OXFAM petition

Many of my best friends are Jewish and I hope I treat every human being the same whatever their faith or none.  What happened on October 7th 2023 was despicable.

However, I cannot understand how the UK government still sells arms to Israel and is allegedly training IDF soldiers on UK soil.

I am appalled by the death and destruction in Gaza and, like many in Israel, see no point in carrying on. Hamas is no longer a threat to Israel and the longer the fighting continues the more hated the state of Israel will be around the world. 

Also, surely continued fighting will persuade many to hate Israel even more. So, continuation is self-defeating.

Also, why are no journalists allowed into Gaza? Is Israel ashamed?

Although I have doubts it will do much good, OXFAM is organising a petition aimed at stopping the UK supplying arms to Israel. I urge you to sign it.

See https://www.oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-oxfam/end-uk-arms-sales-to-israel/

UPDATE  0749z:  It appears over 500 people protesting against genocide in Gaza were arrested at the weekend. Their mistake was to have "I support Palestine Action" on their placards. Palestine Action is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK.  A better wording would have been "I oppose genocide in Palestine".  I hope all protesters are freed without charge.

VLF earth-mode tests in 2011

 

As part of my experiments with VLF earth-mode was a test in 2011 at just over 17kHz using my 20m separated earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.

Sunspots - Monday August 11th

 Solar flux is 153 and the SSN 155. A=22 and K=4.

/P 10m QRP

 This was me operating /P at 1W SSB on 10m in my mother’s garden in Devon. I recall hearing a 6m beacon in Northern Canada on a whip antenna.

Judging by the hair, it must’ve been years ago!!

The murky world

There was a lot of panic when the Chinese launched their AI model DeepSeek earlier this year. 

The West would like to eavesdrop on countries they think could be a threat. I am sure there is a lot that goes on that most have no knowledge of. Perhaps it's best we don't know. 

One thing we can be sure about: every major power is spying!

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gez754mn6o

Hope Cove

This is a sleepy seaside village in South Devon, UK.  

I can trace my family history continuously in this village back to the mid 1550s. 

The photo is of the village 120 years ago.

10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)

My beacon was turned on before breakfast.

UPDATE 2024z: 21 stations have spotted me. The furthest is again V51RS (8481km). QRT now.

6m 5W FT8 (Sunday)

My gear was turned on just before breakfast.

UPDATE 2021z:  268 stations have spotted me. I assume this is Es still. Is the Es season longer this year? See map.  QRT.

Sunspots - Sunday August 10th

 Solar flux is 140 and the SSN 137. A=47 and K=3.

MLS and the Yaesu FTX-1

Unsurprisingly, MLS is singing the praises of the new Yaesu FTX-1. They clearly want to sell it, especially to the customers that put down a deposit. 

In my view it was seriously over priced in the UK and lacks many features as standard. I decided not to bother.