Sunspots - Thursday July 11th

 Solar flux is 214 and the SSN 190. A=6 and K=1.

Lunch with old work colleagues - NOT amateur radio

Quite regularly, a group of old work colleagues meet up for lunch. A regular attendee is a lady who is over 100 years old. She is still as sharp as ever.

10m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

My main concentration is 10m FT8 with 2.5W today. At 0917z my QRP signal has been spotted by 33 stations across Europe. 23 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX too at the same time.

UPDATE 1451z:  65 stations have spotted me and I have spotted about twice as many here. See map for the stations spotting my QRP today so far.

10m 500mW WSPR

My QRP 10m WSPR beacon was on and I was quite surprised to get spots from Germany way after midnight. Es is more common in daylight. Perhaps there are more people on in the daytime?

Solar cycle 25 peak

 According to my favourite site for solar data, the maximum for solar cycle 25 was probably June 2024 i.e. quite recently.

8m permanent amateur allocations

 Around the world, several nations have granted radio amateurs permanent access to the 8m band. Others have granted experimental licences. Being between 10m and 6m this would be a really useful small allocation for propagation research.

To my knowledge, the following have granted radio amateurs permanent access. My list may well be incomplete:

• Eire
• Slovenia
• Belgium
• South Africa
• Cayman Is.

Others are trying,  Maybe this is a trend that will continue. 

Countries that I know have been active (not in the Amateur Radio Service) include:

• Croatia
• Latvia
• Luxembourg
• UK
• Falklands
• Bonaire
• USA
• Australia
• Israel
• Lebanon
• Italy
• Greece

There are probably many more. I don't think Croatia has a permanent amateur allocation.

Sunspots - Wednesday July 10th

 Solar flux is 180 and the SSN 143. A=6 and K=1.

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

According to the European Es map, it looks like bands are open towards Spain, so I am active on 40.680 MHz with my 2.5W FT8.

UPDATE 1510z:  No spots.

UPDATE  1540z:  Spotted by EA3ERE (1153km). No QSOs.

UPDATE 1626z:   One QSO with a different Spanish station. Many Spanish stations copied on 8m FT8 RX.

UPDATE  1740z:   S01WS (3043km) in Western Sahara is the furthermost I have copied on 8m FT8 RX with a total of 10 stations spotted on 8m FT8 RX. The map shows the stations spotted on 8m FT8  RX.

4m transverter

Looking through some old photos I chanced on this one of my 4m transverter. 

There’s no way I could do this now with my poor fine motor skills.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/homebrew/4m-transverter .

6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

About 1030z, I went on 6m FT8 with my 2.5W.  

163 stations had spotted me at 1327z. See map.

Do we never learn from history? - NOT amateur radio

One thing seems to be certain: we never, ever learn from history!  

In the last few years we have had destructive wars in Ukraine and Gaza. 

I am pretty sure my ancestors manned an Iron Age fort near Hope Cove where we can trace our family back to the mid 1500s. The photo shows Hope Cove and the Iron Age fort at Bolt Tail.

Sadly war and fighting seem to be part of the human condition.

10m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

My 2.5W 10m FT8 was turned on abour 0645z. At 0815z 33 stations had spotted me with the furthermost OD5KU (3468km). 47 stations spotted on RX.  All spots were European on RX.

Can you hear and understand me? - NOT amateur radio

On two occasions recently I have discovered that when I speak (what sounds perfectly fine to me) is not at all clear to others. I guess my wife know what I say now.

Those that know me are not embarrassed and ask me to repeat. Those that don't know me don't know how to react. This is one reason I tend not to engage in casual chitchat. It is fine if I am understood,  but just not worth the effort if I have to repeat myself. Writing is fine, whereas talking is far harder.

My stroke was September 2013, but poor speech is still one of my handicaps. I get exhausted very quickly which people just cannot understand.

What I find really frustrating is arguing a point. When I know something is not correct I find it very very difficult to get my point across.

Sunspots - Tuesday July 9th

 Solar flux is 169 and the SSN 90. A=10 and K=2.

10m FT8 (Monday)

Stations spotting my
10m 2.5W FT8 today

49 stations have spotted my 2.5W 10m FT8 today. 

Stations spotted here
today on 10m FT8

Furthermost on QRP TX was PY1SX (9306km).  

On RX furthermost is LU1WCL (12666km) with 276 stations spotted.

Birthday boy - NOT amateur radio

My wife has known Sue since school days very many years ago.  I think it is 63 years! Her husband has his birthday today. 

They stayed the night on their way to a holiday cottage in Suffolk.

QMX+

Although RX audio levels may be adjusted in the configuration menu Hans thinks he may be able to alter the level using the volume control in digital modes. We shall have to see if this appears as a feature in a later update of software/firmware. It would certainly be more convenient.

Peterborough fruit and vegetables - NOT amateur radio

Last Thursday we visited Peterborough. The photo shows the fruit and vegetables on a stall outside a shop.

Oscar 100 geosynchronous

Usually I give an update on this satellite by looking at activity levels on the narrowband transponder using the web SDR at Goonhilly in Cornwall, UK. The last time I looked was on Sunday afternoon in Europe when I would have expected activity to be at its best. 

Sadly, there were few stations active. I can well believe people like assembling a ground station, then lose interest. As I have said before, with more black boxes, activity might have been higher. Personally I prefer experimentation. Sadly my poor fine motor skills prevent me making a ground station these days. In the past I would have done so.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ .

Sunspots- Monday July 8th

 Solar flux is 171 and the SSN 119. A=8 and K=2..