When we stayed at a hotel recently they stated they saved 17 litres of water 💦 when towels were reused. Very sensible when multiplied by the number of rooms.
What was NOT mentioned was this probably means fewer people and greater profits. Cynical, me?
Every few weeks (when I remember!) I give an update on activity on the narrowband transponder of this geosynchronous satellite. The last time I checked was a European midweek evening. As you can see - quiet.
We are off to Gozo the sister, smaller, island tomorrow .
Outside the peak season, Es is less frequent. Take today for example: it looks like there is some Es mainly eastern Europe, but it is mainly on bands like 10m.
See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ ,
I am biased, but I still think SPRAT is the best amateur magazine. It comes out quarterly and is filled with simple projects. It’s a full colour A5 magazine. I think it is entirely run by volunteers and nobody is paid.
As I have said many times before, it would be the very last magazine to go if I was pushed.
My favourite site of solar data has just updated. as it usually does early in the month.
It looks like the peak of the solar cycle has been pushed well into 2024. It depends how the smoothing is done exactly when the peak is marked. Clearly we will not know the smoothed date until some time later.
Although my QRP 10m WSPR beacon has been on for hours, no spots.
UPDATE 1720z: No spots all day. QRT soon.
As mentioned before, DX is till to be had. I assume the stations in southern Europe are by Es, but I suppose they could be via F2 back scatter. I suppose some could even be tropo.
UPDATE 1515z: Spotted by 26 stations.
UPDATE 1719z: Spotted by 27 stations. QRT soon.
It is some time since I heard news of Michael. That’s the trouble with the internet and social media: people just disappear and you are not sure why. Some people move to different social media, some have become ill or died, have dementia or something else. The trouble is you just realise they are not there, often months later.
Apparently, the main user of this band over there is proposing a major change of use that could negatively impact secondary users like amateur radio.
ARRL is trying to oppose the changes.
Not being in the USA I have no idea how active the band is.
Although my QRP beacon has been on since about 0820z, no spots.
UPDATE 0926z: No spots.
This will be interesting when F2 propagation really kicks in. They are far enough south to catch some TEP and I expect they will have QSOs with the Caribbean.
What I do not know is do other administrations allow similar access?
As I keep saying, just 5kHz, a low ERP, no SSB, narrow digital modes only, limited time, strictly no interference, by NoV or equivalent, would allow widespread free propagation research. Personally I cannot see the issue when 40.66-40.70 MHz is already allocated to ISM, licence free gadgets.
Is the problem that people in many PTTs are ignorant and stupid? Or is it just the military trying to keep the spectrum as clear as they can "just in case". Also most PTTs see only hassle and no money.
Now and the coming months are the best times for 8m propagation research.
Already 2 stations in central Europe have spotted my QRP beacon, even though it has only been on about 30 minutes.
My 2.5W system has been on since about 0800z. So far, just English stations spotting me.
This has been notifed to me. Usual caveats about travelling a long way apply.
Sunday September 1st - Telford Hamfest and GQRP Club Convention, Telford, TF10 8NB. Contact hamfest@tdars.org.uk .
It explained that inflation in Russia was high and going higher and that the value of the Russian Ruble was declining against other currencies. The Russian central bank had been trying to buy Rubles to keep the exchange rate up, but was failing.
I do hope a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine may be found.
No matter how you voted in the UK, the present government has some big issues in the short-term. Basically it needs more tax to cover the things it wants to support and to pay debt interest.
More people are moving away from fossil fuelled vehicles. Electric cars are still very much in the minority, but I still see 5 times more than just a few years ago. In the end, most will move away from fossil fuels, but this will generate less tax income. One suggestion was a charge per mile driven instead.
There is a lot of controversy over the winter fuel allowance. At the moment we all get it whether very poor or very rich, but current plans are to stop this totally unless you get pension credit payment. Why not increase the tax free allowance so those in the greatest need pay less tax? They could keep the tax boundaries so those on higher income pay more?
Surely a very high tax on big land owners is sensible? They can easily afford to pay.
Also, a very small tax on all share trades would be unlikely to impact the poorest, but would hardly affect the richest?
It is interesting (and annoying!) that when you have recently bought something you are bombarded by emails recommending you will buy the very same items, or very similar, again!
Surely they can adjust their algorithms to not bombard you with the same thing for several months? I am sure even I could do this!
Some time ago we bought our grandson some books to help with GCSE revision. He took his exams months ago, yet I still get told about the same, or very similar, items!
Not Amazon, I ran a group on miracle whip antennas some years ago. Some people got the completely wrong idea!! 😁
They want to compete with the ICOM IC-705, have it as an FT817/818 replacement, but also compete with the Chinese. In my view, they have to capture the mass market or Yaesu could quit the amateur radio market.
In my view it has to be less than £1k.
My gear was turned on at about 0800z.
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| Stations spotting my 6m QRP FT8 today |
UPDATE 1120z: 15 stations have spotted me on 6m QRP FT8 today.
Furthermost (probably F2) was YO2MAX (1802km) who spotted me very early.
Although conditions could be disturbed again my plan is to try QRP 6m FT8 and 10m WSPR.
This was taken by my wife a few days ago and shows a shaft of sunlight in our hall.
My photos and videos are backed up to Google Photos. The trouble is these are HEIC files . To convert these to JPG I saw this tool on the internet which does the conversion online.
