10m 6W FT8 (Monday)

My IC-705 at reduced power was turned on at about 0820z.

UPDATE  0953z: Spotted by 40 stations with the furthermost South Africa. See map.

UPDATE 1040z: 50 spots of me with the furthermost VP8LP (12773km).

UPDATE 2133z: 775 stations have spotted me. Best spot of me was by DP0GVN (13687km) in Antarctica. Now QRT.

Sunspots- Monday March 31st

 Solar flux is 171 and the SSN 111. A=6 and K=1.

10m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

 As I was having no success on WSPR I QSYed to FT8 with 6W from the IC-705.

UPDATE 2222z: 527 stations have spotted me. The map shown was hours earlier, shortly after switching on.

Amateur radio deregulation

The FCC in the USA is asking for comments on their latest document calling for deregulation and reduced burocracy. They do not talk about amateur radio specifically. In the USA amateur radio callsigns pre-date the FCC.

In many countries amateur radio costs money and generates no revenue. For this reason, I can see why the FCC and OFCOM, and others too around the world, would like to totally "wash their hands" of amateur radio.

One possibility is to "open up" amateur radio, much like CB, without the need for any involvement. The only stipulation is that only radios that comply with national standards may be used and no interference must be caused. In most cases, amateur radio has become like CB: using commercial radios to chat. True research does not matter to the vast majority, who do not even know how their transceivers work!

This is my personal view of what will happen. I may well be wrong.

• In the USA the FCC will deregulate amateur radio in some way. People will not need to have callsigns. If they do, these will be allocated by the ARRL.
• In the UK, OFCOM will also deregulate amateur radio. As in the USA, callsigns will not be mandated and allocated to those that want them by the RSGB.
• Other countries will follow. 

I give this less than 20 years.

There is a video on the FCC proposals. The "writing is on the wall".

8m disappointment

It is very disappointing that, in the UK, we have to pay to do research at 8m. In the USA, they appear to have stopped permits for 8m altogether!

In the past the RSGB would have "fought our corner" with OFCOM, who would probably have granted, on application, a very narrow, perhaps time limited, 8m amateur band by NoV for a dedicated few. Instead those of us that want to do genuine 8m propagation research have to pay!!

As sunspot numbers decline, such NoVs would have less value.

All this has left a very bad taste in my mouth. When my current (paid for!) 8m TX permit expires I have no intention of renewing it.

Self training and research??

Quantum entanglement - NOT amateur radio

A very long time ago I did quantum mechanics as part of my degree. One of the things I remember is that all things can be described as a wave function that exists in all space and all time. This is a strange idea to grasp. There is a video that tries to explain quantum entanglement.

10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)

My QRP 10m WSPR beacon was turned on after breakfast.

UPDATE 1324z: No spots. After all this time, I am puzzled. The DC power is connected, the antenna is connected, I thought time was sync'd. I have re-sync'd time to see what's happening. I notice Angola is being worked from the UK on 6m FT8 , so I am surprised by the total absence of 10m WSPR spots.

UPDATE 1358z: Still no spots.

6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My IC-705 set at 6W was turned on just after breakfast.

UPDATE 1258z:  13 UK stations spotting me.

Weak signal modes

One of the questions people ask is how effective various weak signal modes are.  This link may provide some answers. This table is extracted from the article.

Sunspots - Sunday March 30th

 Solar flux is 157 and the SSN 107. A=9 and K=2.