Sunspots - Friday March 19th 2021

 Solar flux is 73 and the SSN 12. A=4 and K=2.

Chinese electric commuter car - NOT amateur radio

The Chinese have launched a very low cost electric car aimed at commuters. It is a joint venture with General Motors. It is outselling Tesla cars by about 2:1. The standards in China are much lower than in Europe and the USA. At the moment it is only on sale in China.

It seems to me they have got their marketing spot on. In the west we have not got our electric car marketing correct. Our cars have (generally) got insufficient range for long distances and yet are far too expensive.

In what appears to be a stupid move, the UK government has today reduced the grant on electric cars under £35k and withdrawn it totally for cars over £35k. So much for encouraging us to go green!

In my view, the UK should launch a no frills electric car that fits the commuter range and can be charged at home. The government could actively encourage sales of these by strongly subsidising low cost electric cars made in the UK designed for commuters and local shopping trips.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56178802 .

Spring....nearly

According to the UK Met Office, spring began on March 1st. Some others define it as March 21st. 

Once the primroses are common we know spring is really here. My wife took this photo yesterday.

10m dipole

One of the simplest antennas is the dipole made of wire. 

On 10m this is quite small being only about 5m long. Although I have been very impressed with my tiny indoor loops, an outside dipole should be several dBs better in the best directions.

Whereas, in the past, erecting this would have been a trivial task, my ladder days are largely over, so I depend on others now for erection. Hopefully my son can help in the coming weeks. 

It would be good to have this up before the Es season starts, late next month. By the autumn I think we can expect the USA to come through regularly on 10m, even on 10m AM just above 29MHz.

I have an idea on where to hang it. This should be good for North America and Europe.

Echolink update

Southgate News reports that Echolink has been updated. I have to confess that I have not used Echolink for over a year. It allows you to talk via distant repeaters, although most of the ones I tried were very quiet. Finding any with activity was hard and this is one of the reasons I stopped. 

An advantage of Echolink is network radios can be used. As long as you have the internet, then you can gain access.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2021/march/echolink-for-windows-version-2-1-now-available.htm#.YFNdEyuTLrc .

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

Kind bee - NOT amateur radio

There was a bee on this daffodil when we went out yesterday and one there when we got back. It may even be the same one! 

My wife took this photo yesterday. 

Fen landscapes - NOT amateur radio

We live in the village of Burwell in Cambridgeshire, UK. This is where the chalk uplands meet the peat fens. Where we are is chalk, but about 300m away it is peat. 

The photo shows the fen landscape just to the north of us. Just visible as a white dot is Wicken windmill.

17m FT8 QRP (Thursday)

At 0830z, I turned on my 2.5W QRP FT8 to the indoor loop on 17m. So far, no spots on PSKreporter even though there are several stations spotted.

UPDATE 1215z:  101 stations spotted on RX. 5 stations have spotted my QRP TX.

UPDATE 1348z:  7 stations have spotted my QRP today on 17m FT8 with the furthermost being AJ1AJ (5264km). 167 stations spotted on RX.

Stations spotting my
2.5W QRP on 17m FT8
with the tiny indoor loop

UPDATE 1920z: 14 stations have spotted me today on 17m FT8 QRP TX and I have spotted 295 stations on RX.

UPDATE 2118z:  QRT.

Sunspots - Thursday March 18th 2021

 Solar flux is 78 and the sunspot number 12. A=5 and K=2.

Astra- Zeneca Covid-19 Vaccine - NOT amateur radio

I am deeply puzzled by some EU nations. I voted to stay in the EU in 2016, but am now convinced we did the correct thing leaving! They seem protectionist and slow beyond words!

Both the European Medicines Agency and the WHO have declared the AZ vaccine safe, yet still some nations insist on a pause. In the meantime many people will die and even more will be more vaccine-averse in months to come. 

Surely investigate if you must, but do not in the meantime pause vaccinating people who so desperately need it. This stinks of crass stupidity on a massive scale. Sour grapes?