Sunspots - Saturday December 20th

 Solar flux is 118 and the SSN 33. A=6 and K=0.

VLF upconverter

There is a VLF upconverter on the DXexplorer website. On Christmas Eve there is a special transmission from the historic alternator 17.2kHz  CW transmitter SAQ in Sweden.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexanderson_alternator .

See also https://alexander.n.se/en/

Please note, this converter is fine for a peek "down there", but amateur signals usually are weak and need very high stability, very accurate frequencies and very narrow bandwidths. Details of my own VLF experiments are on my main website.

Hand delivery

We deliver local Christmas cards by hand. We were going to do it yesterday, but the rain was horrendous so we did it today instead in the cold winter sunshine.

Confused?

 Although a certain American would call it fake news, I can attest that the climate is warming.

House sparrows have been nest building in the loft above our bed for the last week and it is December !!

Snowy Wisconsin USA

 Many years ago some of our old neighbours relocated to the USA. They now live in Wisconsin and love it.

Millionaire homes?

 

In the 1800s these were probably poor hovels whereas nowadays they are chocolate box  cottages probably costing millions. This is the village of Dalham not far from where we live.

6m 5W FT8 yesterday

 Although I was only spotted in the British Isles one was in southern Eire at 580km. Not bad for 5W and an omn vertical!

10m 5W FT8 (Friday)

My gear was turned on at about 0710z. 

UPDATE 1037z:  Spotted by 133 stations with the furthest Hong Kong.  

UPDATE 1750z:  Spotted by 720 stations. See map. World-wide at 5W.

Adsense crappery

Yesterday I was supposed to have had five times the number of visits to this blog than the day before. Today I have supposed to have more visits than two days ago already without any posts! Perhaps they just make it up as it bears no resemblance to reality 🥴. 

Sunspots - Friday December 19th

 Solar flux is 116 and the SSN 87. A=17 and K=2.

Nearby Anglesey Abbey

We go for walks in nearby Anglesey Abbey most months. This is a photo of the main house. 

The property is owned by the National Trust.

6m 5W FT8 (Thursday)

My gear was turned on at about 1442z.

UPDATE 1501z:   5 stations have spotted me. All in England and not too far away.

10m 500mW WSPR (Thursday)

My beacon was turned on at about 1440z.

UPDATE 1643z:  4 stations spotting me so far.

Sunspots - Thursday December 18th

 Solar flux is 119 and the SSN 68.  A=18 and K=3.

Day off radio

 As we had a funeral on the other side of the country (my wife’s brother) I was not on the radio today.

Sunspots - Wednesday December 17th

 Solar flux is 117 and the SSN 81. A=12 and K=2.

Times Radio and Ukraine

 Most days I watch Times Radio on YouTube about Ukraine It is usually informative.

10m 500mW WSPR (Tuesday)

 My beacon was turned on at about 0945z.

UPDATE 1312z:  7 stations have spotted me. These look like F2.

6m 5W FT8 (Tuesday)

My gear has been on since about 0945z.

UPDATE 1155z:  So far, 9 stations have spotted me including EI and GI. See map.

QDX-M

Hans at QRP Labs makes some excellent kit. 

As mentioned yesterday, I am having issues with my built (by QRP Labs) QDX-M rig. Today is my last day trying to eliminate "finger trouble" issues. I really hope I am doing something stupid and I have a "Eureka" moment and I can say how stupid I was. If not, I shall have no choice but to return it, sadly.

As stated yesterday, I am open to things to try with my Windows 10 PC. If you have any ideas, please let  me know! At the back of my mind is "it must be me", but I cannot see anything wrong.