QRT until the morning

After a pretty good day on 10m JT65, I have now gone QRT and will be back on the band in the morning. I did not expect to be copied in Australia this autumn or ever again on 10m. With declining solar conditions, this was a total surprise.

SAQ (VLF CW) Off Air

Apparently, SAQ (17.2kHz) had a fire caused by arcing and is off the air presently. I have no idea if they will be back in time for their usual transmission around Christmas. I am a proud owner of one of their QSL cards from several years ago.

See http://www.arrl.org/news/antenna-fire-puts-saq-alexanderson-alternator-station-off-the-air .

Maths - NOT amateur radio

Our elder granddaughter (5) doing maths with granny at the kitchen table. She is very keen to learn - our granddaughter that is. I think granny has done enough maths!

10m JT65

This morning I went straight to 10m JT65. I switched on about 20 minutes ago, which is later than usual. As normal. I checked the PC was synced to internet time. Before I set things going I could hear a couple of stations.

UPDATE 1012z: Several stations in Russia, Finland and South Africa spotted and my own QRP 10m JT65 spotted by several Russians. F2 I assume. At the moment, things look quite promising on 10m JT65.

UPDATE 1130z:  My 2W 10m JT65 was spotted by VK6KXW (14542km) in Western  Australia and ZS6ZP (9121km) in South Africa as well as widely in Europe. 10m JT65 is good today.

UPDATE 1954z:  Lots of spots of South Americans but no spots of my own QRP 10m JT65 signal from stations in that continent. Still waiting for a decent F2 opening on 10m JT65 to the USA this autumn.

Learning CW

It is some time since I tried CW - I use JT65 and WSPR mainly because of my health - but this can be a very effective mode with simple gear. Learning CW can be hard for some. An on-line resource that may help is http://lcwo.net/en/cwsettings .

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday October 23rd 2016

Solar flux is 76 today. Sunspot number is 27.  K=3 .

Now QRT

At 1930z I decided to close the 10m JT65 station. It looks like no DX today, sadly. Maybe better luck tomorrow? Today has been the worst day on 10m here in ages.

After we die - NOT amateur radio

Perhaps this is something that comes with old(er) age? If I am lucky I might have another 20 years, or I could die tomorrow. The only thing certain in life is that we all die, some far too soon.  The great religions of the world all speak of some kind of life after death.  The truth is we just do not know.  Some with great faith believe they have the answers. I prefer to accept my doubts.

I do not remember anything before I was born, so eternal "nothingness" is possible. I guess all humans hate to think in terms of finality. The best ones are those who can accept life as a gift and to live their lives fully. Some argue that without a life after death we have no real moral compass.

In the end I am agnostic - what will be will be. All the major religions seem to strive to understand the ultimate question. One day we will all know the answer.

Illegal parking - NOT amateur radio

On Thursday this week I went to my usual University of the 3rd Age course in Cambridge on the Anglo-Saxons. The Park and Ride car park had been illegally occupied by travellers for the second time this year. They are being evicted. They we completely blocking the disabled parking spots.

6m JT65 and 10m WSPR QRP

Today, I started up on 10m WSPR (500mW) and 6m JT65 (2W). Later in the day I shall probably swap to just 10m JT65. So far, G0LRD (25km) spotting me on 6m and nothing on 10m.

UPDATE 1110z: G4KPX (14km) has spotted me lots of times on 10m WSPR and G0LRD (25km) on 6m JT65, but no other spots as yet on either band.

UPDATE 1750z:  No spots given or received on 10m JT65 this afternoon or this evening.  I have been on 10m JT65 since early afternoon. I think this was a bad day on 10m rather than my end.

UPDATE 1916z:  Still no spots on 10m JT65 this afternoon and evening. Conditions did not look that bad, so I am a bit surprised.  I resynced to internet time a few hours ago.