Saturday plans

 Later I shall probably try 10m QRP FT8 with my IC-705 at 5W.

Sunspots - Saturday June 21st

 Solar flux is 130 and the SSN 95.  A=9 and K=2.

Ham radio costs

MLS was supposed to have been on the air earlier on HF.  What bothers me is the impression that is put on people that amateur radio is an expensive hobby. The MLS kit would not give you much change (if any) from £10k.

Let me say you do not need to spend much to enjoy the hobby.  You can spend lots if you want to, but you can communicate across the planet with gear costing a small fraction of the MLS price. 

Now, I have no wish to stop those who wish to spend a lot on our hobby, but this is a choice, not a necessity.

Electric cars - NOT amateur radio

My car is infrequently changed. I do not do long miles in my car: most are about 8 miles return with the occasional trip of about 30 miles return. For longer journeys I take the train. In years past I would have thought nothing of doing a 600 mile round trip.

In the past limited range of an electric car was a concern. This is not a concern any more. 

Important factors for me are (a) reliability (b) insurance costs (c) availability (d) home charging (e) space for the weekly shop and the occasional visitors and their luggage.

Which brings me on to electric cars: these are mostly too expensive to buy, but a lease deal might be better. The prices are dropping, but they still are high. However, home charging might offset this to some extent.

Most low cost offerings come from China such as MG and BYD.

I am still not convinced about battery technology that still seems to rely on lithium batteries. At some point I was expecting prices to drop with the advent of solid-state batteries, together with a better range. As far as I know this has not happened yet. Whoever gets there first will have a huge advantage.

At the moment, I shall probably hang on to my 2018 diesel car, but I expect my next car might well be electric.

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

 My 5W gear has been on since lunchtime.

UPDATE 1335z:  57 stations have spotted me - mostly mainland Europe by Es.

10m 500mW WSPR (Friday)

My QRP beacon has been on since lunchtime.

UPDATE 1330z:  No spots.

Yesterday on VHF

Stations spotting my 6m QRP FT8 yesterday 

On 6m FT8 987 stations including one in the Caribbean spotted my 5W FT8 to the vertical omni antenna and the Es reached 2m with the furthest on 2m FT8 (sadly RX only) being IT9.

Blue Remembered Hills - NOT amateur radio

“A Shropshire Lad XL” is one of the most profound poems ever written in the English language. 

It speaks of our continual struggle to find memories of times past that can never ever be experienced again. 

See https://poets.org/

Sunspots - Friday June 20th

 Solar flux is 136 and the SSN 113. A=14 and K=2.

2m 5W FT8 Es (Thursday)

It looks like there is a 2m Es event, so I have QSYed to 144.174 MHz FT8.  

Although my 5W to the V2000 has not been spotted by Es, on RX the best so far is an IT9STG (1894km) at +11dB S/N i.e. very strong indeed.

Spots of my 2m 5W FT8 tat 1221z

UPDATE 1221z: 46 stations in 6 countries have spotted my 2m 5W FT8 so far.