Sunspots - Tuesday February 12th 2019

Solar flux is 69 and the sunspot number 0. A=9 and K=3.

Lock-up - NOT amateur radio

Back in the 1800s, village miscreants were put in the village lock-up. I guess this was a follow-up to the stocks, when rotten eggs and tomatoes were thrown. Maybe we should bring back stocks? Sorry, this would violate the miscreants human rights and heath and safety legislation! The photo shows our village lock-up. These days it is a garage.

Earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground details

Several people have asked for more details of the "antenna" I use on 137kHz, 472kHz and 1.84MHz.

The far end is a ground rod (copper I think) about 1m long. The wire back to the shack is about 12m long and runs along the garden fence (about 1.5m off the ground). At the near (shack end) it connects to the mains ground.

At the old QTH I tried a separate ground just outside the shack and running the "return" wire along the ground. Results were much the same. At 137kHz, 472kHz and 1.84MHz I am pretty sure this structure acts as a loop in the ground.

On VLF earth mode, I suspect the "antenna" is not acting as a loop.

                               --- Sketch and photos to be added on a later post, probably Feb 15th? ---

472kHz WSPR

About 30 minutes ago, I QSYed to 472kHz (630m) WSPR using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground (10mW ERP). Even though the transverter crystal takes about 20 minutes to fully settle, plenty of spots on RX and TX. At the moment (it is still light here) best DX on RX is PA3ABK (306km).

Initial 472kHz WSPR spots

10m FT8 - a blank

Most of the day I was on 10m FT8. At first I went on TX, calling CQ (2.5W) and then on RX. Not a single spot all day! I have now QSYed to 630m (472kHz) WSPR with 10mW ERP and already had far more success.

Es'hail2 web SDR now live

Southgate News reports that the Goonhilly based web SDR for Es'hail2 (Oscar 100) is now live, so you can see activity.

Please note: uplinks attempts are not yet allowed!!!

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/february/qata-oscar-100-web-receiver-now-live.htm#.XGFguPZ2u00
See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

Overnight on 160m FT8 RX

No less than 395 different stations spotted on 160m FT8 RX in the last day, including 23 North Americans and 1 Caribbean station on the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. I cannot really expect to do much better even with a big 160m antenna and extensive ground system surely. Best DX was W7AO (7688km) on the west coast of the USA.

Stations spotted in last 24 hours here on 160m FT8 RX.

160m FT8

Although I have only just QSYed to 160m FT8, there are already 18 stations logged with best DX UT1AN (2392km). On TX (2.5W to the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground) 9 spots in 4 countries already with best DX DL8BCJ (580km).

UPDATE 1900z: Already 46 stations spotted with best DX R7MA (2859km).

UPDATE 1952z: So far, 91 stations spotted with best DX R8CA (3788km).

UPDATE 2255z: Already 3 North Americans spotted on 160m FT8 RX as well as loads of Europeans.

Stations spotted on 160m FT8 RX to 2255z.

472kHz transverter video

The video I made many years ago of my 472kHz transverter was not on my YouTube G3XBM channel, not sure why. It now is. It is also here.

Architypal Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

Kings College Chapel (see photo in rare sunshine!) is known the world over for the Nine Lessons of Readings and Carols each Christmas. It is many centuries old and one of the finest buildings in the whole world.

Being locals, we get free entry!