Kaliningrad

This is an isolated part of Russia bordering the Baltic. Lithuania is stopping transit across its territory because of EU sanctions. Russia is unhappy but knows Lithuania is in NATO.

Joe Blogs

 This is an analysis of the world economy yesterday. Worrying.  I think President Trump has made a huge mistake and the world will not forget.

70cm FM FM321

This was an amateur radio version of an Australian UHF CB rig. I owned one and it was excellent. 

This must have been in the 1980s and some excellent simplex  QSOs on 70cm FM were made.  Often  70cm opened up when 2m did not.

It was one of the first (if not the very first) synthesised rigs.

K9YA Telegraph has a USA advert on its FaceBook page. 

Sunspots - Monday May 11th

 Solar flux is 126 and the SSN 89. A=5 and K=2.

10m 200mW WSPR (Sunday)

At about 1540z I switched to 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1728z:   One spot from a station in Kenya I presume by F2. One European spot by Es (I think). EA8BFK (2880km) could be F2 or Es.

UPDATE 1910z:  10 stations have spotted me. See table.

UPDATE 1954z:  16 stations have spotted me.

Granddaughter

Overnight Saturday/Sunday we had one of our granddaughters sleeping here. 

All the grandchildren are growing up (too) fast!

Es in full swing

This morning, I am on 10m 3W FT8. It is clear, with lots of spots on TX and RX, that the Es season is well underway.

UPDATE 1640z:  184 stations spotted here on RX and I have been spotted by 112 stations.

Wetherspoons

In the UK, this is a popular pub chain selling food. It is low cost and often gets a bad press. I stayed at a Wetherspoons in central Salisbury and was impressed by the accommodation, food and location. 

I see from this video that the presenter was also impressed with this Wetherspoons in London.

Just because it is low cost do not write it off.

See https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/

Another new transceiver

 

This VHF/UHF transceiver is being sold by Moonraker in the UK.  I see that some other dealers are selling it too. Are they linked up? 

This news came to me via Steve G1KQH.

Declining sunspot numbers and solar flux

This is just a reminder that the downwards slope of the solar cycle is usually much gentler than the climb to the next maximum. 

This means the higher HF bands remain good for quite a while after the maximum. 

Just a reminder, I have worked South America right at the solar minimum on QRP (10W) 10m SSB with simple wire antennas. Never give up!

The MUF is often higher on N-S paths. Occasionally you get Es linking with F2 nearer the equator.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/