Busy supermarket - NOT amateur radio

This is probably true the world over. Our local supermarket was busy with people stocking up with food and drinks for Christmas. They are actually only closed on Christmas Day.

8m QRP FT8 with the QMX+

In many ways  I am lazy, putting off things that I could do right away.

As an example, my QMX+ should work fine on 8m FT8 TX using the 6m TX low pass filter using PuTTY to alter the TX band parameters on a band I don't use. This should take a few minutes.

As 6m has been in good shape, I have concentrated on 6m rather than 8m in recent weeks. 

Of late, 6m has been in poorer shape recently regarding F2 propagation, although Es sometimes shows a small peak in mid-winter for reasons I don't understand.

I think the RX requires hardware changes to a band pass filter, than I cannot manage any longer, so the best I can manage is to TX on 8m.

Good news - NOT amateur radio

 From now on it starts to get lighter at night. At first the change is very slow , but by the end of January it is very noticeable. It still gets darker in the morning, but this is less noticeable as I am still in bed.

Sunspots - Thursday December 19th

 Solar flux is 174 and the SSN 82. A=15 and K=3.

Sunrise - NOT amateur radio

 

This was the sunrise this morning in our close.

10m QRP WSPR (Wednesday)

 

My 500mW beacon has been on most of the day. 31 stations have spotted me at 1519z.

6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

My IC-705 has been in most of the day. 46 stations have spotted me with the most distant CU6AB (2694km) in the Azores.

Sunspots - Wednesday December 18th

 Solar flux is 170 and the SSN 88. A=29 and K=3.

Christmas tree festival - NOT amateur radio

This was a Christmas tree 🎄 festival in our village church.

1955 shack

This photo appeared yesterday of a USA shack in 1955.  

When I started in the early 1960s, most HF was AM. These days it is mostly FT8 and SSB.