A beautiful QTH locator square

Bolberry Down - Devon UK - IO81CF

Ever wondered what one of the most beautiful QTH locator squares in the UK looks like? Try IO81CF in South Devon. This is a view along the rugged clifftops just below Bolberry Down which was the location of one of the first ever 6m contacts between the UK and the USA by G5BY back in the late 1940s. I was walking here earlier today when this photo was taken.

ZEVS DXing on 82Hz (yes 82Hz!)

Several stations are reporting reception of the Russian ZEVS station that operates daily around 82Hz (ELF) sending coded messages to Russian submerged submarines. G3ZJO has copied it as has Chris G3WCD. When I get back from Devon I must try too. I think I should be able to copy it. The attached image is the signal as seen by G3WCD this evening. The signal is FSK coded. Data rates at these low frequencies are very low.

USA 4m beacon

WE9XUP is a new 4m beacon operational on 70.005MHz from FM07tm square that will be running 24/7 until 1.9.11. 4m is not allocated as an amateur band in the USA, so this is just a special propagation beacon. It could be a very useful indicator of multi-hop Es or other modes that may fleetingly open up the transatlantic path on 70MHz. Transatlantic 4m QSOs have been made cross-band more than once. I am not sure if this beacon supports weak signal modes like JT65 or WSPR, but that would be very useful.

"Enough" - a book by John Naish

May I recommend this brilliant book reflecting on the sheer stupidity of our endless striving for better and more when we already have more than enough? We have evolved into a race chasing the impossible dream that ends up with us all stressed out, depleting our resources, unhappy and unfulfilled. The author argues we need to develop a cultural sense of "enoughness" and to be happy with what we HAVE rather than always striving for more and better.

I couldn't put this book down and all the way through was saying, "yes, spot on" again and again and again. Having read the book I doubt any of us will instantly change our ways, but just maybe we will reflect on our culture and modus operandi and think a bit more carefully about what is REALLY important in our lives.

The book is not a dull, environmentalist tome. Rather it is full of humour and light-heartedness. A truly excellent read for western man in the 21st century. I suspect this book will be seen in years to come as the book that woke us up and brought us to our senses in much the way that Rachael Carson's "Silent Spring" did back in the 1960s.

Robert Helliwell

The death of Emeritus Professor Robert Helliwell of Stamford University was announced today. Helliwell was the author of the book "Whistlers and Related Ionospheric Phenomena" back in 1965. This is a wonderful book on the subject of VLF atmospheric physics which is still available from Amazon.

My 50uW ERP signal at 45km on 137kHz in QRSS30

Chris G3XIZ has sent me a nice screen shot showing my QRP beacon signal a couple of days ago. The signal is in QRSS30 and as Chris says, certainly good enough for a 2-way QRSS QSO on 137kHz. Chris is 45km from me.

Bluebell woods

Just spent a pleasant afternoon walking through an old wood near where I used to live in Devon. The woodland floor was a carpet of bluebells and garlic flowers. This is the first time I'd been back there in around 40 years and it was as lovely as ever.

Ultra low voltage oscillators

Thinking a bit more about my crazy idea for a mains hum powered QPRp beacon TX, I chanced upon this page which discusses FETs running from extremely low voltage supplies. See http://www.dicks-website.eu/fetosc/enindex.htm. Some of the zero threshold voltage MOSFETs (ALD110900A) used in sensitive crystal sets may also be useful in this application. The link shows an FET oscillator powered by just a thermocouple producing only 13mV! Incredible. See also http://cap.ee.ic.ac.uk/~pdm97/powermems/2009/pdfs/papers/069_0209.pdf and http://www.aldinc.com/pdf/Ultra%20Low%20Power%20Oscillators.pdf

UK trains - actually pretty good

For the last couple of days I've been down in Canterbury visiting my son, his wife and our grandson. As my wife was busy I took the opportunity to travel alone by train. There is now a new high speed service from London to Canterbury that has slashed journey times on that part of the trip. All trains were clean, on-time, fast and comfortable. Also, at £25.50 return with my senior railcard, excellent value. We complain too often, but railways in the UK are actually rather fine of you can travel off-peak when the commuters are not crammed in. As an ex-trainspotter back in the late 1950s and early 1960s I still love trains.  Secretly I'd like a Ian Allen locospotter's book (now Platform 5 books) so I could collect numbers still, but would risk being called a sad anorak!

325km with 50uW ERP on 137kHz

Well, Henny PA3CPM has just sent me a new screen grab showing my signal at 1041z today on 137.676kHz in QRSS30. This time you can make out some of the CW (visible just below the continuous Loran line) and the periodicity between callsign blocks is visible confirming this is indeed my signal.  Distance is 325km (202 miles) to JO22mb square. This is the first time my 137kHz signal has got into mainland Europe. I am amazed that a really simple beacon on a tiny board into a simple wire loop in the garden can span such distances. Even more amazed that Henny could find it!