Amaryllis progress - NOT amateur radio

Every winter we grow an amaryllis in the lounge. It has really shot up in the last week, with what looks like 2 flowers coming, barring any disasters.

Last year we supported it with a cane and elastic band.

At the moment, it is 19cms tall.

6m JT65

I have returned to 6m JT65, although I have an S7 noise floor on the band this morning. Even with the PC on battery power it is still there, so I think it is coming from outside the house. Maybe on JT65 TX (2W) someone might spot me? In the past I have not had a noise problem on this band. I suspect 10m JT65 might be even worse?

472kHz (630m) and 28MHz (10m) WSPR yesterday and overnight

10m was dead on WSPR with not a single spot received.

630m was better even with my 5mW ERP but no spots received further than Holland on MF. I copied DL, LA, ON and F stations on 630m RX.

UPDATE 1042z: I have yet to decide on today, but probably 6m JT65 during the day for a change.

Cold, bright days - NOT amateur radio

For the last few days it has been cold, frosty and bright - perfect winter days. This is a picture of where we live (RHS), taken in the frost this morning.

472kHz (630m) WSPR to Norway

LA8AV (1035km) has been spotted here many times this afternoon on 472kHz WSPR.

Last night Jan, LA3EQ (769km) spotted me - thank you Jan - and he kindly sent a link to a screen shot of my signal with him which I have attached here. To spot me, I reckon Jan must have good gear and a quiet noise floor.

On 10m WSPR TX, no spots at all.

On 630m WSPR I have now got the PC on the SMPSU, so my RX noise floor will be too high now to spot any but very strong signals.

Church Blog Updated - NOT amateur radio

After a long break I have updated our church blog to include Grantchester.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

Sunspots and 10m - Friday January 20th 2017

Solar flux is 79 today and the sunspot number 26. A=11 and K=2.

630m and 10m WSPR

For a change today, I am staying on 630m (472kHz) WSPR all day (5mW ERP) on battery PC power so the noise floor on RX is low and I am on 10m WSPR (500mW, 100% TX) rather than JT65. PA0RDT (243km) was copying me on 630 WSPR in daylight. Overnight (actually yesterday evening) the best DX on 630m WSPR was LA3EQ/MW (769km) in Norway.

Memory - getting ever less expensive

It is fascinating to see the price of PC and camera memory getting lower and lower and the capacity increasing. Only a few years ago we thought a 1GB SD card was amazing. Now you can get 128GB (at least) on a mini SD card at quite respectable prices.

Ten years from now I expect we will be used to 1-2TB mini SD cards and think how did we manage in 2017? I recall the hard drive on my first PC was 0.5GB and we thought that was massive.

UPDATE 2035z: You can already buy a 512GB SD card!!

630m (472kHz)

Around 1830z I returned to 630m (472kHz ) WSPR. Initially I used the PC on batteries but it is now on mains power. On battery power the noise floor is low and best RX DX was LA8AV (1035km) in JO59 square. I am hopeful of reaching Norway again on TX tonight (5mW ERP, earth-electrodes).  It would be great to break the 1000km barrier on 630m TX this season, as I have yet to do so this year.

In past years, I reached Finland, which is much further. Another absentee this year is EA5DOM who was regularly copied last season on 630m WSPR. Maybe he is using a different mode or is on 137kHz?

See http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/spots putting in "g3xbm" to see what is being spotted.

UPDATE 2000z: So far, only G4FTC (123km) is able to be spotted in my S8 noise  "fog" when I use the SMPSU on the shack PC.

UPDATE 2028z: Yet again, my best spot on 472kHz TX so far this evening is by PA0RDT (243km).

UPDATE 2104z: Still not been spotted further than Holland so far this evening on 630m WSPR TX.