10m 500mW WSPR (Tuesday)

 My little QRP W5OLF beacon was turned on at 0900z.   No spots yet.

UPDATE 1005z: 4 spots of me by TA4SCU (3010km).

UPDATE 1743z:  Spotted by 26 stations today. See table.

6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

My IC-705 at 6W was turned on at 0900z.  

UPDATE 1009z:  9 stations including 1 in Portugal have spotted me.

Tuesday plans

 Shortly I expect to go on 10m QRP WSPR and 6m QRP FT8.

PSKreporter alternatives?

Occasionally, it would appear PSKreporter is unable to work. I am wondering if there is an alternative?

Sunspots - Tuesday March 18th

Solar  flux is 204 and the SSN 189. A=16 and K=3..

Free speech? - NOT amateur radio

It would seem the administration of President Trump has deported a Palestinian man called Mahmoud Kahlil because of his pro-Palestine activity. Now, I do not know the full facts, but this seems to fly in the face of a country where free speech is meant to be important.

6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

 As 10m was so good, I QSYed to 6m with my 6W FT8.

UPDATE 1457z:  So far, just 4 English spots of me.

Magpies - NOT amateur radio

 

For nearly 40 years I travelled about 10 miles into Cambridge for work. 

In all that time I never saw a magpie. 

Now they’re very common. I believe they raid birds nests to eat chicks or eggs.

8m experiments

In many ways I am extremely disappointed with the RSGB, OFCOM and the FCC for the very negative attitude to real propagation research at 8m. 

My experiment (which I had to pay for!) was to see what would be possible with really low ERP. With Es we know all of Europe would be in range, but around sunspot maximum the MUF might reach 8m, but not 6m.

What we have been dealt is a wall of reasons why radio amateurs cannot have even a very tiny 8m allocation.

I give up!!

Collective memory - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday I mentioned that we had been re-watching "Quatermass and the Pit", which was first shown as a TV series on BBC TV in 1957. Some programmes look very dated, but this did not.

One of the themes explored was of racial memory, deep within us. This got me thinking.

Just as a bird knows how to migrate or build a nest, what do we have as humans deep within us? What unknown features do we possess that we are totally unaware about? Do we all have an evil streak deep within us, perhaps triggered by something? Maybe it is something else, more benign, that somehow binds all humanity?

The truth is we are aware of so little about ourselves. Maybe over time we will learn more about ourselves. Really we know so little.