Sunspots and 10m - Wednesday November 23rd 2016

Solar flux is 77 and the sunspot number zero. K=3. I am not expecting great things on 10m today.

Ely Cathedral - NOT amateur radio

Today we went shopping in Ely and we ate at The Almonry which has been in business since the 1200s! The photo is a view of Ely Cathedral from the nearby meadows.

Return to 10m JT65

At about 0804z this morning I turned the 10m JT65 back on again (2W QRP). As yet, no spots given or received, although it is still quite early.

UPDATE 1656z:  Still no 10m JT65 spots today.

Fame at last - NOT amateur radio

One of my photos made the BBC TV this evening! Look East showed the picture of our local windmill next door in a storm on their weather forecast, using my nickname "windymiller". I was quite surprised to see it!

QRT

After a day on 10m JT65 I have now gone QRT. There were a couple of European spots this morning but nothing later and no "real" DX today. I shall try again tomorrow.

10m JT65

The return to 10m JT65 was at 0752z this morning. Although the sunspot number is zero, I have spotted one Polish station so far this morning SP8MTA (1615km). Nothing further as yet.

UPDATE 1220z: PD1HPB (351km) spotted on 10m JT65. Aircraft reflection?

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday November 22nd 2016

Solar flux 75 today and the sun is spotless with a sunspot number of 0. K=1.

QRT on all bands

After joining the East Cambs net on 144.575MHz FM at 2000z tonight, I have now gone QRT on all bands. I may return to 10m JT65 in the morning, hoping for better results than today. Later this week I may try to get my 630m earth-electrode "antenna" working again so I can try MF again.

Weather update - NOT amateur radio

We are very lucky to live next door to a restored windmill. A few moments ago the sun briefly appeared in a very stormy sky, making "our" windmill look very dramatic, as the photo shows. The light was very eerie. The colours in the photo are right.

472kHz (630m) WSPR

It is getting quite late this autumn and I have still not returned to 472kHz WSPR. I may replace my earth-electrode "antenna" as it is unlikely I'll get a better antenna up. My ERP on MF is about 5mW, which is a good challenge for most. Last season I reached over 1000km.