beacon was turned on just before 0800z.

UPDATE 1330z: 34 spots of me. V51RS (8481km) is the furthest.

UPDATE 2047z: QRT.

6m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

In a short while I intend to go on 6m FT8 with my 5W FT8 to the vertical omni V2000 antenna.

UPDATE 1712z:  My 6m FT8 was turned on at about 0808z.  323 stations spotting me. Mainly Es? Nothing transatlantic. See map.

UPDATE 2047z: QRT.

2m FT8 yesterday evening

Stations spotted on
2m FT8 with
the big-wheel yesterday

Yesterday evening was the 2m FT8 activity contest. 

I worked a couple of stations with my 5W and big-wheel omni antenna. 

In all 123 stations were spotted. I was mostly on RX. 

I am sure some sort of scatter is involved. 

Sunspots - Thursday August 7th

 Solar flux is 158 and the SSN 154 . A=6 and K=0.