From the moving bus

This photo was taken yesterday from a bus. It shows the village of Swaffham Bulbeck near Cambridge, UK.

Sunspots - Thursday February 12th

 Solar flux is 129 and the SSN 84. A=18 and K=2.

Hot pie

Yesterday we took our elder son to see the flowers at nearby Anglesey Abbey. He was hungry, so we treated  him to a hot pie. We are soft!!

30m WSPR RX (Wednesday)

 My Zachtek receiver is monitoring 30m WSPR.

UPDATE 0911z:  Spotted 5 stations.

10m 200mW WSPR (Wednesday)

 In a very short while I expect to turn on my beacon.

UPDATE 0742z: Beacon switched on at 0730z.

UPDATE 0915z:  No spots.

Sunspots Wednesday February 11th

 Solar flux is 142 and the SSN 105. A=10 and K=3.

80m WSPR RX (Tuesday)

 A few minutes ago I QSYed to 80m WSPR RX using the coax to my 2m big-wheel antenna via an ATU.

UPDATE 2107z:   5 Europeans spotted.

UPDATE 2150z:  16 spots of stations. See map by Phil VK7JJ.

Europe as a world power?

Today President Macron made a speech in which he allegedly suggested Europe should act like a world power on the world stage. 

He pointed out that Europe has a population of about 450 million people. It is a stable democracy believing in the world order and international laws.

With the isolationism and breakdown in world order we see now, there is some truth in this.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8n1zdnpd3o .

How much down is my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground?

Last night I re-looked at how far down my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground really is. 

At first I thought it was perhaps 1 S point worse on 630m than the coax up to my 2m big-wheel antenna via an ATU. With changing conditions it is really hard to be sure. 

If seems that it is far better than this on the LF bands. It seems to work well on 630m, 160m and 80m falling off as you move to higher frequencies.

Considering how simple and visually great it is (nobody knows it is even there!) I recommend it!

80m WSPR RX (Tuesday)

Whilst on 10m WSPR TX, I realised there is nothing stopping me going on 80m WSPR RX with my Zachtek WSPR RX and my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground, so at 1135z I turned on 80m WSPR RX.