6m 3W FT8 (Friday)

After the last few days, I think it is unlikely that 6m will open again today as it has for the last 2 days to North America. 

Early in the mornings some have been lucky enough to catch those seasonal openings on 6m from Western Europe to the Far East. These openings seem to coincide  with the formation of noctilucent clouds high in the atmosphere. I think I read somewhere that these are becoming more frequent with global warming, so maybe these openings will become more frequent?

In a few moments I expect to be on 6m 3W FT8

UPDATE 1936z:  191 stations have spotted my 3W FT8 and I have spotted 237 stations here. For the third day running, the USA has been spotted here on 6m FT8. This could be multiple hop Es, but I think some sort of chordal hop E is more probable personally. Signals were strong.

10m 200mW WSPR TX (Friday)

Very shortly (it is now 0845z) I expect to go on 10m QRP WSPR for most of the day.

UPDATE 1939z: 27 stations around Europe have spotted me today.

Heathkit HW8 tested

"How the mighty are fallen". 

Years ago I was able to work on complex circuits and anything involving soldering was trivial. 

All I had to do today was solder 2 off 6.35mm mono plugs to allow me to test my HW8 bought recently. 

After about 15 minutes I was totally exhausted yesterday!

The good news is the HW8 appears to work on RX and TX.

Sunspots - Friday June 12th

 Solar flux is 127 and the SSN 81. A=18 and K=3.

Comfort food

 

Today is wet and miserable, so we had real comfort food for lunch.

10m 200mW WSPR (Thursday)

My beacon was turned on at about 1055z.

UPDATE 1117z: Spotted by 7 stations.

6m 5W FT8 (Thursday)

 My gear was turned on just after 1100z. It would appear that 6m is again open to the USA.

UPDATE 1305z:   So far, 130 stations have spotted me and I have spotted plenty of Europeans and 3 stations in the USA. My best report is from D4L (4517km) in the Cape Verde Islands.

Amazon

Like Marmite in the UK, people either love or hate Amazon. 

Some say that it will lead to the death of high street shops. I have mixed views. 

On Tuesday I ordered some 9V batteries. They arrived from Amazon on my doorstep just 14 hours later! No doubt as they had no shop to maintain, they were also far less expensive.  The alternative would have been a 2 hour bus ride into Cambridge and back.

Yes, home shopping results in fewer jobs, especially for young people, which is a bad thing. However, this is how we shop these days. In my view the high street shops that will survive are those that adapt to the new reality. Those that fail to adapt will close.

Human interaction is important: no doubt places where people can meet, like coffee shops, will become ever more popular in future. 

With AI, robot bots, cash machines and self-service check-outs, there is less human interaction. In my view these will be replaced by some other form of human interaction in future.

The world is changing.

Donut batteries

Earlier this year, to massive interest, a European company, with great fanfare, announced a new rechargeable battery with some remarkable properties. If true, this promised a real breakthrough which would have a massive impact on electric vehicles, mass storage batteries etc.. 

Although I have only secondhand information, allegedly, it looks like a scam to draw in investors. 

Meanwhile, major battery companies like CATL in China are making huge strides and investing greatly. 

If true, that this was a scam, many will be saddened.

Thursday plans

 Today I have three objectives. As rain is forecast, and no thunder is expected, today is a good day to do these.

1. Test the Heathkit HW8 transceiver. This requires 6.35mm mono jacks for the headphones and CW key. I have no idea where my CW key is! Probably I shall have to tap the wire ends together and look on the RBN.

2. Go on 10m with my 200mW beacon.

3. Go on 6m 3W FT8.