6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My 2.5W 6m FT8  to the V2000 vertical omni antenna has been on all day. 

UPDATE 1935z:  87 spots of me today.

UPDATE 2014z:  96 spots of me today.

European Es less good today?

Compared with a few days ago, the impression I am getting is that the Es in Europe is not as good. With Es, things can rapidly change.

See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ .

Busy - NOT amateur radio

Recently, my old bird table blew over in the wind and was damaged beyond repair. As a replacement I bought two smaller bird tables to encourage small birds and discourage larger ones.   Since then, we have had a squirrel, many jackdaws and starlings. 

My strategy did not work!

630m QRP WSPR overnight

6 stations spotted my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR overnight. No great DX, but more spots than I was expecting.

My 630m transverter

ISM experimentation?

It seems many radio amateurs are becoming "appliance" operators rather than experimenters as was the case many years ago. This is sad. 

Experimentation is still happening, although not so much with amateur radio. It would appear the spirit of early amateur radio is still there on the ISM bands.

Personally, I think amateur radio will die a slow death in the next 20 years merging with CB and true experimenters will increasingly not be from the radio amateur community.

Granddaughter and our son - NOT amateur radio

This was our granddaughter with our son yesterday. 

The roses look good too this year.

Sunspots - Monday June 10th

 Solar flux is 181 and the SSN 148. A=5 and K=1.

MF WSPR tonight?

Although my last attempt with 10mW ERP on 630m WSPR was not too great, I am tempted to try again this evening and overnight. Last night I stuck with 6m FT8.

European Es (Sunday)

Although with Es things can very rapidly change, today does not look too great. At the moment I shall remain on 6m QRP FT8 and 10m QRP.P WSPR.

See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ .

Grandson tea - NOT amateur radio

 

This was my grandson having tea last night.

Chordal hop Es

To me, it seems very improbable that many of the long Es paths are multi-hop. Yes, some might be, but I think it is much more probable these are some sort of chordal hop Es.

6m USA and Caribbean

Stations spotted
here in the last
day on 6m FT8

For the first time this season both the USA and the Caribbean were copied on 6m FT8 here. Sadly my 2.5W did not “cross the pond". The map shows stations spotted here in the last day on the omni antenna.  

UPDATE  0952z:  From the spots of my QRP, I can see evidence of European Es.

6m QRP FT8
spots of me
this morning

UPDATE 1115z: 50 spots of my 2.5W FT8 to the omni this morning. The map shows the stations spotting me this morning.

UPDATE 1900z: Spotted by 72 stations today. About to QSY to 630m QRP WSPR.

Good day on 10m QRPP

In the end 4 stations spotted my 500uW 10m WSPR yesterday, which was my best day yet, so Es must have been good. Note the beacon is pre-programmed to report 0.5W even though with the PA off it is only 500uW (0.5mW).

UPDATE 1900z: No spots today.

Red-legged partridge - NOT amateur radio

It is now some years since I last saw one of these birds in our garden. They were introduced many years ago and can be quite tame. At one time they were a common visitor here. Perhaps somebody is regularly feeding them!

Oscar 100 ground station

The trouble with getting active on the geosynchronous satellite Oscar 100 is that it requires building your own gear. Sometimes this requires connecting modules together, and sometimes rolling your own gear. Black-box operators (the majority?) are not (in general) catered for, but see my post yesterday about DXPatrol.

It was refreshing to see someone who got active by creating his own ground station.

See https://m0aws.co.uk/?p=3105 .

Sunspots - Sunday June 9th

 Solar flux is 190 and the SSN 143.  A=14 and K=1.

Swifts: live webcam - NOT amateur radio

These migrant birds fascinate me. They are only here for a few short months to breed, but seeing them come gladdens my heart.

They feed and sleep on the wing and usually only land to breed. Years ago I found one alive on the ground. After a night's rest, it flew off. I guess the number of people that have been privileged to hold a swift is quite small.

Garden roses - NOT amateur radio

In the last few days, all the roses in our garden seem to be out. Most have a second flush, but they look grand at the moment. A heavy pruning helps.

The lazy way

 One of the advantages of FT8 is being able to see where you are being spotted on another PC in the lounge. 

The photo shows the 273 spots of my 2.5W 6m FT8 today as shown on PSKreporter. I can be in the shack in a few seconds if need be.

These days I am more interested in seeing where my signal reaches than chatting. This is in part due to my poor voice, but it also reflects that I really don't need to chase DX any more having achieved QRP DXCC decades ago.

Israel and Hamas - NOT amateur radio

This week we are remembering the dreadful events of D-Day in June 1944. I cannot imagine the sheer terror of those brave solders landing in Normandy. Many must have feared they would be dead in the following few minutes.

This makes the events in Ukraine and the Middle East even sadder.  None of the waste of human life is needed. Why can't people live in peace with each other? It would seem that aggression of this kind is sadly part of the human condition and we seem incapable of learning from history.

What Hamas did on October 7th 2023 was evil, but so are deaths of over 36000 Palestinian people.

All I wish is that people can live at peace with their neighbours. Nobody is ever perfect. Let's just accept our differences and failings.