10m 200mW WSPR (Sunday)

My beacon was turned on at about 0820z.

UPDATE 1941z:   Spotted by 90 stations in Europe, presumably via Es. It never fails to amaze me how well just 200mW 10m WSPR performs. Now QRT.

Shield Bug

Most certainly I am not a bug expert. I know this is a shield bug, but I have no idea what sort this is. 

It was about 2cm long and seemed to like my shirt and shoes! 

In the end it flew away.

The Meidas Touch videos

 It is pretty certain that Ben Meiselas has a very low opinion of President Trump judging by his videos.

Sunspots - Sunday August 16th

 Solar flux is 117 and the SSN 111. A=6 and K=1.

The Chinese are coming

For years the Chinese have been on the edge of the amateur radio market.  Their products are usually far less expensive than their Japanese counterparts, but there has often been a question mark about quality and reliability.

It is my view that they will soon match the Japanese and grab the amateur radio market. 

Already, many consumer products are "made in China" even if they were designed somewhere else. They take advantage of low labour and material prices.

They like volumes, so expect amateur radio and CB products to be similar. It would not surprise me if they had a product that was basically a commercial, amateur radio and CB transceiver that was basically the same radio to, effectively, increase volumes.

No, the Chinese are coming. Give them a few years.

10m 200mW WSPR (Saturday)

My beacon was turned on at about 0950z.

UPDATE 1012z:  Spotted by nobody yet.

UPDATE 2109z:  Spotted by 16 stations have spotted me with the best V51RS (8481km). QRT.

Sunspots - Saturday August 15th

 Solar flux is 114 and the SSN 106. A=9 and K=1.

Something different

On Sunday, our local museum is holding its hugely popular classic car and bike day. This year they also have a tracked vehicle from the British Antarctic Survey.

See https://burwellmuseum.org.uk/ .

10m 200mW WSPR (Friday)

 My beacon has been on most of the morning.

UPDATE 1316z:  Spotted by just 1 PD station in the Netherlands. It looks like days on end of good 10m Es are drawing to a close. The usual pattern in that Es openings become far less frequent as the months progress. There is (for some reason) a small peak around New Year.

UPDATE 1628z:  Spotted by 3 stations. Not Es I think.

UPDATE 2005z: Spotted by 42 stations. Es.

Sunspots - Friday August 14th

 Solar flux is 108 and the SSN 101. A=7 and K=2.