Cold!!! - NOT amateur radio

For the third morning in a row we have had a frost. For us, it is very cold. Although 1011z, it is still below freezing. The photo shows our back garden.

Solar data

It looks like the peak of solar cycle 25 may have been reached. November 2023 was the month shown as the predicted peak of this cycle. This has not changed for months on my favourite site for solar data.

We can expect conditions to be for several more years.

Rallies this Sunday

 The following have been notified to me. As I always say, check before travelling any distance.

Sunday December 3rd - Bishop Auckland Radio Amateur  Club Rally Spennymoor Co. Durham, DL16 6DB. Contact bdingle@hotmail.co.uk .

Sunday December 3rd - Royal Wootton Bassett Swapmeet and Auction, , Swindon, Wootton Bassett, SN4 8EN. Contact  not given, but check website http://www.bvws.org.uk .

630m QRP WSPR overnight

 

14 stations spotted my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR overnight. See table.

Sunspots - Friday December 1st 2023

Solar flux is 167 and the SSN 138. A=5 and K=4.

630m QRP WSPR (Thursday)

My 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground was turned on about 1830z. So far, at 1848z, 6 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 2212z: 11 stations have spotted me this evening.

Australian beach - NOT amateur radio

This photo was posted on Facebook recently by a friend in Australia. It shows a beach in the south of Australia.

Baa Humbug! - NOT amateur radio

 

These were some of the Christmas displays in a big store in Cambridge.

Misty Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

When we went to Cambridge on the bus earlier, it was very misty. 

This soon cleared and it has been a lovely day. 

630m QRP WSPR overnight

16 stations managed to spot my 10mW ERP WSPR (measured) from my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. See table. The furthermost was DL0AO (865km).

8m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

My 2.5W 8m FT8 was turned on after lunch. So far (at 1442z) local spots by G4WSZ (12km), but no DX.

UPDATE 1500z:  First transatlantic 8m spot today by WW1L (4976km).

UPDATE 1534z:  4 spots of my 2.5W 8m FT8 with 3 "across the pond".

UPDATE 1613z:  6 spots of me, of which 5 are transatlantic. Crossing the Atlantic on 8m is almost daily at the moment despite my QRP.

10m 500uW WSPR success

For several days, my beacon, with the PA off, was operating without an antenna because of a coax fault. Today, I repeated the 500uW WSPR test (with the beacon PA off), but with the antenna! I was copied, quite well, in Italy. According to my TinySA spectrum analyser the power is 500uW. According to the report I could have been copied at 100uW or less with a low RX noise floor. My beacon is hard programmed to report 0.5W, even though it was producing 0.5mW for this test.

Even  though the beacon is hard coded
to report 0.5W, it was actually 0.5mW

Sunspots - Thursday November 30th 2023

Solar flux is 171 and the SSN 164 .  A=5 and K=1.

630m QRP WSPR (Wednesday)

My 10mW ERP WSPR was turned on at about 1715z.  So far, at 1746z, 4 stations have spotted me. On recent nights, I have not had spots from really distant Europeans. I wonder if this conditions?

UPDATE 2045z: So far this evening, 11 stations have spotted me. See table.

Much colder - not amateur radio

Today, we had our first real frost. We had one the day before, but not as cold. We are more used to mild weather these days, but today is bitter for us. It is about +2 degrees Celsius maximum, which is cold for here in the daytime. I can hear readers in Canada and Scandinavia saying," you think that is cold?".  It is sunny and bright, so I don't mind the cold.

Yesterday's walk - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday, we did a lovely walk around our village. We call this route our "Muntjac walk" as we often see some of these deer on part of the walk. Incidentally, one just walked past the kitchen window a few days ago! 

See Muntjac.

8m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

 My 2.5W was turned on at 0916z. So far spots from local G4WSZ (12km).

UPDATE 1201z: Spotted by G7PUV (158km) too.

UPDATE 1425z:  6 stations have spotted me including 2 in Florida, USA and 2 in the Caribbean.

UPDATE 1433z:   ZF1EJ was getting my 2.5W 8m FT8 at an amazing +21dB S/N. I don't think I have ever had a report this strong, from anywhere!!

UPDATE 1547z:   8 spots of my 8m QRP FT8 today. When F2 is good 8m behaves like 10m.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

 My beacon is back to full power (500mW). It was turned on at 0914z. So far (at 0919z) no spots.

UPDATE 1230z:  No spots at all, despite a reset on timing. I am suspicious.

UPDATE 1345z:  My coax was open circuit - now fixed. It means my 500uW tests these last few days were invalid, so I may repeat these.

UPDATE  1348z: 5 immediate spots. The PA has been working into an open circuit all morning!

UPDATE 1356z:  At 1354z I turned the beacon PA off so the output is about 500uW. This time, I have an antenna connected!!

UPDATE 1530z:  No spots with 500uW.  I shall run at this power if I am around. Interesting test.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

9 stations spotted my 10mW ERP overnight. Furthermost was northern Scotland (see map).

Sunspots- Wednesday November 29th 2023

 Solar flux is 182 and the SSN 130. A=7 and K=2.