Sunspots - Wednesday November 15th 2023

Solar flux is 124 and the SSN 86.  A=6 and K=1. 

Bus shelter - NOT amateur radio

We go by this bus shelter every week. Only recently have we noticed how mossy the roof has become. 

We have had a very wet autumn.

10m uW DXing

As an experiment tomorrow, I may leave the PA turned off on my 10m WSPR TX beacon. It is pre-programmed to say 0.5W, but I would guess the actual power out is microwatts. I must check the difference on a spectrum analyser.

My guess is some single digit reports of me might still be copied if my PA was off. Today, there were several such reports. I guess it also depends on the RX station having a low noise floor.

UPDATE 2150z:  Using my TinySA spectrum analyser, it looks like the TX is 30dB weaker with the PA turned off, so the output is about 500uW. I wonder how many will be able to spot this on Wednesday?

10m 500mW WSPR TX

My 10m WSPR TX beacon was switched on about 30 minutes ago. Several spots already.

UPDATE 1656z:  54 spots of me today.

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

Once again, I am on 8m WSPR with my 2.5W and dipole. Of course, my PL259 plug failed and a high VSWR resulted. After resoldering (hard these days), I am back on the air. No spots yet.

UPDATE 1015z:   Just local spots of me by G4WSZ (12km).

UPDATE 1647z:  3 stations have spotted me: 2 UK and 1 Caribbean.

Windy - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday we had strong winds. Many of the trees in our garden lost plenty of leaves. The next milestone will be looking for the first buds to appear in the spring.

Waxwings - NOT amateur radio

In the winter time waxwings (pinkish almost starling sized birds with crests) fly to the UK from Scandinavia because food is more plentiful. They are often spotted eating berries in supermarket car-parks. In all my years, I have never seen one!  It is not for the lack of looking either.

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/waxwing .

630m QRP WSPR overnight

13 stations spotted me including 4 spots from OH1LSQ (1733km) in Finland and two from Norway. Not bad with 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.

Sunspots - Tuesday November 14th 2023

 Solar flux is 134 and the SSN 85. A=16 and K=1.

Shetland rainbow - NOT amateur radio

A friend who lives in the Shetland Is. recently posted this photo. This far north the sun is very low in the sky and days are short.

See https://365project.org/.