Who can you trust? - NOT amateur radio

Quite a lot of politicians and their associates across the world it seems cannot be trusted. They are in high office and should be "whiter than white". Time and again we find out they are "dodgy". I am sure some seek high office for the right reasons, but sadly not all.

I am a great believer in "innocent until proved guilty". Too many have had their good names ruined even before any offence is proven. As they say, "mud sticks".

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41804740 .

Autumn leaves - NOT amateur radio

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" and all that. Today we went for a stroll at Brandon Country Park, Suffolk, UK. It was quiet and there were definite signs of autumn, as the photo shows.

Overnight on 630m WSPR

As usual, I went on 630m WSPR (10mW ERP, 20%) overnight. My own QRPP signal was spotted by 11 unique stations and I spotted 15 unique stations on RX. There seem to be a few more active stations on 630m WSPR.

Sunspots - Monday October 30th 2017

Solar flux is 76 and the sunspot number 23. A=4 and K=1.

10m FT8 RX

As usual, I am on 10m FT8 RX for the day. So far, 8 Russians with best DX R9CU (3878km). I presume these were F2 propagation. In addition some Gs and a PA which were either tropo or aircraft reflection. I am using the latest released version of WSPR-X V1.8.

QSY to 630m WSPR

I've left 10m FT8 and am now on 630m WSPR transceive (10mW ERP) until breakfast tomorrow.

CQWW SSB contest

There were a few South Americans coming through on 10m SSB earlier and I worked EF8R in the Canary Is whilst using my 5W on 10m SSB. To be honest, these days my voice is not up to SSB contests, so I returned to 10m FT8 digital .

10m FT8 RX

I have been using the latest formal release of WSJT-X (v1.8) in the last few minutes. Best DX is EA3KU (1265km).

UPDATE 1254z: VK6XN (14463km) is currently the best 10m FT8 RX DX. So far, 4 continents spotted on 10m FT8 today.

UPDATE 1605z: 5 South Americans now spotted on 10m FT8. 5 continents spotted on 10m FT8 today so far.

Sunspots - Sunday October 29th 2017

Solar flux is 76 today and the sunspot number 23.  A=6 and K=1.

WSJT-X V1.8 now properly released

For some time various release candidate versions have crept out, but V1.8 is now formally released. I have just got this for my Windows 10 shack PC.

See http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html

Be sure to get V1.8 and not V1.7.