30 Aug 2026

6m 1W FT8 (Sunday)

 My gear should be on at about 0915z.

UPDATE 1335z:  Gear turned on at 0936z.  14 stations spotting me.

Snapseed experiments

Snapseed is an app for photo editing. 

This is one of the effects on what (I think) is a cedar rose, a sort of fir cone.

10m 200mW WSPR (Sunday)

At about 0900z, I expect to turn my beacon on. 

UPDATE  1815z:  Beacon turned on at 0636z. Spotted by 25 stations.

Sunspots - Sunday August 30th

 Solar flux is 111 and the SSN 73. A=17 and K=2.

29 Aug 2026

ICOM IC-7110 revealed


It looks like ICOM have a competitor for the Yaesu FTX 1. It is a 100W radio with a separate head and covers HF, VHF and UHF. 

I have no idea about price and availability yet.  

It was announced at the Tokyo Ham Fair. 

In my view it could really compete with the Yaesu unit at the right price.  Even I am tempted. It looks like an IC-7100 successor, so expect 4m in the European version.

10m 200mW WSPR (Saturday)

My beacon was turned on just after breakfast.

UPDATE 1809z:  Spotted by 11 stations.

John Lewis Money advert

 My son has done the music for the latest John Lewis Money advert that has already clocked up 2.5M views on YouTube.  John Lewis is a major UK retailer.


Early morning walk


Before breakfast and before the forecast rain (!) we went for a walk around the nearby village of Swaffham Prior which has 2 medieval churches (in the same churchyard) and 2 windmills. Delightful.

6m 1W FT8 (Saturday)

My gear was turned on just after breakfast.

UPDATE 0842z:  Spotted by several English stations and one in Poland.

UPDATE 1950z:  Spotted by 31 stations.

Interconnectedness

In the West we are very dependent on imported food and imported energy. Energy powers nearly everything from water supplies, banking, sewers, traffic lights, the internet etc..  If we were suddenly denied these then society would be very different. We would adapt as we always do. 

I suspect there is an unwritten thing like MAD (mutually assured destruction) for nuclear weapons that if you were ever to hack us we will do the same to you. I hope so.