Sunspots - Wednesday October 21st

 Solar flux is 121 and the SSN 66. A=8 and K=3.

160m FT8 RX (Tuesday)

 My gear (IC-705 and earth electrode "antenna" in the ground) was turned on at about 1655z.  As it is wet outside the effective loop will be slightly smaller so results may be down on yesterday.

UPDATE 1708z:   22 stations spotted.

The start?

There was an outage (allegedly) of some Google Cloud services according to the BBC.  This may be an innocent technical issue or it could be hacking by a foreign power out to do mischief.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c58jd2kjp93xt

UPDATE 1227z:  They claim it was "a power event".  Hmmm.

Ukraine

President Trump wants a fast end to the Ukraine war. 

Allegedly, he seems more allied to Putin and less to Zelensky. The midterm elections are fast approaching and gas prices in the USA are still too high.

10m 1W FT8 (Tuesday)

My gear was turned on at about 0815z.

UPDATE 0902z: So far, spotted by 5 stations several by F2 I think. 

Stations received

UPDATE 0936z:  44 stations spotted here on RX (see map).

UPDATE 1015z:   My QRP has been spotted by 14 stations so far with the best RA0SMS (6428km) in Asiatic Russia.

Stations receiving my 10m FT8 QRP

UPDATE  1650z: Spotted by 133 stations today (see map) on 5 continents.

160m FT8 RX overnight

Overnight, I left my gear on.  241 stations were spotted mostly before midnight. Nothing transatlantic again. Once again using the IC-705 and earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground (totally invisible!!).

Sunspots - Tuesday October 20th

 Solar flux is 121 and the SSN 66. A=2 and K=1.1

160m FT8 RX (Monday)

 My gear was turned on at about 1730z.

UPDATE 2110z:  148 stations have been spotted.

Does Putin have something on Trump?

This is a question many people ask. President Trump appears to be siding with Russia and this is a possible explanation. This video explores this.  

Like many, I would like a just peace as soon as possible. Personally, I would find it tragic if Ukraine had no choice but to give in.

10m 1W FT8 (Monday)

 My gear was turned on mid morning.

UPDATE 1217z:  So far, 108 stations have spotted my QRP and 96 stations spotted here.

UPDATE 1800z: 229 stations have spotted me (see map).