At about 0700z, I turned on my 4W 20m FT8 to the tiny indoor loop. The loop is about 0.5m across, made of thin wire (1mm diameter?) and sits on the shack windowsill. It is hardly a great 20m antenna!! So far, after 15 minutes, 14 stations have been spotted and 1 station has spotted me.
As 15m FT8 here was dreadful here, I QSYed to 20m FT8.
Although I did a total reboot of the PC and reset the clock to internet time just now, still nothing on PSKreporter. Locally I am spotting loads of stations.
I wonder if there is a problem, albeit probably temporary, with PSKreporter? My RX and TX spots were fine on 2m FT8 earlier. I am pretty sure the internet connection is fine as I was able to do a time sync.
UPDATE 1506z: 1 spot on TX and 41 on RX now, so all is now fine.
Since 1300z, I have been on 15m FT8. No spots given or received yet.
UPDATE 1430z: No spots still on RX or TX. I may try 20m FT8.
According to spaceweather.com, solar cycle 25 has started. At the moment it is hard to believe as we have had no sunspots for several weeks.
The latest NASA/NOAA predictions show the next cycle just a tiny bit better than the last one. They are forecasting a weak cycle and peak.
See https://www.weather.gov/news/201509-solar-cycle
See also https://blogs.nasa.gov/solarcycle25/
Certainly in the UK, Russia, Belarus and the USA it would appear our leaders are out of touch with reality. I am not a political animal, but it would help if they were honest. Honesty and the ability to admit mistakes seems in very short supply.
As mentioned before, I find it very hard indeed to find anyone in politics these days who is there for anything other than their vested self interests. We desperately need real leaders with backbone and integrity.
Oh, there's another pig flying by......
For about an hour I have been on 2m FT8 with 10W to the big-wheel omni antenna. 50 stations in 7 countries have already spotted me. It is now 0955z.
On 2m FT8 RX 36 stations in 6 countries spotted the furthermost being DL3TW (655km) not far from Denmark. One G QSO so far.
UPDATE 1211z: 67 stations in 10 countries have spotted me with 2 QSOs. On RX 57 stations in 8 countries spotted. 2m dead?
One of the positives of lockdown is the proof that clubs can come together even though they are miles apart. Someone from the Antrim club mentioned that they had had a speaker from the USA on a recent Zoom meeting.
My 10W to the big-wheel omni on 2m has been spotted by 31 stations already (after about 20 minutes) in 6 countries. So far, just one Welsh station spotted on RX.
Although this could be aircraft scatter, I suspect some other sort of scatter as it seems to work at almost any time.
For the last few days we have been in north Norfolk on holiday. I am about to turn on 2m FT8.
The 2m UKAC activity contest results for September have been published. In the low power section I came 62nd out of 204, despite being on for under an hour with an omni antenna.
This evening the Cambridge and Antrim radio clubs are joining forces by Zoom for a quiz at 1830z. This is one of the positives of the current odd times as people are brought together. Certainly I have seen far more lectures by the Cambridge club by Zoom than I would have if I had had to journey into Cambridge at night.
The forecasts for the next solar cycle maximum varies from smaller than the last cycle to a huge high! All we can say is no-one really knows. I hope it is a decent one.
We have a very diverse hobby and there is only so much we can enjoy. One of my interests, although I have never tried it, is narrow band TV. This is how the first TV was sent with 30 lines on ordinary radio channels. These days there are digital scan converters to make NBTV from wideband signals. There certainly used to be a net on 80m where NBTV was sent. I suspect there are systems and software that allows NBTV to be watched on a PC.
For several weeks now we have had no sunspots. By now I was expecting a few. It is not uncommon for this to happen, but we have seen no significant unturn yet.
According to Southgate News, the Brazilian authorities are considering abolishing all exams for radio amateurs. I think they are treating amateur radio as CB. I can see this happening around the world. From an administrative perspective you can understand that amateur radio is too much hassle.
The IARU is already getting ready for the next World Radio Conference in 2023. It would be good if the first steps were taken leading up to an allocation at 8m.
See https://iaru-r1.org/
Still no sunspots! Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0 still. By now I was expecting some sunspots. A=3 and K=2.
We have a very diverse hobby. My "thing" is getting around the world with simple, low power gear and simple wire antennas. Luckily we are all different and different aspects appeal to different people. Some like chasing DX and like high power, towers and big beams. My neighbours would have a fit!
