Night off

 In recent weeks I have been on 630m QRP WSPR overnight . I have decided to have a night off.

Free lunchtime concerts - NOT amateur radio

In Cambridge, we are very lucky. Most Tuesdays we go to a free concert at the West Road Music School. 

The programme is quite varied and can be anything from a classical quintet to jazz.

8m 2.5W FT8 (Thursday)

 Since lunchtime, I have been on 8m FT8. So far, spotted by G4WSZ (12km).

UPDATE 1608z: There are lots of people monitoring.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Thursday)

Since after breakfast, I have been on 10m QRP WSPR TX. 62 stations have spotted me so far (see table). 

Yet again I have been spotted in Antarctica. 

Rallies this weekend

The following rallies at the weekend have been notified to me. It is always advisable to check first before travelling far.

Saturday November 4th - Carmarthen ARS Surplus Equipment Sale, SA33 6XN. Contact g0jlx@gmail.com.

Sunday November 5th - Bushvalley ARC Rally,, BT49 0DF. Contact bushvalleyarc@gmail.com.

Sunday November 5th - Holsworthy Radio Rally, EX22 6DH. See m0omc.co.uk for more information.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

In all, 12 stations spotted me. OH1LSQ (1733km) spotted me 4 times! Certainly, I have enjoyed  my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground this autumn.

Remote beauty - NOT amateur radio

Remote places have a beauty all of their own. This photo from the Shetland Islands was recently posted by a friend up there.

Solar peak (cycle 25)

The month with the highest solar flux and sunspot number is ahead of the peak of the solar cycle with averaging. It looks like the averaged peak is this month. Whatever, we are likely to see good HF conditions still for several years.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

Sunspots - Thursday November 2nd 2023

 Solar flux is 159 and the SSN 105. A=9 and K=2.

630m 10mW ERP overnight

 

Overnight, I was spotted by 18 different stations on QRP WSPR including OH1LSQ (1733km) again.

8m 2.5W FT8 (Wednesday)

Just local G4WSZ (12km) spotting me so far today.

UPDATE 1733z: 4 stations have spotted me including 2 transatlantic stations.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

 My 500mW WSPR beacon has been on for under an hour. So far, 8 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1645z: 60 stations have spotted me today.

Sunspots - Wednesday November 1st 2023

 Solar flux is 147 and the SSN 116. A=9 and K=2.

Autumn is coming - NOT amateur radio

 

At last, the leaves are changing and it looks more like autumn. The photo shows the trees on the green this morning.

630m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

 Most of the day I was on 630m QRP WSPR with the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. At 2130z,   8 spots of my 10mW ERP.

40.680 MHz QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

 For a couple of hours, I was on 8m FT8 QRP with my 2.5W. Just G4WSZ (12km) was spotting me.

Tuesday plans

Later, I shall probably turn on my 500mW 10m WSPR TX beacon. I may stay on 630m QRP WSPR in the daytime as an experiment and give 8m a miss.

630m WSPR overnight

 In all I was spotted by 9 stations overnight. 

Sunspots - Tuesday October 31st 2023

 Solar flux is 140 and the SSN 62. A=12 and K=2.

630m QRP WSPR (Monday)

My 630m QRP WSPR was turned on about 0830z.  At 2200z 6 stations had spotted me. This season it has been worth my while staying on after midnight.

8m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My QRP FT8 gear has been on for a little while, but just local spots so far today.  On RX no spots.

UPDATE 2216z: My best day ever on 8m FT8 with 11 spots of me..

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Monday)

 My 500mW WSPR TX beacon was turned on about 1104z. So far, just a spot by an Italian.

630m WSPR overnight

 Overnight I was spotted by 9 stations. OH1LSQ (1733km) was again spotting me. 

Sunspots - Monday October 30th 2023

Solar flux is 135 and the SSN 61. A=28 and K=2. 

630m 10mW ERP WSPR (Sunday)

 After tea this evening, I QSYed to 630m WSPR.   So far, 5 stations have spotted me at 2055z.

East Anglian Churches blog - NOT amateur radio

When I was fitter we visited many churches in East Anglia, I kept a blog so we could later recall those visited. It is some while since this was updated, so an aim for 2024 must be to visit some more and update this blog.

See https://eachurches.blogspot.com/ .

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Sunday)

My beacon was turned on at about 1046z. So far spots from Italy and the Canary Is..

UPDATE 1228z:  10 stations have spotted me so far today. Most look like F2 propagation.

8m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

 My 2.5W 8m FT8 was turned on about 1046z. Just local spots so far.

UPDATE 1208z: ZS3/V51PJ (9081km spotted on 8m FT8 RX).

UPDATE 1234z:  The logbook shows 4 countries spotted on 8m FT8 RX  this week.

"The Screaming Sky -- in pursuit of swifts" by Charles Foster - NOT amateur radio

This book, loaned to me by my son, is about the lives of swifts.  Reading it makes you realise they are only here for a few months, with their real home in Africa. Funny, I always await the joyous return of the swifts every spring.

 See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/swift .

Sunday plans

 After a spot of gardening, I shall probably go on 8m QRP FT8 and 10m 500mW WSPR TX with my beacon. Yesterday was quite good on 8m with the E-W MUF obviously high enough to support 8m propagation at times.

630m QRP WSPR TX overnight

 

In all, my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR was spotted by 19 stations (see table).

Spooky moon - NOT amateur radio

 

It is almost Halloween. This was the moon rising over a neighbours' house.

Sunspots - Sunday October 29th 2023

 Solar flux is 128 and the SSN 70. A=19 and K=4.

630m QRP WSPR

Even though the output power judging by the antenna current seemed normal, I was getting no spots. Moving down in frequency and spots came immediately. Was my transmission just outside the WSPR window?   Last night I was about 16 Hz inside the top edge.

UPDATE  1815z:   4 stations have spotted my 10mW ERP tonight.

CQWW SSB

This is the biggest contest in the world. At one time, I used to be very keen on this as a way of working some new DXCC countries. I have never submitted a score. These days I just take a peek, and give it a miss. It is on all weekend.

All change - NOT amateur radio

We have one garage in our village selling fuel. When we came in 1975 there were 3.   Attached to the garage was a very useful Co-op shop. Both the garage and shop are now Asda. Luckily, the same staff seem to be there.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Saturday)

My tiny 500mW 10m WSPR TX has been on most of the morning. So far,  25 stations have spotted me.

8m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

Apart from a very brief transmission early this morning - spotted by local G4WSZ (12km), I have been RX.

UPDATE 1530z: This afternoon, I have been on 40.680 MHz QRP FT8 TX. 4 stations have spotted my 2.5W to the  dipole including 1 in the USA and 1 in the Caribbean. On 8m RX,  3 countries have been spotted.

Back garden - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday, I cut the grass. I usually cut it for the last time of the year in late November or even December. I think the grass often grows over the winter and I am always pleased to do a "tidy up" cut in March. The photo shows our back garden yesterday. 

The leaves are still on the trees mostly, but they will soon be gone until spring.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

In all, 13 stations spotted my 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode antenna in the ground on 630m overnight with the furthermost SM6NOC (1054km).

In the last 2 weeks I have been spotted by 33 stations on 630m QRP WSPR TX as the table shows.