My musings on Ham Radio … and stuff!
I worked quite a few stations on FT-8 earlier this evening, around 1900Z … North America, South America, and Europe. From there, it’s been downhill. Not much going on with CW or digital modes now (2400Z/2000 EDT). Forty and eighty are pretty crappy, too, with high noise levels here at my QTH tonight. Ah, well …. there’s always tomorrow! Sure is different than this past weekend!
73 de Dick N4BC
The bands have been pretty crummy lately. Nothing of interest is being heard at my QTH. Consequently, my activity is way down, and I’ve just been cleaning up an sorting things out in the shack.
One thing has been good though … and it has absolutely NOTHING to do with ham radio … McDonalds Quarter-Pounder. I tried one of the new fresh beef, cooked-to-order burgers, and was really impressed. I think Wendys still has the edge, but the taste and juiciness of the new quarter pounder was a big improvement over its predecessor. It tastes GOOD … not like dry cardboard! Try one … I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
73 de Dick N4BC
Sixty meters is an odd band. Last night, I worked a station in Paducah, KY, and a station in Poland. I was being heard in both North America and Europe. Sixty is still an underutilized band, but I’m finding more and more users.
Forty last night was hot! Solid wall to wall FT-8 and CW signals … strong, too! I upgraded Windows 10 with the big Spring 2018 update with only one minor problem … when I opened WSJT-X it would key the transmitter, but there was no output power. I suspected an audio problem, and I was right. For some reason, the audio source changed from USB Audio Codec to Speaker in the WSJT-X Audio setup screen. Two mouse clicks pretty much solved that. No more problems noted and all works OK now.
I read an interesting article last night (don’t remember where, though … somewhere on the internet). Seems the scientist was saying that the new sunspot cycle has just begun. Something to do with the change in polarity of a new sunspot. If this is true, it would make the last cycle one of the shortest. We can only hope …
Spring has sprung, it seems. We’re finally having days in the 70s and 80s. Nights are still pretty cool … in the 40s and 50s. As far as I’m concerned, it’s about time!
73 de Dick N4BC
I worked an odd callsign last night … 9A18WARD. The 9A1 part tells me it’s Croatia, but you have to admit, it’s a weird call. I can’t find any info on QRZ or searching on Google, other than lots of people have worked that station.
Oh, well … work ’em first and worry about them later. Have a great weekend!
73 de Dick N4BC
Looks like pretty good propagation tonight. I worked a couple of hours of FT-8 on several bands (including sixty meters) and here’s where my signals were received:
I worked about 25 stations, running fifty watts to my vertical, mostly North America, so it was a nice evening. I was working stations while finishing up my tax returns (at the last minute, as usual).
73 de Dick N4BC