Bored stiff

I guess I am not the only one, conditions are terrible for HF at the moment and am bored stiff. It might be a chance to get out with my camera tonight and see if I can get a few shots of the Aurora Borealis, have never seen it, so might be a blessing in disguise.

What do you get up to when the airwaves are down?

Yet another big geomagnetic storm with us Mark.

Operators are still firing up though and there's some FT4/8 action on the bands, a bit of SSB as well as CW.


Got a million and one others things I can always get on with - Noodle on the guitar trying to bang out that unplayable riff, constructing the latest project, having a tidy up of the shack (Ha! Yeah, right!) Haven't got my camera gear out in ages (used to have my own darkroom for film and print processing) and not even sure if my old Olympus DSLR is still operational.

I could always spend some time with the missus seeing as it's her day off....yeah, she'll love that....NOT!

Hobbies eh? Not always plain sailing.


My five year old grandson came into the shack on Sunday blurting through his bottom lip "I'm bored!"
I told him he could join me in the shack for a while if he wanted, to which he replied.....

"I'm not that bored Grandad!"

Hey up Mark, bit of a bounce back on the bands right now.

Time to fire the radio back up!

There's always fun to be had on a band somewhere. Yesterday there were quite a lot of kids playing on the PMR channels, I normally don't interact because in this day and age it feels a bit weird QSKing into a kids convo, but the urge got the better of me with one group and I went in pretending I was from Australia and had a brief laugh with them... they told me they were in Mexico and were putting on silly accents (I say they sounded silly, but my fake Aussie accent sounded more like a west country Worzel).

When not radioing or working, I like underground exploration, GPSr related games and activities, reading, writing and roleplay (of the written word text games type, before anyone reads this and invites me to something adult  )

As Victor noted, there is/was some action on 10 & 11m a short time ago. It looks Sporadic E trumps geomagnetic storm stricken F layers.

Yip, same up here in Edinburgh. Got a contact in Palmero and then Athens on USB on Friday morning, linked into the Perthshire Delta Delta net on Sunday on 27.355. That was it all weekend.

SangueG wrote:

There's always fun to be had on a band somewhere. Yesterday there were quite a lot of kids playing on the PMR channels, I normally don't interact because in this day and age it feels a bit weird QSKing into a kids convo, but the urge got the better of me with one group and I went in pretending I was from Australia and had a brief laugh with them... they told me they were in Mexico and were putting on silly accents (I say they sounded silly, but my fake Aussie accent sounded more like a west country Worzel).

When not radioing or working, I like underground exploration, GPSr related games and activities, reading, writing and roleplay (of the written word text games type, before anyone reads this and invites me to something adult  )

As Victor noted, there is/was some action on 10 & 11m a short time ago. It looks Sporadic E trumps geomagnetic storm stricken F layers.

Last year whilst sorting a shed out or some other garden related chore, I had a Baofeng on scan. 
It picked up some kids on PMR.
Can't remember exactly but I think I sat there in the sun, listening for a short while beer in hand,, smiling and reminiscing my own childhood 


Then I shouted " Oi, clear the airwaves yer snivelling little gits" .


No I didn't , I think I keyed the Roger beep a couple of times. The silence followed by laughter and "who's that" ? As it suddenly dawned on them they weren't on a mobile phone
A quick "heloooo" followed more laughter, and I left to scan the airwaves.

But yes, I was intrigued as to how far their signal was travelling, but obviously I wasn't about to ask them their location/ QTH lol .
If my grandson had of been here, he could of asked and maybe had a bit of fun on air. They sounded the same age.


As for cameras. I have an Olympus 35mm
I've often contemplated using it again but it seems so expensive nowadays for film and processing.
Anyone recommend an online supplier developer?

Quote :

As for cameras. I have an Olympus 35mm
I've often contemplated using it again but it seems so expensive nowadays for film and processing.
Anyone recommend an online supplier developer?

Sorry but no idea on processing film, I have 3 Nikon DSLR's and heaps of nice glass. I really need to get out and use them, the thought of my back spasming always puts me off.

Conditions have now picked up again on most of the bands, and managed Martinique on FT8 this morning, was quite pleased with that one.