Have your passwords been stolen?

Again Steve G1KQH has kept his ear to the ground:

Have your passwords been sold on?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08/05/russians_amass_1_2bn_stolen_passwords/

Can we trust the Web any longer?

73 Steve
http://www.g1kqh.talktalk.net/

It may be a good time to update your passwords and make sure your security is solid. Touch wood, I have been using free Microsoft Security Essentials to protect my PC. It appears to do a good job even though I use Firefox.

Storms gone away. Possible F2 DX?

The storms that were threatening us now appear to have moved east and are now over the Norfolk Broads and North Sea.  It looks like we'll miss the storms so I can stay on 10m way into the evening (for the first time in several days), just in case the band suddenly opens up to South America by F2.

CT1JTQ has not been spotting me since 1548z but I think he has gone QRT on 10m WSPR.  There are a few South Americans on that I should copy if 10m is open that way.

10m Es and F2

Es and F2 today seems to have been good on 10m with V53ARC (Namibia) spotted by many in Europe. I may go back to 10m WSPR later unless 6m WSPR improves.

UPDATE 1530z:  Returned to 10m WSPR (from 6m) about 45 minutes ago. Spotted 3 times so far by CT1JTQ (1843km).

UPDATE 1608z:  CT1JTQ has now spotted me 6 times in the last hour, but no-on else has on 10m WSPR. What would be very nice is some F2 further south (i.e. F2 + Es propagation) so I get spotted in South America too this evening.

There are storms to the north of us which may come our way. See http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en .  Mostly they are moving into N.Norfolk but there was a strike just now further west near Crowland Abbey. If they get close I'll have to close down.

UPDATE 1810z:  Storms over the Norfolk Broads and North Sea now. Danger here has passed.

6m WSPR - this morning

6m was very quiet this morning with just reports from local G4IKZ (18km).   Let's hope things improve  after lunch.

Just spots from G4IKZ on 6m WSPR this morning - very quiet.

UPDATE 1240z:   Still just G4IKZ spotting me on 6m WSPR. All very quiet today.

Sunspots

Sunspot count today is 93 and 20-30MHz propagation just "normal". Although 10m Es is still likely, we will be lucky to see F2 propagation on 10m, but N-S F2 is possible. Yesterday was very good on 10m with VK5 spotted here mid-morning.

I definitely think we are on the slide now.

6m WSPR - but so little activity

At 1044z, I returned to 6m WSPR but when I turned it on there were just 4 stations on TX in the entire world transmitting on 6m: this is pathetically few.  I hope more people join me soon. So far just local G4IKZ (18km) spotting me. There needs to be a scattering of stations to spot any Es.

As I write this, there are now 7 TX stations plus 3 on RX on 6m.

On the WSPR RX screen there are no wispy traces suggesting weak Es or GDX - nothing currently,

Logbook (found by G1KQH)

Steve G1KQH has been finding things again.

Found this excellent Logbook:  http://www.ngenlog.com/

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNrI_sENS7o

73 Steve
http://www.g1kqh.talktalk.net/

Early close again tonight on 10m WSPR

Tonight is the last night my shack is being used as a bedroom. Hopefully I shall be able to operate beyond 1745z tomorrow if I want to. I am also unable to come on for the UKAC session on 2m this evening for the same reason: my shack is  a bedroom for the third night.

10m WSPR unique spots until QRT at teatime

These last few days have been exceedingly fatiguing (stroke).  Not sure if this just a bad week or whether it is extra tiring having the little ones around: although I enjoy having them it is at least twice as tiring for me: I worry about them but am too feeble to sort out things. This makes me feel SO tired.  We'll see if I feel less tired when they go home.

10m in good shape today - Aug 5th 14

10m has been in good shape since I first switched on around 0844z this morning with Eu wide Es and even a spot of VK5MR (16144km) at 0920z this morning. Mind you, the VK was running 20W, which is a lot on WSPR. The VK5 was near Adelaide.

10m unique WSPR spots so far today

Sunspot count today is 111 (quite reasonable) and 20-30MHz propagation supposed to be "good". We have already seen F2 propagation.

Kent Electronics Antennas

Sam Jewell G4DDK's blog recently mentioned http://www.wa5vjb.com/index.html which has some excellent PCB antennas mainly for microwave bands. If I was serious about microwaves I think I'd be buying some antennas from Texas!