Our back garden in autumn - NOT amateur radio

This is view of our back garden at the end of October. Most trees are now changing into their autumn colours. In autumn you can get some wonderful shades.

Shakespeare - NOT amateur radio

OK, I come from England and I am supposed to love Shakespeare. Alas poor Yorick, he sends me to sleep!

I do not know why, but ever since school days Shakespeare has had this effect on me. Maybe it is the style or the rhythm but I am not a Shakespeare fan. There are a few famous verses which I have remembered since school days, but other than these I am afraid I do not like the bard.

Each to their own I guess, but I  am sure I am not alone.

10m JT65

After a good day yesterday, I returned to 10m JT65 (2W) at 0652z this morning. As yet, no spots.

UPDATE 0922z:  Still no spots as yet.

UPDATE 1056z: Just spotted on 10m JT65 by IZ0AIS (1506km) suggesting there is some Es about on 10m. I spotted another Italian further south too.
  
UPDATE 1154z:  No further spots since the Italians as yet, but most days 10m opens to somewhere.

UPDATE 1932z:  2 South Americans spotted on 10m JT65 today. Dead band? Low sunspots? Disturbed conditions?  JT65 is the answer!

QRP and QRP Club

More from Oleg:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,

I glad to inform about new Club 72 member -
# 93 US7IB op. Vyacheslav (Slava) from Kramatorsk city

72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"

Sunspots and 10m - Thursday October 27th 2016

Solar flux is 77 today and the sunspot number 15.  K=5.

On the face of it, it does not look promising on 10m. Yesterday was similar and it turned out to be pretty good! You can never tell.

Salcombe Lifeboat Disaster, 100 Years On - NOT amateur radio

See http://salcombelifeboat.co.uk/lifeboat-disaster-centenary/ .

One hundred years ago today the small Devon town where I came from suffered a tragedy when the lifeboat overturned with the loss of life of most of the crew. Only two men survived. It was a tragedy in a small community.

There will be a special service to mark this 100 year anniversary.

One of my aunties witnessed the tragedy when she was a young girl.  Most of the crew were not young men as most of these were fighting in WW1.

To this day the RNLI crews go out in any weather to save lives. They are brave men and women.

See https://www.periscope.tv/w/1gqxvRAQEjgxB?q=salcombe for live coverage of the service.

UPDATE 1115z:  I watched the service live on the internet. It was a dignified affair with a packed church.  Sad to think that all the generation that remember this sad event are now long gone, but good that so many wished to remember them.

Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica - NOT amateur radio

See http://motherboard.vice.com/read/scientists-warn-the-collapse-of-this-glacier-could-be-globally-catastrophic-thwaites

It looks as if this glacier is melting fast and could result in a huge sea level rise.

I know the skeptics will say this is just scientists after funding, but we ignore these risks at our peril.

CQWW DX contest this weekend (SSB)

As many of you know, I am not a great contest person, but CQWW is "special" as bands that seem dead suddenly spring into life. This weekend is the SSB leg. As we have grandchildren, I shall miss a great deal of this. Even if you do not like contests, it is a chance to enjoy the increased activity, especially on the higher HF bands.  It runs all weekend.

See http://www.cqww.com/rules.htm .

Slowly declining solar conditions

We are now on the gradual slide down the solar cycle to the next minimum. The slide down is usually slower than the climb after the minimum. The experts are not expecting great things of the next maximum. As always, these are averages, so some days can be much better.

Next autumn we should not expect conditions on the higher HF bands to be much good, although I firmly believe 10m is better than people think. OK, you need to hunt for the DX - it is not as easy as a few years ago, but it is there quite often.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/ .

10m JT65

I returned to 10m JT65 (2W QRP) at 0715z today, having turned the rig on and resynced the shack PC to internet time. So far, no spots.

UPDATE 1008z: EU7FBB (1931km) spotted me recently. F2 or Es?

UPDATE 1050z:  Spots of my 2W QRP 10m JT65 also received from Italy and Slovakia. Es? Nothing yet from outside Europe.

UPDATE 1100z:  It looks like there is widespread 10m propagation to Europe with my 2W QRP JT65 being spotted in Austria, Italy, Slovakia and Belarus. I am assuming this is Es. As I have said many times, 10m is open far more than people think. We have weak signal modes like JT65 and WSPR to thank for enlightening us all.

UPDATE 1345z: 8 European spots of my QRP 10m JT65 so far. Who said 10m was "dead"? Remember, my antenna for 10m is very very average and low. If you have more power and a better antenna you are likely to do better.

UPDATE 1800z: 2 South Americans spotted on 10m JT65 here today (Argentina and Brazil). I am sure this is TEP with the extension to the UK because of good openings in Europe.

UPDATE 1813z:  Now 6 South Americans spotted on 10m JT65 here.  Not bad at all.

UPDATE 1835z:  Now a couple of South Americans have spotted my 10m JT65 QRP: PY1TS (9350km) and PU4ENY (9359km). 10 South Americans spotted here with best RX CE7KF (12753km) in Chile.

UPDATE 2020z: Now spotted 22 South Americans on 10m JT65 today, including HC5K (9541km) in Ecuador. Nothing from the USA.