The following rallies have been notified to me. As usual, it is advisable to check before going any distance.
Saturday March 2nd - Lagan Valley Amateur Radio Annual Rally, near Belfast, BT26 6AR. See www.lvars.uk .
Sunday March 3rd - Exeter Radio and Electronics Rally , EX4 8PX. Contact g3xvi@yahoo.co.uk
My QRPP 10m WSPR is on again, although I have not had any reports for a few days. I just leave it running ...... in hope!
The fact I got any reports at all amazed me.
UPDATE 1845z: No spots.
My 2.5W 6m FT8 to the vertical omni V2000 antenna has been on since about 1030z. So far, 8 English stations have spotted me.
UPDATE 1425z: 10 stations have spotted me so far and 3 stations have been spotted here.
UPDATE 1601z: 12 stations have spotted me today.
For many years, I have advocated a tiny amateur allocation around 40.680MHz primarily for radio science research. Here in the UK, the RSGB seems dead set against this, whereas in some countries an allocation has been made.
Frankly, I think the RSGB's position is stupid.
Surely the main purpose of amateur radio is research and self training. In the UK, if we want do research at 8m it costs us £50 annually unless we keep to ISM powers (10mW ERP).
The latest excuse is space radar to help investigate climate change, yet the latest WARC says:
"that spaceborne radars are intended to be operated only in either uninhabited or sparsely populated areas of the globe, with particular focus on deserts and polar ice fields, and only at night-time from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. locally."
Surely the RSGB could put a good case to OFCOM for a few kHz in the ISM 8m band, NoV, limited power and modes, by application only, no-interference...
Is this likely? Probably not.
Instead we can go on 80m with 1kW, with commercial gear to talk about gardening. Am I annoyed? Yes.
RSGB - wake up!!
An eHam.com review will have to wait until I have really got to grips with it. My first impressions are that it is a sensiitve on 2m and 70m as my FT817ND, but more artifacts than I was expecting.
We grab a bite to eat first, walk through the Grand Arcade and the grounds of King's College.
The collage here captures this.
My 2.5W FT8 to the vertical V2000 omni antenna is on. At 1040z, spotted by 7 English stations. No spots on RX yet.
Compared with a few years ago, there are about twice the number of electric cars on the road. Having said that, I would guess only about 1% of cars are electric.
At the moment, electric cars are not good value. They are expensive, the range is not good enough, they use battery materials that are not commonly available and their insurance is high.
In my view, there will be lots of battery research leading to batteries that have far greater range and far lower cost cars.
I expect a tipping point in a few years from now when electric cars will be similarly priced to fossil fuelled cars with ranges that mean charging will be infrequent. Many will charge at home on low energy deals and cars will only need charging every few weeks.
My feelings are "not yet, but soon".
It would be a great shame if the Chinese and Americans got there first and guarded all the patents.
My QRPP WSPR is on again. So far, no spots, although I am not surprised.
There about 100 billion neurons in an adult human brain. This is quite staggering. By any analysis the brain is incredibly complex.
My 10mW ERP 630m WSPR from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground was turned on about 1520z.
UPDATE 2041z: 12 stations have spotted me.
At the moment I am undecided what to do about my 8m TX permit.
If I want to get a permit after April, it costs me £50 per year. Running 10mW ERP WSPR under ISM rules would be free. From an experimental viewpoint running QRPP WSPR, although much harder, would be a better experiment. I am appalled that OFCOM and the RSGB seem uninterested in genuine research unless I pay!
At the moment, my inclination is to TX 10mW WSPR without a permit.
My antenna wants renewing, as I currently have a high SWR.
It was connected up briefly yesterday after downloading the software, which was very straightforward. It is good being able to cover 1kHz to 2GHz with the SDR.
I think there may be some noise from the PC getting into the RX, so I may add some ferrite chokes to the USB cable later. Watch this space!
UPDATE 1142z: I am surprised by the number of artifacts. Adding chokes made no difference to LF/MF noise floor, so noise must be external. I tried several antennas. Next thing to try is a sensitivity test on various bands using the FT817ND and the same antenna each time.
