Surge in sales of domestic radios in the UK - Oct 2026

 

In mid Oct 2026, the UK government advised members of the public and businesses to think more about how they would cope with natural disasters, cyber-attacks or state-sponsored terrorism.

The "Be Ready" campaign encourages households to stock up on supplies to survive for three days and also suggested having a FM radio for updates during outages, and writing down the frequencies of any national or local radio stations.

UK retailer Robert Dyas reported a 160% increase in sales of radios compared with last week, while another retailer Maplin said sales had increased by 92% in radios compared with the same period last month.

Links...

1) BBC - Prepare for supply chain disruption

2) BBC - Rise in sales of radios and tinned foods, say retailers

3) Be Ready Campaign

New Propagation Software from 8P5AB in Barbados

8P5AB in Barbados sends on the following information...

"I have written a new piece of software that shows 2m/70cm propagation between Europe, Latin America, Caribbean and North America. Its called Tradewind and its free. 

Message me for a free copy...please note its unsigned and will give a false danger reading due to play and google settings. The idea is to promote the rare sporadic daily dx on 2m/70 that occurs by getting more operators aware of vhf ducting and TEP. 

My call is 8P5AB "

Video: The Bizarre Bases of Antenna Towers

Grady Hillhouse is the owner of the very popular Practical Engineering channel on YouTube which looks at various infrastructure projects around the world. 

One video on his YouTube channel which caught my interest was titled The Bizarre Bases of Antenna Towers.

Considering how many radio amateurs have antenna masts and towers, it should be of interest to a lot of people.

FM radio stations from Jamaica on 97 MHz are heard in Chile via TEP - 13th Oct 2026

Pipe,  CE3SX / CE3SAD in Chile reports that he managed to hear a FM radio station at 97 MHz  from Jamaica during a Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) opening on the 13th of October 2026.

The Jamaican station, KOOL 97 FM was heard on three different frequencies... 97.3 MHz from Montego Bay, 97.5 MHz from Ocho Rios and 97.9 MHz from Kingston.

Pipe was listening from a location at Chicureo which is just north of the Santiago, the capital of Chile in South America. The stations were heard at 21.21 local time in Chile which is 00:21 UTC.

The distance was approximately 5760 kms.

While I have reported on previous openings on the FM band between Jamaica and Chile, it's always interesting to hear about an opening at 97 MHz over such a long distance.

The distance is at nearly 5,800kms is approaching the maximum distance usually associated with Trans-Equatorial Propagation. 

A video clip of the reception is shown below...

Links...

1) For more examples of long distance reception reports on 88-108 MHz band, see my Band 2 page.

Notice: Upcoming HAARP ionospheric tests from Alaska - 20th to 24th Oct 2026

The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is based in Alaska and it's a high-power, high frequency (HF) transmitter for studying the ionosphere.  The principal instrument is a phased array of 180 HF crossed-dipole antennas  capable of radiating 3.6 megawatts  into the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.  Transmit frequencies are selectable in the range of 2.7 to 10 MHz.

The research team have announced that they will be carrying out tests from the 20th to the 24th of October 2026.

The press release is shown below and I've added a map to show location and distance.

Date: October 16, 2026
To: Amateur Radio & Radio Astronomy Communities
From: HAARP Program Office
Subject: Notice of Transmission

The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) will be conducting a research campaign October 20-24 UTC, with operating times specified in the table below. 

Operating frequencies will vary, but all HAARP transmissions will be between 2.8 MHz and 10 MHz. Actual transmit days and times are highly variable based on real-time ionospheric and/or geomagnetic conditions. All information is subject to change.

These transmissions are being conducted in support of the INFUSE-II and DUST-III sounding rocket missions launching from Poker Flat Research Range, located north of Fairbanks, AK. INFUSE-II will test a new type of ultraviolet imager for use on future space telescopes, while DUST-III will carry a miniature laboratory into space to study how tiny grains of space dust form and grow.

For more information on both missions, consult the UAF Geophysical Institute’s webpage for the upcoming launches: https://www.gi.alaska.edu/news/stellar-insights. The rocket launches will be livestreamed on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/@pokerflatrr.

Note that due to the need to make real-time schedule adjustments based on ionospheric conditions and to coordinate with the rocket launch teams, no frequencies are specified in the table below. The included

transmission notice supplement contains information on the frequencies HAARP is authorized to transmit. 

HAARP transmissions will only occur on our authorized frequencies. There are no specific data collection requests from funded investigators, but reception reports are appreciated and may be submitted to our online form at https://haarp.gi.alaska.edu/form/reception-reports.

There are no specific data collection requests from funded investigators, but reception reports are appreciated and may be submitted to our online form at https://haarp.gi.alaska.edu/form/reception-reports

For updates on ionospheric conditions in Gakona, please consult ionograms from the HAARP

Diagnostic Suite: https://haarp.gi.alaska.edu/diagnostic-suite

Additional Resources for Reading Ionograms
Understanding HF Propagation and Reading Ionograms from Bootstrap Workbench:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTFKNCo3Cl8

Reading Your Ionogram-Keeping It Simple from John (VE6EY):
https://play.fallows.ca/wp/radio/shortwave-radio/reading-your-ionogram-keeping-it-simple/

The image above is an annotated ionogram from HAARP that describes features that may be of

interest. Note that f0F2 is calculated at the top left.

f0F2 is the critical frequency of the F2 layer of the Earth’s ionosphere. This is the frequency at
which radio signals stop refracting off the ionosphere and begin passing through to outer space.
For certain HAARP experiments that deal with interactions in the ionosphere, transmission
frequencies below f0F2 are desirable, while for other experiments (such as those involving high altitude satellites), staying above f0F2 is required.

