10m 200mW FT8 ( Saturday)

My TX beacon was turned on at about 0943z.

UPDATE 1553z:    Spotted by 4 stations with the best PP5ZX (10058km) in Brazil.

Sunspots- Saturday March 14th

 Solar flux is 120 and K=105. A=24 and K=6. 

10m 200mW WSPR (Friday)

 Late in the afternoon I switched to 10m 200mW WSPR  TX. In the end I went QRT at about 2030z.

UPDATE 2118z:   9 stations spotted today. See table.

2013 optical tests over the horizon

Before my 2013 stroke I enjoyed 481THz optical tests over the horizon. What surprised me at first was that, even when absolutely nothing was visible in the sky, clear signals could be decoded on a PC as long as the aim was correct. My tripod and aiming left a lot to be desired!  If I was fit enough to repeat these tests I think a much better tripod would be called for allowing better repeatability.

PC operating systems

The world of home computing is dominated by MS Windows and Apple Mac (to a lesser extent), whereas I understand Linux is used by the most powerful computers in the world.  

I mostly use a Chromebook that runs Chrome OS (using it now) and am so pleased with this OS.  It is fast and does almost everything I do. They also tend to be less expensive. The Chromebook has been used for years now.

A friend of mine did an external drive with a version of Linux, but I have resisted changing my Windows PC to Linux, for now at least.

I am  definitely not a PC expert, so tend to remain with what I know!

10m 2.5W FT8 (Friday)

 Today I am on 10m 2.5W FT8. Apart from a very brief period on TX (1 local spot) I am RX only.

UPDATE  1106z:  Just 4 spots so far with the best A71MM (5184km) in Qatar. Disappointing so far. I must check that nothing is wrong.

UPDATE 1143z:  Plugging the antenna into the IC-705  revealed lots of stations, I plugged the antenna back into the QDX-M and immediately spotted 67 stations!  I wonder if the coax plug is intermittent?

UPDATE 1337z:  Re-soldered the plug and again lots of stations copied on the IC-705 but remarkably few on the QDX-M, which is very odd. Looks like there is something amiss with the QDX-M. It also seems to be running somewhat warm, which I would not have expected RX only on the QDX-M. Has anyone seen anything similar?

Sunspots - Friday March 13th

 Solar flux is 121 and the SSN 116. A=8 and K=4.

RX mostly

Maybe it is as a result of having got 10m QRP SSB way back, that I seem to get as much pleasure from RX nowadays as TX.  I know everyone is different and this is a good thing. 

70cm FT8 (Thursday)

It never fails to amaze me how good 70cm FT8 is. Last evening was the 70cm activity contest. After having a couple of contacts (10W to a 144MHz big-wheel omni antenna) I was RX only .  

It never fails to amaze me how far away some stations were. Even my low ERP was spotted at 327km!! The map shows the stations spotted here.

10m 2.5W FT8 (Thursday)

I am on 10m 2.5W FT8 although I shall probably be mainly on RX.

UPDATE  1623z:  645 stations spotted as far as Japan and South Africa.