Snowflake - NOT amateur radio

This was in Rose Crescent, Cambridge today. It makes a good seasonal decoration. Sadly, Kings College was closed.

All day on 160m FT8

Today, I have remained on 160m FT8 all day and I'll remain on 160m until the morning after breakfast. As on previous evenings, there are lots of Europeans being spotted. Usually WU1ITU is the first North American to be spotted. This station is usually first copied between 2030z and 2130z.

UPDATE 2246z: this station came through at 2047z tonight  :-)

Best Prices?

When looking around for good prices on amateur radio gear I looked at XBS Telecom. Their prices include VAT and a 2 year warranty and are much lower than the UK dealers prices. As far as I can tell the price in Euros is lower than the UK price in pounds. Someone, in the UK is a tad greedy?

See https://www.xbstelecom.eu/shop/en/

160m FT8 RX overnight

In all, 7 North Americans and 1 South American spotted, with best DX PU0FDN (6957km) on Fernando de Noronha off Brazil. This station was spotted in North America, Europe and South Africa, so is probably genuine.

UPDATE 1009z: Most of the DX has now gone, although OK6DJ (973km) was spotted in the last 15 minutes.

New QRPclub magazine

The latest QRPclub magazine is available for download.

See http://club72.su/vestnik/qv17.pdf

Sunspots - Monday December 31st 2018

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0. A=10 and K=3.

Grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

At the moment we have our "London" grandchildren staying. They miss their kitten. We bought them some toy cuddly kittens which were a hit at bedtime.

Return to topband

At 1553z I returned to 160m FT8. I called a German station, without luck, but spotted by G0LUJ (279km) and another G.

Since then, I have been on RX only. Lots of Europeans spotted. Best DX so far this evening is UA4HBW (3325km).

More amateur satellites

According to Southgate News a recent Soyuz (Russian) launch has placed more amateur satellites into orbit.

See http://russianspaceweb.com/kanopus-v5-v6.html

Baking - NOT amateur radio

Our granddaughter loves baking. Here she is busy making Yorkshire Pudding earlier today. She is pretty good.