Sunspot Cycle 25

Sunspots with the correct polarity for cycle 25 (the next cycle) are already starting to appear. The next minimum is likely to be 2018-2020 and the forecasts for the next maximum are not great.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/cycles1_to_present.html

Painted pebbles - NOT amateur radio

Certainly in our village, this craze has really taken off. The idea is you hide a painted stone which others search for and find. They take a photo and post it on social media (we have our own village Facebook group) and hide the stone in a different place. This is great fun for the children. We found one yesterday outside a local church.

10m FT8 RX

Since breakfast, I have been on 10m FT8 RX. So far 1 G and 2 LAs spotted.

UPDATE 1320z: 9 stations in 4 EU countries so far today. Aircraft reflections? Best DX still LA1KUA (1182km).

UPDATE 1815z:  Now 11 stations spotted on 10m FT8 today. No new spots for ages, so soon be time to QSY to 472kHz WSPR RX.

Churches blog updated - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday I updated the churches blog at https://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .  Snailwell church dates from the 11th century. There are only 2 churches with round towers in Cambridgeshire , but lots in Norfolk.

Sunspots - Sunday February 18th 2018

Solar flux is 72 today and the sunspot number 12. A=12 and K=2.

472kHz WSPR RX

Last night, I was on 472kHz WSPR RX again. In all, 14 unique stations spotted, which was the same as the night before, so rather disappointing. All EU only.

February 2018 2m UKAC results published

In my very short entry I made a silly error and had points deducted. In future, I must be more careful!

See http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfresults.pl?Contest=144MHz%20UKAC&year=2018

With the grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

Earlier today we did a trip around a few local churches.

This is me with two of our grandchildren outside Snailwell Church near Newmarket.

A promise of spring? - NOT amateur radio

There are now plenty of daffodils around now including these, which were outside Snailwell Church, near Newmarket today.

iPad App - NOT amateur radio

My wife has a new app on her iPad that makes globes and other shapes of different kinds. I think there are several different apps that will do this. You choose the pictures to use.

See http://funny.pho.to/globe/ for one example.