Experimenting with an ATU for EFHW antennas

DX Explorer appeals to me. 

He is a real experimenter and learns through doing. One of his videos shows his experiments with an ATU for his end fed antenna trying to use it on other bands.

Solid state EV batteries nearer

BYD (allegedly) has just filed some new patents. BYD is working towards a future electric car that is designed for the mass markets (i.e. low cost, fast charging and decent range). I am sure other car manufacturers are racing to achieve this.

10m 200mW WSPR TX (Sunday)

 My beacon was turned on at breakfast.

UPDATE 0944z:  52 stations have spotted me already with lots of Es.

Portable operation

This photo must date from the early 2000s I think, or more probably in the 1990s judging by my hair colour!  

I am operating portable from my mother's garden in Devon on 10m SSB with 1W to a vertical mag-mount on the grass. It worked very well.

Sunspots - Sunday August 2nd

 Solar flux is 140 and the SSN 102. A=4 and K=1.

Italy back on 8m

 Italian radio amateurs have again been granted access to the 8m band. It is a real pity that in the UK the RSGB (or parts of it?) seem so against 8m when all we need is a 5kHz sliver, non-interference, narrow digital only, when several EU administrations have granted access. Also, judging by the I&T licences, I do not think OFCOM is anti, just the RSGB.

Petition the RSGB - 5kHz wide only, narrow digital only, strictly non-interference, NoV required.

10m 200mW WSPR TX (Saturday)

My beacon has been on since about 0530z.

UPDATE 0806z:  So far 34 stations have spotted me.

Sunspots - Saturday August 1st

 Solar flux is 148 and the SSN 123. A=5 and K=1.

6m 1W FT8 (Thursday)

My gear has been on most of the day.

UPDATE 1908z: So far, spotted by 176 stations, mainly Es in Europe. I think I need to try re-installing WSJT-X or get a new PC. It seems to fail to upload spots I make and cannot access certain memory locations as if my hard drive is failing. Never seen this before. Seems to work fine unless the program tries to use these memory locations.

10m 200mW WSPR (Friday)

My beacon has been on all day.

UPDATE 1800z:  97 stations have spotted me today with the best 5Z4GO (7269km).

Heathkit HW8

As mentioned before, I recently bought a second-hand HW8. This product is often used for restoration and modification.

Home grown tomatoes

Most years I grow some tomatoes at home. I am sure that buying them from a supermarket is cheaper and less hassle. 

However, I like the smell and the taste always seems better if you grow them yourself.

I wish mine looked like these seen at the nearby village of Lode.

Israel, Gaza and the West Bank

Let me say from the very outset that I abhor violence of any kind. 

Recently, in the UK, there has been an uptick of anti-semitism with attacks on synagogues which is totally unacceptable.

This is what I wrote on Facebook in 2015!!

“Israel - as a nation SHAME ON YOU for the attack on a Palestinian home in the occupied territories. No amount of apologies from the Israeli head of government can make this other than STATE terrorism.”

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpvwjmme3p0o . Hmmm...and Israel will agree??

Sunspots - Friday July 31st

 Solar flux is 152 and the SSN 130. A=5 and K=1.

Local walk

The photo was of the nearby village of Lode. 

We went there for a walk this morning. 

This used to be on the bus route, but it now bypasses it on the way to Cambridge.

The Es season

At the moment the Es season in the Northern Hemisphere is still good.  

In my experience it peaks May, June and July but continues with less force into August and even September. As time progresses the openings get fewer and fewer.

Usually Es means short skip on 10m, 6m and 4m, and even 2m at rare times. 

We also see far more distant E openings, but I am less sure about the mechanism: some may be multi-hop Es, but I am sure some must be some sort of chordal hop E layer. Maybe this is more common in the Es season?

Even better EVs?

 It looks like electric vehicles are getting better and better.

Trump running in 2028?

The USA constitution prevents a president running for office more than 2 times. Sadly, Trump and his friends could change this so this could happen.

10m 200mW WSPR (Thursday)

 As mentioned before, my beacon was already on.

UPDATE 0901z: So far today, 33 stations have spotted me. Good Es.

UPDATE 1127z: 10m opened to the USA again. 37 stations have spotted me today.

6m 1W FT8 (Thursday)

 My gear was turned on at about 0851z.

UPDATE  0856z: So far, 5 spots with some Es.