Shack sunset

The photo doesn't really do justice to the wonderful sunset last night. This was the view out of the shack window last night.

In the foreground is the shack PC with WSJT-X monitoring 160m FT8 RX. 

As you can see, there were plenty of European (later transatlantic) stations being spotted on the earth-electrode antenna at about 1845z. 

Overnight on 160m FT8 RX

Stations spotted
on 160m FT8
RX overnight

Still stations in the Americas again on 160m FT8 RX last night as the map shows.  Overall fewer stations spotted though. 

Stations spotting
me last evening
on 160m QRP FT8

On TX, I was spotted by 21 stations (2.5W to the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground) with the furthermost OE9GHV (869km), before going RX only overnight.  The other map shows the stations spotting me last evening.

Spring flowers - NOT amateur radio

The flowers in the photo were spotted by my wife a few days ago. 

We are now officially in spring by any measure. The UK Met Office counts March 1st as the first day of spring whereas the traditional start is the spring equinox.

In the weeks ahead we will see migrant birds like swallows returning.

The UK clocks change to British Summer Time (BST) next weekend.

Sunspots - Monday March 22nd 2021

 Solar flux is 77 and the SSN 12.  A=24 and K=3.

Walk - NOT amateur radio

Before lunch we did a walk around the village with our elder grandson as shown in the photo. 

Covid-19 Vaccines - NOT amateur radio

Some countries seem further ahead with vaccines than others. This puts in doubt the ability of our daughters-in-law to visit their parents in France and Australia this year. This is such a pity.

Moxon antennas

Someone today asked me if I still have my coat hanger Moxon for 70cms. Moxons (as the page shows) can be easily made and work well. I have not seen the antenna for many years, so I doubt I still have it.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/70cm_moxon .

My grandson's video channel - NOT amateur radio

 My 13 year old grandson has a YouTube channel he has created. He is looking to get more subscribers. This is his channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4m_i-SRpAFX-iBtk9z8O4w

Overnight on 160m FT8 RX

Overnight

Overnight I again stayed on 160m FT8 RX. As before, stations from 5 continents spotted in numbers approaching 400 as the world map shows.

UPDATE 1000z:

1000z Sunday - quite different

Just 1 G being spotted now as the other map shows.

UPDATE 1245z: Still very quiet on 160m FT8 in the daytime.

UPDATE 1351z:  QRP TX now on.

UPDATE 1611z:  2 G stations have spotted my QRP so far. Real DX has still not started to come through as it is still daylight here.

UPDATE 1700z:  European DX has been coming through for about 30 minutes now. Spotting stations in Finland and Germany.

Devon - NOT amateur radio

This is near where I come from in South Devon.