Tower Bridge - NOT amateur radio

As we were in London to see "Guys and Dolls" at the Tower Theatre with our village theatre group, I decided to take this photo of Tower Bridge as we left. Being in London, there was no radio today.

Shetland again - NOT amateur radio

 

This is another spectacular photo from the Shetland Is by Richard Lewis that appeared on 365project.

Hype?

Lots of people are talking about the new Yaesu FTX-1F transceiver due "in early 2025". Very little is known about it yet (as far as I am aware) and some are describing it as an FT817/818 successor or a replacement to the ICOM IC705. 

At the right price ( I expect they are thinking hard about this) and with the right features it could be all of these, but it could "bomb". Expect prices to drop later.  Also, early products sometimes have software and hardware bugs that get corrected later.

The video below is similar to many. I expect this will be the same until we know more about it ..... and the all important price.

Sunspots - Thursday November 21st

 Solar flux is 163 and the SSN 113. A=8 and K=1.

Electric cars - NOT amateur radio

In the news today was the sacking of 4000 people from Ford because of disappointing sales of electric cars. In my view we will see a major shift to electric cars when:

• Range is much increased.
• There is a move away from LiIon batteries.
• Prices are far lower.

In my view we are not there yet. In a few years things could be totally different. I am surprised that research in battery technology is not enormous as whoever makes the breakthrough will capture the market.

Nobel prizes - NOT amateur radio

Behind this tree in the photo is Old School Lane on which the original Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge  is located. It was here that many Nobel prizes were won.

Getting colder - NOT amateur radio

These last few days it has got far colder here in the UK. In some parts there has been early snow.  Today we had our first frost of the season.

I  have no idea what the long-term weather is for this winter, My wife recently took the photo of these berries.

6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

 After leaving the QMX+ for 30 minutes it initialised. I  have no idea how long after initial switch on this happened. 

Anyway at about 0735z I went on 6m FT8 QRP with the QMX+.

UPDATE 0925z:   27 stations have spotted me so far today.

UPDATE 1222z:  Spotted by 95 stations. See map.

UPDATE 1613z: VO1SIX (3933km) in Canada has spotted me on QRP 6m FT8 today. In total, 102 stations have spotted my QRP 6m FT8  today.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

My 500mW 10m WSPR beacon was turned on about 0700z. My QMX+ failed to initialise again. I have left it for now to see what happens!

UPDATE 1615z:  46 stations have spotted my QRP 10m WSPR beacon. Furthermost is PU5ALE (10191km) in Brazil.

Sunspots- Wednesday November 20th

 Solar flux is 157 and the SSN 109. A=8 and K=3.

17m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

 Don't ask me when, but the QMX+ initialised. As it is quite late (so 10m and 6m are probably dead) I am on 17m QRP FT8 with about 3W.

UPDATE 2132z:   6 stations (3 in the USA) have spotted me. One station in Georgia, USA copied on RX.

UPDATE 2225z:  11 stations have spotted me.  Now QRT.

Hoswick Bay, Shetland - NOT amateur radio

This brilliant photo by Richard Lewis who lives in the Shetland Isles, Scotland was posted on 365project recently. 

Being so far north, days are shorter in winter. They also get lots of wind and have few trees.

Green fingers? - NOT amateur radio

My wife seems to have a "touch" with house plants with many lasting far longer than we might expect. We have some orchids that have lasted many years. 

She says the secret with orchids is just a thimble of water once a week. Whatever, she has the touch!

10m 500mW WSPR (Tuesday)

My beacon has been on most of the morning. 14 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1915z:  43 stations have spotted me today. 

QMX+ still failing to initialise

After trying for about 10 times, my QMX+ (which is great once initialised!) has failed to initialise. Probably Wednesday, I shall go on 6m FT8 with the IC-705 instead.

UPDATE  1440z:  Although both the QDX and QMX+ rigs are very good, I am very disappointed that I am having so much trouble with Windows 10. It takes several goes to get the PC to "see" the audio on the QDX and the initialisation of the QMX+ is "flaky" at best: when it works great, but it should not be this hard to get started. I hope this initialisation is better with more recent software. It lets down an otherwise great radio.

Sunspots - Tuesday November 19th

 Solar flux is 165 and the SSN 118.  A=4 and K=1.

Gifts - NOT amateur radio

It is getting closer to the season when, in many cultures, gifts are exchanged. This was in the Grand Arcade, Cambridge earlier today.

6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My QRP FT8 has been on 50.313MHz with my QMX+ since just before breakfast. 14 stations have spotted me.  See map.

UPDATE 2004z:   QRT.  55 stations have spotted my QRP 6m FT8  today.  See map.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Monday)

My QRP beacon has been on since just before breakfast. So far, just 25 spots by EA8BFK (2880km).

UPDATE 1933z:  Now QRT after 40 stations spotted my QRP today.

6m MSK144 - total failure

 Overnight I monitored 50.280MHz MS144, which was supposed to be the best place to lurk for 6m MS in the Leonid meteor shower that was due to peak November 17th. In total, I spotted precisely nothing at all! It was a total failure. 

I was wondering if my internet connection had failed but there was nothing on my screen either, suggesting nothing had been received. Perhaps people have moved to a different mode or it was  a poor shower?