Plymoth Argyle - NOT amateur radio

Well, my old local football team Plymouth Argyle (League 2) held Liverpool to a 0:0 draw in the FA cup match today. This earns them a replay (and money) in Plymouth.

Microwave TX and RX modules

I have just seen this site, although I have never used it so cannot say how good the service is.

See http://www.13cm.co.uk/index.php

German Callbook

My friend Steve G1KQH has sent me a link to the German Callbook. I am unlikely to use it, but the link is attached in case you need it.

See https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Sachgebiete/Telekommunikation/Unternehmen_Institutionen/Frequenzen/Amateurfunk/Rufzeichenliste/Rufzeichenliste_AFU.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=24

10m JT65

Late morning, I returned to 10m JT65.

UPDATE 1406z:  Just spotted by G0LRD (25km). No Es or F2 seen here on 10m as yet today.

UPDATE 1606z:  G1IKH (123km) near Nottingham spotted on 10m JT65, but still no DX today here.

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday January 8th 2017

Solar flux is 71 today and sunspot number zero. A=20 and K=2.

Although 10m has not been great of late, at least the mornings get lighter here from this date. Already, the evenings are getting darker later. By the end of the month things are starting to get a lot better.

At least there has been some winter Es to liven things up on 10m.

472kHz WSPR analysis by PA1B

Bert, PA1B, has done some analysis of my 472kHz WSPR to see how little power (ERP) would be needed to be still copied. Of course, this assumes reception is not external noise limited.

Return to 472kHz WSPR

Although my transverter crystal is still settling, hence the drift, I returned to MF a little while ago. So far, just local and semi-locals spotting my 5mW ERP WSPR. All these stations have spotted me before, sadly.

UPDATE 2238z: Still only 4 unique stations spotting me. Nothing DXy with best TX DX just 80km so far this evening.

Early lightbeam tests

Waverley Rd, Kingsbridge, Devon, UK

My interest in light-beam communication goes right back to the 1960s when an old school friend and I used a torch bulb as the TX and an OC71 transistor with the black paint scraped off as the RX detector.

One of our first tests was across the street shown in this photo. I lived in the first house on the RHS and we received the test in the house with bay windows on the left. DX was about 25m! We AM modulated the torch bulb biasing it at half rail if memory serves me correctly. It had a very low frequency response as the torch bulb had a poor HF response, as I recall.

We moved to this house in 1959 but the photo is years and years earlier.

More news about IHSG

Southgate News reports that IHSG (the new amateur radio group) is to become the sole UK reseller of Beko amplifiers. I think this is good news for the amateur community.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2017/january/ihsg-becomes-beko-elektronik-sole-uk-reseller.htm#.WHEALoXXLIU

The New Year - NOT amateur radio

January is an odd month. Kids have gone back to school, the post is quiet, nights are still long and everywhere feels "dead".

By the end of the month things have already started to change with first signs of new life in the garden, days getting longer and the hope of spring not too far away. January always seems a long, dark, dreary month.

By contrast, February flies by! We'll blink and wonder where another year went.