5 Jun 2026

2m activity contest (UKAC) last Tuesday

Nearly forgot to submit my (poor!!) score. 

4 stations worked in 30 minutes with 10W, a big-wheel omni and a poor voice! 

All good fun, but FT8 is much easier for me.

8m FT8 RX (Friday)

At the moment I am monitoring 8m FT8. As there are far fewer stations active than 6m, this is harder going. 

UPDATE 1400z:   Just spots of EA3ERE in Catalonia. I think I'm going back to 6m FT8.

6m 3W FT8 (Friday)

My gear was turned on just after 0800z. 

UPDATE 0814z: Spotted by 6 English stations.

UPDATE 1752z: Returned to 6m FT8.  Spotted by19 stations and I  have spotted 20 stations here.

10m 200mW WSPR (Friday)

My beacon was turned on at 0800z.

UPDATE 1322z: Spotted by 35 stations.

Ukraine war

It would appear that Russia is not having it as easy as they once thought it would be. 

Militarily Russia should be far superior, but increasingly Ukraine is bringing the war to Russians in Russia. 

The interview with Professor Scott Lucas in Eire is revealing.


IC-705

My favourite activity at the moment is QRP FT8 on 6m and 10m QRP WSPR. 

The photo shows the current set-up.

Sunspots - Friday June 5th

 Solar flux is 148 and the SSN 157. A=6 and K=1.

4 Jun 2026

Cyber security

It is much more likely that any future wars would be very cyber based, with people heavily dependent on the internet for banking, communications and so much these days. Just imagine if we were suddenly without this!

Some countries are way ahead of the UK and USA in preparing for this eventuality.

My advice? Have plenty of cash and tinned food around.

2m FT8 activity contest last evening

On Tuesday evening I went on the 2m activity contest (UKAC) arranged by the RSGB using 10W to the big wheel omni antenna. 

Last night was the 2m FT8 activity contest. Running just 5W it was much easier! Again I was only on for a very short while (less than 30 minutes). The map shows the stations that spotted me.

10m 3W FT8 (Thursday)

My gear was turned on just before breakfast.

UPDATE 1852 z: Spotted by 220 stations with the best PY5KD (9884km). See map of stations spotting me today. 347 stations spotted here. Now QRT.