Sunspots - Tuesday November 7th 2023

 Solar flux is 146 and the SSN 67. A=40 and K=4.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

Disappointed as spotted by only 7 stations. I am no expert but wondering if MF conditions are worse when there is an aurora?

8m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My 2.5W FT8 TX to a dipole has been on for about 20 minutes. Already spotted by HI0SDR(7062km) and other stations.

I was puzzled why my SWR had gone up to over 3:1. I removed the SWR bridge completely and the SWR shown on the rig was very low. It was the SWR bridge!!

UPDATE 1649z:   My best day ever on 8m QRP FT8. Spotted by 7 stations and 2 QSOs, one of which was PJ4MM (483km) in Bonaire, Caribbean. Not bad for 2.5W and a dipole on 8m.

Quince jelly - NOT amateur radio

On a walk around the village last week we chanced upon these quinces which were free. I think some quince jelly is called for! I have never tried eating (or making) this.

See https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/quince-jelly.

UPDATE 0930z Tuesday:  2 jars made, but they are not set. Adding more sugar and boiling again.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Monday)

 Accidentally, I left my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon on overnight. There were no spots through the night, but this morning I have been spotted by 15 stations.

UPDATE 1510z: Spotted by 50 stations today.

UPDATE 1620z:  55 stations have spotted me today.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

 In all, 13 stations spotted me overnight.

Our village - NOT amateur radio

 This is our village. The population has almost doubled since we moved here in 1975, but it still has a village feel.

Sunspots - Monday November 6th 2023

Solar flux is 155 and the SSN 81. A =57 and K=4.

630m QRP WSPR (Sunday)

At 1615z, my 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground was turned on. This is earlier than normal. So far, 3 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1752z:  5 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1930z:   10 spots of me so far this evening.

UPDATE 1942z: The map shows the stations that have spotted me in the last 12 hours.

Justification for a small 8m amateur allocation

When conditions are good, DX may be possible even as high as 6m. When conditions are more marginal, the MUF may go as high as 41 MHz, but no higher. This is true of F2 and Es.

A tiny (narrow digital only) allocation at 8m would enable us to see how often the MUF reached 8m. This is especially valuable research around sunspot maximum. 

It seems odd to me that some administrations seem dead set against such a tiny allocation. Just 5 kHz of spectrum at low ERP would be all that is necessary.

If you can persuade your administration to consider this, this would be a step in the right direction.