East Cambs Net

East Cambs Net - 144.575MHz vertical FM (in the all mode section). This will in future meet at 7.30pm UK clock time on Wednesdays. Discussions on various subjects (nothing too technical!) rarely go beyond 30 minutes. Newcomers are ALWAYS welcome. Feel free to call in if you are in the area.

Margaret are you grieving.... NOT amateur radio

As one gets older thoughts turn to human mortality. All of us dies - this is more certain than BREXIT day.

One poem, spoken to a young child, that hits me is by Gerard Manley Hopkins, a metaphysical poet. You may know it. We are on this earth for a very short time really. Deep down, our mortality hits us in the pit of our stomachs.  Are we really just dust?

See https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44400/spring-and-fall

10m FT8

Although I am not sure why I bother, I have just (1033z) QSYed to 10m FT8. Yesterday was dire with just one UK station spotted. Today would be hard-pressed to be worse! At first I called CQ (2.5W), although I am now RX only. Guess what? No spots!

UPDATE 1447z: Well 10m FT8 RX is on a par with yesterday! So far, just 1 G spotted and no-one else. This was G0OYQ (177km).

UPDATE 1635z: Es? EB5GC (1593km) just spotted.

472kHz WSPR overnight

472kHz is definitely going "off the boil". Yet again, more stations copied me than I copied. Earlier in the "season" I always copied more stations than copied me.

472kHz WSPR overnight

Clunch outhouse - NOT amateur radio

For weeks now they have been rebuilding a clunch (kind of chalk) outhouse not far from our home. As I passed today, I noticed they had put half the roof on. The other half of the roof has still to be tiled.

Sunspots - Thursday April 3rd 2019

Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 17. A=6 and K=3.

2m UKAC activity contest this evening

At 1900z (8pm UK local time) is the 2m activity contest. I usually take part with 5W and my omni antenna for about an hour. It is not essential to send in a contest log, but it is a fun contest and activity levels are usually high.

UPDATE 2028z: In all, 10 QSOs in 50 minutes (see above).

Return to 472kHz WSPR

Of late, 472kHz WSPR has not been at its best, but it has to be better than 10m FT8 today! So, about 30 minutes ago I returned to MF WSPR. Already I have spotted others and I have been spotted.

Blossom - NOT amateur radio

The garden next door has several apple and plum trees. At the moment, they look great as they are in blossom. In a few weeks this will all be gone.

Oscar 100 - still very quiet

Just a few moments ago there was an OE6 calling CQ via the satellite and getting absolutely no response. At most there were perhaps 3 SSB signals. There was one PA on Hellscreiber, so you could read the callsign and QTH locator by looking at the waterfall.

By now, with more people building gear, I was expecting it to be very busy. If anything, I suspect there are fewer users than a few weeks ago.

OK, this is a weekday. Perhaps people are tired of working the same people and telling them about their dishes and LNB? Maybe the challenge was getting that first QSO and now the interest is waning? Maybe just talking through a geosynchronous satellite is no challenge? Perhaps every QSO is just like another?

Perhaps this is all too premature. Having DX QSOs and local QSOs with no QSB at any time day or night takes some getting used to?