Scrabble - NOT amateur radio

It was a dull, wet day today, so we played Scrabble with the grandchildren. Our younger granddaughter kept score. She is better this time! The last time she played she forgot to record some scores.

Where I come from - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows where I come from in South Devon. It is a very beautiful and unspoilt part of the UK.

Pye PF8 transceiver

In its day, this was a "state of the art" transceiver made by Pye Telecom. One of my early jobs was being part of the design team for this. We had all sorts of issues with the DC-DC converter noise. On my website is a PDF of the manual which may help some who convert these to 70cm amateur use.

They are quite rare and hard to find. Before you ask, I do not have one and do not know where to find one! Your best chance is on eBay I guess.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/pf8

6m FT8

So far this morning, 11 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX in the last 6 hours. As I write it is 0848z. So, early Es on 6m.

UPDATE 1413z: Now 54 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 2000z: Now 71 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today. All European and just one Moroccan spotted.

UPDATE 2040z: Although it is unlikely I shall spot much overnight, I am still on 6m FT8 RX, in the (slim) hope of a late opening or very early Es tomorrow.

Sunspots - Sunday July 28th 2019

Solar flux is 67 and the sunspot number 0.  A=5 and K=2.

Early logbooks

On my main website are some of my early logbooks. These are available as PDF files. These copies were made years ago. I have no idea why only some are there. Perhaps I was unable to locate some at that time. This must have been 12 years ago or more.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/logs

York Chocolate Story - NOT amateur radio

One of the things we did in York with the grandchildren was go on a one hour tour called "The York Chocolate Story". It was very good. At the end of the tour the little ones got to make chocolate lollipops.

Overall, the stay in York was very successful with the little ones having a very good time. For the first few days it was very hot, with high temperatures, although we had rain and (a bit) cooler weather on the last couple of days.

Back on 6m FT8

For the last few days, we have been in York with 2 of our grandchildren.  Since returning home I have been on 6m FT8. This has been mostly RX, although a brief CQ got no 2-way QSOs, but was spotted by 6 stations including 3 in eastern Europe. On RX 21 stations spotted with the best being 9K2YM (4714km) in Kuwait.

UPDATE 2124z: Now 31 stations spotted since we returned mid-afternoon.

Sunspots - Saturday July 27th 2019

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0.  A=3 and K =1

York - NOT amateur radio

This street is the shortest in York but it has the longest name.

Rallies this Sunday

Sunday 28 JULY : WILTSHIRE RADIO RALLY AND ELECTRONICS FAIR 

Kington Langley Village Hall & playing fields, Church Road, Kington Langley, Chippenham SN15 5NJ. 9am-1pm (disabled: 8.30am), admission £2. Car boot sale, catering, flea market, talk-in, trade stands. For more information, please visit our website or use the contact form to register your interest in booking trading space. Operated and run by CDARC. Brian Tanner, G6HUI, ‪0772 224 2741‬, rally@g3vre.org.uk.

Sunday 28 JULY : HORNCASTLE SUMMER RALLY 

Horncastle Youth Centre. Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6DZ. This will be the last radio rally at the Horncastle Youth Centre as the county council are closing the building and a new venue is being sought. Entry is £2 and the doors open at 10am. All on one level. Refreshments are available. Contact Tony Nightingale, G3ZPU on ‪01507 527835‬ or by email to Tony.nightingale@yahoo.co.uk.

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

Sunspots - Friday July 26th 2019

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0. A=3 and K=0.

More spectrum available to share

OFCOM today announced that additional spectrum is expected to be made available. See OFCOM's website for more details. As far as I can tell this is just certain microwave bands.

Heat - NOT amateur radio

In the UK we are not used to the heat. In London it has been in the high 30s.

Grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

This was 2 of our grandchildren enjoying ice-cream yesterday.

DXpedition to St Paul Is

There is a DXpedition to St Paul Island off Canada at the end of the month and early August. There is a piece on Southgate News about this.

Sunspots - Thursday July 25th 2019

Solar flux is 67 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K =1.

Storm risk

We had thunder and lightning here last night but the storm risks have, for the moment, decreased as they have moved further east.

Sunspots - Wednesday July 24th 2019

Solar flux is 67 and the SSN 0 . A=6 and K=2

Thunder risks

Over the next few days it is expected to get very hot in the UK. So hot that records could well be broken. With this can be a risk of thunderstorms, so I am QRT at the moment "just in case". The risks may be low, but I tend to disconnect antennas and power plugs.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/?lang=en#m=oss;t=2;s=0;o=0;b=;ts=0;y=43.5804;x=3.999;z=5;d=2;dl=2;dc=0;