Supplement to HAARP Notice of Transmission

General Information for HAARP Radio Enthusiasts:

Presentations at the 2026 RSGB Convention

The 2026 RSGB Convention in the UK was held on the weekend of the 11th and 12th of October and the various presentations are now available on the RSGB YouTube channel.

There are a wide range of topics on offer and there should be something of interest there for most people. There are also a few interviews and items of interest in between the full presentations.

These are the presentations with the associated timestamps...

Day 1 - Saturday 11 October 2026

0:18:56 RSGB President Bob Beebe, GU4YOX

00:32:55 What is next for the amateur radio service? – IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH

01:44:32 Understanding FT8 through DNA sequencing parallels – Ian Henry, G0LFT

02:44:08 Amateur TV – getting started – Dave Crump, G8GKQ

04:44:15  3Y0K, the Bouvet Island DXpedition – Adrian Ciuperca, KO8SCA

05:44:05 Tuners and antennas: what’s going on? – Peter Duffet-Smith, GM3XJE

06:59:12 Have you estimated your EMF exclusion zones recently? – John Rogers, M0JAV and Peter Zollman, G4DSE

07:59:58 WRTC 2026 – Lee Volante, G0MTN

YouTube video HERE

Day 2 - Sunday 12 October 2026

00:15:44 LEO Satellites – Patrick Wood, 2E0IFB

01:30:43 A modular approach to construction – Paul Marks, G8FVK

02:30:44 Where is contesting going in the 21st Century? – Chris Tran, GM3WOJ

04:30:59 An update on the latest developments in the microwave community – Heather Nickalls, M0HMO and Brian Coleman, G4NNS

05:30:44 The results of 12 August 2026 eclipse propagation experiment – Steve Nichols, G0KYA

YouTube video HERE

IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH highlights ageing amateur radio population

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is the representative body for radio amateurs worldwide. The IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH made a presentation at the 2026 RSGB Conference titled 'What is next for the amateur radio service?'

One of the key challenges that VE6SH highlighted was the ageing amateur radio population. One  of the graphics that he used was the age profile of membership of the URE, the national society for radio amateurs in Spain.

There are some caveats here. One, this is the membership profile for members of the URE which may not be an exact match for radio amateurs in Spain. Two, this is an example for one country and that may not exactly match the age profile for membership of amateur radio organisations in other countries.

However, I think it's safe to assume that it's reasonably representative of the general amateur radio population in most countries A large percentage of radio amateurs are now between 55 and 79 and there are a lot fewer aged below 50 becoming radio amateurs.

The presentation by VE6SH was part of a live stream of the conference on YouTube... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiUs-aSVTBU&t=10068s

It starts at 0:33 and runs until 1:11. There is a follow up panel discussion which then runs until 1:39.

36 MHz Beacon Tests by LY2YR in Lithuania - Oct to Dec 2026

Gintas, LY2YR in Lithuania will be operating a FT8 beacon on 36.680 MHz in the low-VHF part of the spectrum. 

LY2YR will have it on air from October until the 9th of December 2026 and Gintas is investigating if  F2 layer propagation will reach as high as 36 MHz. He especially welcomes reports from outside Europe.

Details as follows...

• Dial Freq: 36.680 MHz

• Mode: FT8

• Power: 10W

• ANT: Multiband Hexbeam (20-6m) – therefore the radiation pattern is broad

• QTF: 290°

Analysis... The map below shows the location of LY2YR in Europe.

Even though we are well past the summer Sporadic-E season, there will still be the occasional opening even in October and November. If someone in the 1000 to 2000 km range left their receiver on all day then there's a chance of catching a weak opening.

Locations like Greece and Italy to the south are about the right distance and it should be possible. Even though LY2YR is beaming west with a Hexbeam, the beamwidth is pretty broad.

This is the wider map...

In terms of F2 layer propagation, openings to Spain and Portugal are possible and certainly the Canary Islands (EA8).

To the east, the path to Australia might be possible via F2 where there is a pocket of low band VHF enthusiasts. The beam heading for Sydney (VK3) is about 83 deg although the front to back of the Hexband might be an issue here.

The more northerly path to North America might be difficult. South America and South Africa certainly seem possible.

Equipment... With so many people now using SDR receivers, tuning to unusual frequencies like 36 MHz is now a lot easier. Ideally you should have an antenna tuned to 36 MHz but an antenna for 28 MHz or 50 MHz will work albeit with reduced sensitivity.

The easiest thing to do is probably just to tune the receiver to 36.680 MHz, mode USB, use a wide bandwidth like 2.5 kHz.

Operating... Leave the receiver on 36.680 MHz for a few hours during the day. The best times are when you are hearing stations in or near Lithuania (LY) on the 28 MHz (10m) band. PSK Reporter is especially good for this.

If you are using software programmes like WSJT-X then you can edit one of the unusual frequencies stored by default in the programme and change it to 36.680 MHz USB. Alternatively, you can use say 28 MHz and just turn off PSK reporting.

Reports... If you hear any signals from LY2YR then any format is fine - whether via PSK Reporter, chat or you can email him directly.