WRC-19

Southgate News has a piece on the RSGB papers for the next World Radio Conference. If things go to plan, this might see a worldwide 50-54MHz band for radio amateurs. Often, we are disappointed.

Personally, I'd prefer a much smaller allocation around 40MHz (8m), which would have been far more use and interesting.

See https://rsgb.org/main/news/special-focus/wrc-19/wrc-19-papers/
See also http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/june/144-and-1240-mhz-bands-rsgb-information.htm#.XRG1g_ZFy00

6m last evening

6m FT8 RX yesterday here

After a rather poor day yesterday, things livened up, although I had to disconnect everything because of the storm risk. Before closing, 5 North Americans spotted on 6m FT8 RX. Had I stayed on longer, there is little doubt others would have been spotted.

At the moment the storm risk seems distant, so I may reconnect the 6m gear shortly.

Windmill starlings - NOT amateur radio

Apparently starlings are in decline in the UK. Well, not here! The photo shows the starlings gathering on "our" windmill next door last night. They roost elsewhere, but gather on the windmill sails before flying off.

The photo was taken from our front garden.

Sunspots - Tuesday June 25th 2019

Solar flux is 67 and the SSN 0. A=3 and K=1.

Storm risks

It is just starting to rain and we have thunder forecast for the end of the night. Later, all antennas and mains leads in the shack will be disconnected. At the moment the nearest storms are hundreds of miles away. By the end of the night it could be quite different here.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/blitzortung/europe/index.php?lang=en

Crab apples - NOT amateur radio

When we moved here almost 6 years ago we inherited a crab apple tree. This has now grown.

2 years ago we had lots of crab apples. Last year we had just 15. This year we have hundreds.

A friend of my wife makes crab apple jelly, which we like. It is great with some meats.

PSKreporter maps

Until very recently I had put down issues with PSKreporter maps to problems with my internet connection. I am now having doubts as my internet seems to be working well and reliably yet several stations which are received on the PC are not reported on PSKreporter. Several stations spotted earlier on 6m are no longer shown. It would be interesting to hear if others have the occasional issue. Most times it works well.

Friedrichshafen

This is the biggest European amateur "show". I have never been and never likely to go. No new products were announced to my knowledge. I may be wrong.

See https://www.hamradio-friedrichshafen.com/

6m FT8 RX

Although there is the possibility of storms later, so I may have to go QRT, I am again on 6m FT8 RX. At the moment (0812z) , no Es here with just Gs spotted.

UPDATE 1124z: Very little 6m Es here today with just EA7JAN (1805km) spotted so far.

UPDATE 1325z: Rubbish!  No further stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX here today.

UPDATE 1559z: Now 22 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX with best DX SV9RNG (2764km) on Crete.

UPDATE 1830z: Now 144 stations on 3 continents spotted today on 6m FT8 RX. Looks like late Es.

UPDATE 1907z: Now 167 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 2036z: Now 199 6m stations spotted including an SU (Egypt) and ST0CAZ (4801km).

Double yolker - NOT amateur radio

Most mornings I start the day with a no fat added cooked breakfast and fresh fruit. I appreciate this may not suit everyone!

We usually buy our low cost free range eggs from our local supermarket. Imagine my surprise to see a double yolker this morning. We have lived here for nearly 6 years and I have only seen 2 in all that time!

I should have taken the photo as soon as I cracked the egg. By the time this was taken the yolks had merged.

Sunspots - Monday June 24th 2019

Solar flux is 67 and the sunspot number zero. A=3 and K=2. Still pretty poor. It will be interesting to see the Solan forecast next month.

2m big wheel antenna

For several years now I have been using a big-wheel horizontal omni-directional antenna. This has a few dB of gain and does not need a rotator.

With 2.5W SSB it regularly gets me 200km in the Tuesday evening UKAC activity contests organised by the RSGB. On FT8 my QRP CQs are regularly copied in Cornwall under flat conditions. Most days, I spot stations in 7 countries by aircraft reflection on 2m FT8. What surprised me was it is quite effective on 70cm SSB. Most sessions my 70cm QRP is copied over 100km.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/bigwheel

Classic car day - NOT amateur radio

Today, the museum across the road from us held its classic car day, when lots of classic cars visit. Mostly the weather was warm and sunny.

Nero fiddles and Rome burns - NOT amateur radio

Whilst there is the risk of war in the Middle East and the EU is in crisis over the loss of a major member, what does the UK do? We spend weeks deciding who will be the next leader of one major party who, by default, becomes the next Prime Minister and hence the most important person in the UK. There are 2 candidates left, neither of whom exactly fills me with excitement.

Personally, I think UK politics is in a mess. It is my view that we are, in the main, run by idiots in all parties who are more interested in their own careers than the greater good of the UK or world. There may be some exceptions, although I am struggling to think of them.

BBQ - NOT amateur radio

Most of the afternoon has been spent with old friends enjoying a BBQ. It started off sunny, but got cloudier. In the UK we need good weather to eat outside.

It was good to eat with old friends. Some have moved 100 miles away and we see them less frequently these days.

Oscar 100

It is now several months since this geostationary amateur satellite became operational. To get active most have to put together a 2.4GHz TX and a 10GHz RX as well as either 1 or 2 dishes pointing in the right direction. There are no "cheque book" amateur radio solutions. It is possible to repurpose some WiFi bits. Activity levels seem to be no higher than a few months ago.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

Sea scout - NOT amateur radio

The photo here was taken almost 100 years ago and shows my dad in Salcombe, Devon, UK.

As someone pointed out, this could well be posted for the photographer! It does look posed.

My dad died in 1987.

War by accident? - NOT amateur radio

Probably Iran and the USA do not want outright war. However, the chance of one side miscalculating the actions of the other is quite high. President Trump is a "loose cannon" and sometimes acts irrationally. Iran is not exactly a peaceful and loving nation. I am sure behind the scenes both sides are actively engaged in cyber war.

Although Iran is far from perfect, I personally think Trump is like a little boy with a can of petrol and a box of matches.

6m FT8 RX

So far this morning (it is now 0920z) 56 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX. All of these are Europeans and most of these are via Es.

UPDATE 1704z: So far today 167 stations, mostly Europeans, spotted on 6m FT8 RX. Nothing by way of "real DX" spotted.

Still the pits. Sunspots - Sunday June 23rd 2019

Solar flux is 66 and the SSN 0 still. A=4 and K=1.

At the moment we are heading for a spotless month.