UPDATE 1232z: Tested 70cm sensitivity comparing the strength of the Leicester beacon. On my 2m big-wheel omni antenna this is just on the noise level on the FT817ND. It was much the same on the RSP1B with the same antenna. This suggests the 70cm sensitivity is similar. Next is to try the Kent beacon on the two rigs on 2m.
After success on Friday, my 500uW (0.5mW) beacon is on again with the PA turned off. It was also on Saturday with no spots all day.
UPDATE 1825z: No spots. I think another day has passed with no spots.
Over the dreary winter months these help to brighten things up. Even better with a blue sky!
Whilst I understand recent OFCOM changes to the UK amateur radio licenses, I am disappointed that power levels have been increased. Having worked all over the world with 10W pep SSB many years ago and now with even better modes like FT8 available, why do we need more power? 1kW linears are VERY expensive, re-enforcing the message that amateur radio needs deep pockets for rigs, linears, towers and beams.
As I hope I have shown, deep pockets and high power are definitely NOT needed to have fun or work the world. I hope more stick with foundation licenses!! You can work the world, and have far more fun, for the cost of a few pints of beer or a good night out.
You definitely do not need to spend much money or run loads of power!!
This conflict continues to trouble me.
It would seem that Israel is dead set against journalists going into Gaza to see things for themselves. They continue to drive the people of Gaza (including women and children) to hunger and thirst using the horrific events of October 7th by Hamas as their reason.
I only wish peace and mutual respect. This requires compromise on both sides.
Both Hamas and Israel have done things wrong. Both will be judged by history.
The following have been notified to me. Usual caveats apply about checking before going far.
Sunday February 25th - British Vintage Wireless Society , Biggleswade, SG18 8JH. Contact secretary@bvws.org.uk .
Sunday February 25th - Red Rose Winter Rally, Leigh, WN7 2PJ. Contact lesjackson@ntlworld.com .
This term I am attending (via Zoom) a series of lectures on the formation of the brain. Once we thought of our eyes like cameras and the brain interprets reality. It turns out this is totally wrong. This led me to a TED talk. It is quite short, but fascinating. I commend it to you.
‘The space-time continuum is a construct’
The MUF in some parts of the world is high. It "feels" as if we are at the start of the long decline to sunspot minimum, although there is sometimes a second peak.
See https://prop.kc2g.com/ .
About a year ago, I gave a talk at CDARC. Because of my poor voice these days actually I produced the slides and someone else did the talking! Ovearll, it was quite successful.
When I was younger I believed everyone was basically good and the evil they had was a result of upbringing or genes. These days I am not so sure. That evil exists is not in doubt. In this world that we share there are plenty of signs.
It is my view that we are all capable of evil. That is what frightens me. We all have to do our best to replace evil with good.
Now AI has been brought in to help data processing. According to the BBC there are potentially 10-50 billion places where intelligent life could exist just in this galaxy alone.
There are so many variables like where do you look in the electromagnetic spectrum. Indeed, is this the best place to look?
If we found signs of intelligent life, it could have profound effects on this small blue dot.
With the sunspot number being so low compared with a few months ago, I think it is very unlikely I shall be spotted today with this tiny power. As a sucker for punishment though my 10m WSPR beacon is again on without the PA.
UPDATE 1710z: No spots all day. Am I surprised? No.
Last night I gave the latest version of Google's AI tool (now called Gemini) a try. I tried various family names, without being impressed. Basically, compared with ChatGPT4, it was hopeless. They have a long way to go to catch up in my view.
Solar flux is 170 and the SSN just 45. Pretty sure this is the lowest for many years. A=4 and K=0. I seem to recall at the peak of the last cycle there were days with very few sunspots.
My 10mW ERP WSPR from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground has been on since about 2130z. So far, I have been spotted by 8 stations with the furthermost LA3EQ (769km).
Enough is enough.
The fighting has to stop as too many innocent people are being killed, traumatised, injured or made homeless. Whilst I think it is entirely right for Israel to defend itself from Hamas, one could be forgiven for thinking this is now genocide.
I understand that Israel wants to prevent future incursions and massacres like October 7th, but is the fighting in Gaza the way to forge long-term peace? We now have generations that will grow up hating Israel. OK, Hamas might be weakened, but the cycle of violence will go on.
As I have said before, my friends include Jews and Muslims. We need a just peace.
