At about 0810z, I turned on the 15m FT8 RX system with the FT817ND and the tiny indoor loop antenna. It is now 0836z and 11 stations spotted so far.
UPDATE 1104z: 181 stations spotted with the furthermost UN7GBX (5566km) in Kazakhstan.
With 967 stations spotted overnight on 80m FT8 RX, it was quite rewarding on the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. Best DX spotted was NR5R (8276km) near the Mexican border in Texas, usa.
Although I am biased, the mince pies are far better than shop ones. The secret is making the pastry as thin as possible.
For a total change, I am on 80m FT8 RX with the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. So far this evening, 71 stations across Europe have been spotted.
UPDATE 2038z: 231 stations spotted. Apart from 2 in North Africa, all are in Europe, I think. I shall leave the RX on overnight to see what is spotted.
Every day, I get loads of emails trapped by Gmail in my SPAM folder. Most days I get emails that tell me how much my account has been credited, that I should buy some bitcoins, that my anti-virus is about to run out (even though I don't use the one stated), and a girl in the Ukraine wants to bed me (clearly she hasn't seen my photo!).
As mentioned before Gmail generally does a good filtering job and I change passwords frequently.
According to the press, the EU and UK are still talking.
I am sure there is brinkmanship on both sides going on, and in the end they want the outcome to look like a victory, hard one, on both sides. Although I am not a betting man I give the odds 60:40 on forging a deal. A no deal would do neither side any good. It would not surprise me if this is after Christmas.
Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister is no saint. The EU has been portrayed as protectionist. There is little doubt the EU has done some good for the UK. On the other hand (e.g. Covid vaccines) they seem very slow.
What the UK wants is free trade and less bureaucracy.
It is almost impossible to keep up with rule changes due to Covid-19 in different parts of the UK. The RSGB is taking a pragmatic approach. Basically, follow local rules for Covid.
A friend has reminded me that this contest is this weekend. Entries are for CW and phone contacts. I don't think there is a digital section.
These are the rules https://contests.arrl.org/ContestRules/10M-Rules.pdf
See http://82.71.9.63:8080/cap/ for G0LRD's 2m FT8 grabber.
