6m MSK144

Yet again, I am monitoring 6m MSK144 on 50.280MHz. Most days this produces spots from several European countries. The main propagation at this time of year is random meteor trail reflections. Signals are brief, but often strong.

UPDATE 0904z: No spots as yet.

UPDATE 1410z: S59SV (1280km) in Slovenia spotted strongly this lunchtime.

UPDATE 1615z: GM4FVM (428km) spotted strongly this afternoon.

UPDATE 1702z: No further 6m MSK144 spots since the GM.

Sunspots - Wednesday February 7th 2018

Solar flux is 75 today. Sunspot number is 17. A=5 and K=1.

Low cost advertising - NOT amateur radio

My wife reminds me that it is possible to advertise in the programme for the upcoming Cambridgeshire Choral Society (CCS) concert in early April. This programme is widely seen and rates are very reasonable indeed. £50 for a full page. £25 for half page. The booklet is A5.

Should you wish to advertise please contact me in the first instance. More details are on the CCS website. This is your chance to reach many for very little.

See www.cambschoral.org.uk .

Optical Communications

One of my favourite things before my 2013 stroke was experimenting with optical communications. I had some success with "over the horizon" weak signals.  No sign of the red light was visible, yet it could be detected miles away non line of sight (NLOS) with a laptop. These days I am just too wobbly to do this.

As I have said before, test gear is easier than microwaves and all the kit can be made in a shed for very little money. This is an area rich for experiments and right at the frontiers.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/optical .

Watch Falcon Heavy lift-off live - NOT amateur radio

I gather this has been delayed a bit. Not sure why this was. At some date this could take people to Mars. Chances of a successful launch are not brilliant, although I hope it works.

You can watch the launch live at  https://www.engadget.com/2018/02/06/spacex-falcon-heavy-launch-livestream/

UPDATE 2128z: Well, it looks like a successful launch.

2m UKAC tonight

Being the first Tuesday of the month, tonight is the 2m leg of the UKAC activity contest organised by the RSGB.

"This contest takes place on Tue 6-Feb-2018 20:00 UTC
The rules for the contest can be found here
You canlist/edit your contest alerts here

Regards, 
RSGB CC"

UPDATE 2120z: 5 QSOs before I stopped with 5W and my big wheel. If I had stayed longer, I would have worked far more.

OFCOM - Communications Monthly Jan 2018

More not to be missed stuff from OFCOM.

See http://ofcom.cmail19.com/t/ViewEmail/i/3D9001E53370CA822540EF23F30FEDED/59D1BD3EA2F08127C67FD2F38AC4859C

Frasier - NOT amateur radio

Very few USA TV shows appeal to me. Exceptions were "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men" which both my wife and I got addicted to, goodness knows why as they are a million miles from our life styles.

Another show we much enjoyed was "Frasier" and I see today that the British born actor who played dad has died. This was US TV at its very best. RIP John - you made many of us laugh.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42953979 .

136kHz last night

There is no doubt that I have to improve my RX system on LF and MF.

Last night I spotted the same few stations on 136kHz WSPR and OPERA, giving reports way down on others spotting the same stations.

Next season I shall definitely have to try a mini-whip E-field probe which, although tiny, work really well on 136kHz and 472kHz RX as long as they are positioned to minimise noise pick-up. Usually this means as far away as possible from houses and in the clear. I know I can do better.

Up to now, I have just been using my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. It works, but is directional and probably 10-20dB down on an optimised E-field probe.

Cambridge punts - NOT amateur radio

Around the centre of Cambridge you will find hawkers trying to get you to sign up to go on punts. Little do they realise I have lived hereabouts for almost 50 years!  At this time of year, especially if it is cold and wet, this must be a thankless job. We have few visitors at this time of year, whereas it gets very busy in the summer.

This is a view of Scudamore's punts, mostly empty. Then it is early February.

Just over the bridge on the right is Magdalene College and the Pepys Library, which houses his entire library.