See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-middle-east-68358053
My 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni was turned on at about 1340z. So far, just one UK spot received.
From today, new UK amateur radio licence conditions come into effect.
On the news yesterday was a piece about brain injury research at Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge. Two things stuck out to me.
One was brain overload which I experience especially when driving: it seems everything needs processing and this causes my brain to be overloaded. All the time whilst driving I am looking for possible hazards and it is really exhausting.
The second thing is profound tiredness or exhaustion. I want to sleep in the daytime far more.
My stroke was in 2013 and it is hard now to know what is old age (I am 75) and what was my stroke. My constant giddiness all my waking hours is exhausting and is a result of my stroke.
We usually do housework every week on Mondays. My wife has a U3A course on Mondays. We decided to do it today instead as the weather is so foul!
Yet again I am on 10m WSPR with 500uW (0.5mW).
UPDATE 1431z: No spots. At the moment, I get spotted on this tiny power a few times a week.
The USA puzzles me. It looks likely that the biggest democratic country will be led for 4 more years by two very old men (both are years older than me!).
What puzzles me is why can't the USA find a younger set of candidates? Surely, in the USA there are some charismatic younger potential leaders.
This must say a lot about the people of the USA. Individually, every American I have met has been kind, warm and generous.
The photo shows King's Parade on Monday when the sun was shining. King's College is out of shot on the left and the church is Great St Mary's, the university church.
It is my view following emails with OFCOM that in the UK we are all free to experiment on the ISM bands without a licence or callsign as long IR2030 and any other rules are followed. We have to cause no undue interference and must accept any interference.
In the UK, this band is mainly used for RFID tags and short ranges. In the UK on this band the power limit is 10mW ERP. Clearly it helps if you use a unique callsign that WSPRnet can use so you can see where your QRPP signal is being received.
On 10m, I have gone QRT and moved to the hifer ISM band at 22m, RX only. I am monitoring 13.5539MHz WSPR, as always hopefully.
Pretty sure than those that can transmit are limited to mW powers.
I am not sure what time is optimum to spot USA station on this band.
Yet again, my beacon is on with the PA off. The output is 500uW (0.5mW). No spots today, but I shall stick with it and see what today brings.
In the last few weeks I have only been spotted by 2 stations at this tiny power.
When I was first on HF, I recall talking to many stations in the old USSR. Their background and politics were very different, but it did not matter: we were all united by our interest in radio.
That is one of the things that I like about our hobby. We can rise above politics. All systems of living have faults - capitalism is meant to encourage people to be resilient. Communism is meant to share wealth equally.
In the end, we are all just humans, with weaknesses. Not one of us is perfect.
Whatever our views on politics and religion, we must all do to others as we would wish them to do to us. Kindness and fairness.
It is very easy to think we are always right and others are wrong. In reality, we are usually all wrong!
My 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna is on. I was surprised to be called by 7S2A. We were unable to complete the QSO as he faded out.
I miss just thumbing through a book, then deciding whether to buy or not. Bookshops must be struggling, like most retailers.
Many second hand book shops have turned to online.
A few moments ago (at about 1554z) my QRP 6m FT8 (2.5W and a V2000 vertical omni) was turned on. So far (at 1605z) spotted by just 1 G.
UPDATE 1738z: Spotted by 4 Gs.
My 500uW (0.5mW) 10m WSPR TX was spotted by EA8BFK (2880km) this afternoon,
Just now, I took another look at the Yaesu, Japan website. The FT818 has gone and is no longer shown. Many have been waiting for years and years for a decent successor to the FT817. It never came.
There can be several reasons:
In my view, there is a market gagging for a decent product. Yaesu has the skills to make a good product. They have shown this with the FT710.
We are on the downward slope (probably) of the solar cycle. This really is their last chance.
Yaesu - wake up!!
Yes, I know - don't say it!! Yet again I am trying 500uW (0.5mW) 10m WSPR. Conditions are probably not good enough.
UPDATE 2030z: No spots all day. I tried!
This morning, I am on QRP 6m FT8 with 2.5W and the V2000 vertical omni antenna. One QSO with G0PQO (90km).
My 500uW (0.5mW) WSPR beacon is on again, but no spots this morning.
UPDATE 1815z: No spots all day.
