Earliest recordings - NOT amateur radio

A common view is that Edison made the first recordings, but this seems to be incorrect. A Frenchman may have made recordings far earlier.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/voices

Exhaustion - NOT amateur radio

I am now 71.5 years old. Cutting the grass this year seems far more tiring than last year. This could be another artifact of my 2013 stroke or just old age. Driving now is much harder too. Ever since my stroke, I have got exhausted and am giddy, but this feels worse. Walks, that I enjoy in lockdown, really knock me out. Years ago I could walk miles and miles.

Swifts (birds) - NOT amateur radio

What a difference a few days make! Earlier this week I was pleasantly pleased to see a single swift. Now they are one of the commonest birds in the sky. First you hear the screams, you look overhead and there is a flock of swifts. They only stay a few months, but what a joy!

VLF earth-mode blog.

Years ago one of my favourite activities was experimenting with VLF earth-mode communications through the ground.

I would put a beacon on at home and go out to see where it could be copied.  Ranges surprised me and far further would be possible. Sadly, I can no longer do these experiments, but this is a rich seam ripe for others to carry on. Certainly higher power and bigger baselines would help. At some point signals that are radiated would be detectable at great range. Very stable (GPS locked?) signals would allow very long integration times.

My blog is still there on my original website. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas.  This old website is not maintained, so please do not follow the links on the left as they may not work!

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp/Home/earthmode

Sunspots - Friday May 8th 2020

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=1.

Grandson's art - NOT amateur radio

Our grandson is just 11. Since he was very young he has demonstrated a real talent for art. A year and a half ago he did 2 wonderful paintings of our old house and the windmill next door for my wife and my 70th birthdays. He has won several prizes. Even several years ago he showed his talent. He is far more gifted than his grandparents.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/home/art

Oscar 100 update

Every few weeks, I check the occupancy of the narrowband transponder on this geosynchronous satellite by looking at the web SDR at Goonhilly in Cornwall. My most recent very unscientific look at this was earlier today and last night. My look suggested occupancy was no higher than a few weeks ago. In fact, if anything, occupancy seems lower than a few weeks ago!

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

6m in Germany

Southgate News has a piece on 6m in Germany, which is moving to implement WRC allocations.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/may/enhanced-50-mhz-allocation-in-germany.htm#.XrP7SmjYq00

Rose in the garden last week - NOT amateur radio

This rose was in flower in the garden about a week ago.

If this has been posted before please accept my apologies, but it is a nice rose!

10m FT8

A short while ago (0540z) I turned on 10m FT8 with 2.5W to the tiny indoor loop antenna.

Yesterday I failed to get a single WSPR spot on the band, so it will be interesting to see how FT8 behaves.

UPDATE 1649z:  Disappointing so far. Just 5 fairly close EU stations spotted so far today with no spots of me.

UPDATE 1844z:  It was a long time coming, but I was spotted by 9A2WB (1429km). Only 5 spots on RX all day so far, mostly Gs.

UPDATE 1940z: 4 EU stations have now spotted me with strong signals typical of Es. Like buses, they all come at once! Probably worth another go tomorrow. Going QRT shortly.