160m FT8

Not long ago I QSYed to 160m FT8 RX. So far over 100 stations spotted, although none from North America yet.

160m FT8 RX spots to 2240z 

2m FT8

Now on 2m FT8 for the day. My initial CQ (10W to the big-wheel omni) was spotted by 10 stations in 4 countries, but no QSOs. Best DX was a spot by GI6ATZ (479km). Fewer stations spotted on RX thus far. At  the moment I am RX on 2m FT8 RX only.

Still looking at how to put online what I see on WSJT-X.

Southgate News

As regular visitors know, I often include links to stuff on Southgate News. Quite frequently they include things of interest and where this happens I try to point visitors to take a look. They seem to collect news items from several sources, so not everything is relevant.

I am not a great fan of Tony's 10m news.

See http://southgatearc.org/

Making WSJT-X screengrabs public

As mentioned yesterday, David G0LRD has a very useful feature on his QRZ.com page. If you go to the link provided you can see what 2m FT8 looks like at his QTH. I have already used this to see if my signal is OK. At the moment, I am not sure how he does this, but it looks a good feature.

Now, in the past I used Spectrum Lab to create a VLF grabber. I need to find out the best way for me, as I am definitely not a software expert!

If I can save the WSJT-X page image to Dropbox and make this public I think I can do it. I'll investigate. If not, I shall have to ask David! It would be good to be able to do this for any mode and any band that I am on.

HELP!!! Can someone please tell me how to automatically save screenshots or active windows panels to Dropbox?  I know how to do this with "prt sc" but want to do this automatically. Basically I need to do this regularly, without manual intervention, whenever WSJT-X is on.

160m FT8 overnight

Even though I was late getting on the band last night it wasn't a bad night with plenty of North Americans spotted. Nothing from the Caribbean or South America though.

160m FT8 RX stations spotted overnight 

Sunspots - Tuesday February 18th 2020

Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 0. A =7 and K=3.

160m FT8

Rather later than usual I have QSYed to 160m FT8 RX. This happened at 2240z.

80m ferrite rod TX antenna

Jay W5OLF has kindly said keep the antenna. So, later in the week I shall try to resonate it on the correct WSPR and FT8 frequencies and try some NVIS and other TX tests.

Nearly every American I have dealt with has been kind and generous. Jay, thank you!

Football money - NOT amateur radio

Writing in The Times newspaper today, Matthew Syed argues that owners and not clubs should be banned. Recently, a famous UK soccer team was banned from a European competition for 2 years for breaking rules. Syad states (allegedly) that one of Manchester City's owners, a wealthy middle east sheikh, has not attended a club game since 2010!

This is the trouble with some sports these days: it is more about profits than gamesmanship. Owners can be detached and have little knowledge of, or interest in, the game.

Personally, I would like to see limits on ownership and caps on wages for players. If this results in smaller profits so what? Surely there is enough untapped talent around.

I would like to see a ban on owners purely interested in personal gain. No idea on policing, but I have a hatred of people in it for personal gain. Soccer is a game, not a business.

Angry sky - NOT amateur radio

This morning, the sun was shining. Now it is changeable with some sun then angry clouds. A few moments ago the sky behind "our" windmill looked very dark and threatening. Now we have blue sky again!