Longwave broadcasting ending?

It would appear than in the UK Radio 4 longwave on 198kHz is closing September 2026. Many broadcasters have already stopped on LW and fewer radios now include LW broadcasting.

10m 500mW WSPR (Monday)

My beacon was turned on at about 0830z.

UPDATE 1702z: Spotted by 49 stations.

6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My 5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni was turned on at about 0830z.

UPDATE 1143z: So far, spotted by 284 stations, probably a mix of modes. Furthest is EA8/DF4UE (2876km) quite strongly. 

UPDATE 1307z:  304 stations have spotted me including 2 in Newfoundland. Es? See map.

UPDATE 1700z:  Spotted by 5 stations in Newfoundland. Spotted by 526 stations in all. Most, I think, are Es.

North Devon cottage

This was where we stayed in 2012. It was delightful. We spent a week there.

Pipit QRP CW transceiver

 

Way back I designed and built this QRP transceiver for 15m CW. For many months it was the only rig I used. It was really fun and worked remarkably well. It appeared in GQRP SPRAT and is on my website. It produced about 800mW.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/15m-qrp-cw-pipit .

Sunspots - Monday August 18th

 Solar flux is 117 and the SSN 53. A=5 and K=0.

Classic car day

Yesterday was the Classic Car Day at our local museum. It is always hugely popular. As usual, there were plenty of people, cars and motorcycles.

Another old QSL card

Old QSL cards are becoming quite collectable. Some people collect old QSL cards as a hobby. This one dates from 1949.  

I suppose with LOTW, eQSL and similar they are becoming rarer. Certainly it is many years since I sent one.

HackRF One and HackRF Pro

If I was fitter I might seriously consider buying one of these. 

They work on RX and TX from VLF to 6GHz, making them ideal for experiments, especially with an external RF amp. 

Output power is in the low milliwatt range and I expect a low pass filter would need to be added for "on air" use e.g. as a beacon.

I see MLS in the UK supplies them.

The Faroe Islands

One of my friends on 365project lives in the Faroe Is. He posts some amazing photos.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faroe_Islands