No new solar maximum?

The latest summary for May 2013 on the Solar Terrestrial Activity Report at http://www.solen.info/solar/ shows that the (smoothed) international sunspot number (SIDC) reached 78.7 in May, some way below the last peak 96.7 back in Nov 2011. There is still a chance that another few months could raise the smoothed sunspot numbers above the Nov 2011 peak. Whatever, if these numbers remain at similar levels into the autumn we will have decent conditions on the higher HF bands.

http://www.solen.info/solar/images/solar.png

 

Back in action after 2 weeks out

Well, the Swiss train holiday is over, the grandchildren have gone home to mums and dads after a week with us, and we have our house back. For the last week I forgot we had carpets on the floor as they were strewn with toys. We love our grandchildren so much - they really are what life is all about - but the house was more like a war zone during their stay! The youngest staying with us was just 2 and the eldest 5. You get the picture.

Now that we are back to normal, amateur radio experiments can resume. I'll probably resume 472kHz and 28MHz WSPR tomorrow and hope to do some further VLF earth mode tests during the week. I may also enter the 2m UKAC contest on Tuesday evening.

Microwaves the easy way?

http://www.chris-bartram.co.uk/

I've just discovered the GW4DGU website with details of (relatively) low cost assembled modules for 10GHz. The basic unit consists of a UDC10368C image-reject up/down converter (£149.90 built) which provides the basic up-down frequency translation needed to get a TX signal out on the band and a basic receive converter. Noise figure is not brilliant and TX power is low, but capable of being improved by additional preamps and PAs. Compared with a wideband FM system, even this used "stand alone" would be capable of decent results locally with a small satellite TV dish.

FT-450D: TX hum and optical encoder problems really fixed?

FT-450D from Yaesu

One of the best value 5-100W HF/6m radios with a decent spec is the Yaesu FT-450D. In many ways it would be an ideal main station radio for me in the new QTH: QRP levels most of the time, but the ability to turn up the power occasionally when conditions are poor or I need to work a sked. The receiver performance is reported to be excellent.

What bothers me are continuing reports of TX hum on some examples and optical encoder failures. I thought that Yaesu fixed these design weaknesses 18 months ago, but I have some doubts about how good and how long-lived the solutions are. Can anyone who has bought a new FT-450D in the last year or so please let me know what you think?

A non radio week - grandchildren time

Grandsons on the London Eye

Since returning from our Swiss rail holiday last week, we've had 3 of our 4 young grandchildren staying with us all this week, on their own without mum and dad.  Both our children don't live locally, so we enjoy having the grandchildren come to stay.

At Wicken Fen today

As the youngest is 2 and the oldest just over 5, it has been a pretty "full-on" time, so amateur radio has taken a back seat.  Tomorrow, they return home and we will be having a few hours putting our home back together, HI.  On Wednesday we all went to the London Eye. The first photo shows the 2 little grandsons enjoying the view. The second is of me with one of my little granddaughters and her brother at Wicken Fen.

More on the TJ2B SSB handheld from China

The Youkits website has more information on the TJ2B 4 band handheld SSB transceiver including assembly details for the 2 versions of the kit and several YouTube clips.  A review has yet to appear on www.eham.net though.

The basic specs from the website are:

• DDS controlled, Minature LCD display with frequency 
• 5W output 
• Kit A TX: 5-15MHz, covering  60m, 40m, 30m, 20m band RX:3-18MHz
  *can extend TX to 3-18MHz by MOD.  
• Kit B TX:  18-30MHz covering  17m,15m,12m,10m band RX:14-30MHz (Not in stock)
• 1Hz, 10Hz, 100Hz, 1KHz, 10KHz, 100KHz tuning rate available 
• Dual VFO with 40 memories
• Memory transfer to VFO
• One tuning knob plus 4 keys to realize all functions such as Step, Mode, A/B, Memory/VFO, Memory to VFO transfer, etc.  
• Built in speaker, mic and PTT
• Fully assembled, kit available
• Optional battery lithium pack:1600mah
• Enclosure size: 195mm(L) x 68mm (w) x 38mm (T)

Of course, the main attraction of this little rig is the low price for the assembled unit at $329 with the part assembled (all SMA done) kit version at $269. 

As yet, I am not aware of a UK dealer offering these units. Perhaps they are waiting a few months until the design matures and early design bugs are ironed out. I would be surprised if this unit in both 4-band versions is not on sale in the UK before the year end.

A book worth reading

On one of my other blogs, Miscellaneous Musings, I have reported on a book recently read, whilst on holiday in Switzerland, about the banking crisis and how to fix it. See http://qss2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-sickness-of-banks.html .

Reading the book left me fuming with anger and sadness that decent, hard working people could be so SHAFTED by greedy, corrupt and deceitful bankers out to make a quick buck. That the financial industry is supposedly such a major part of our economy is surely a sad reflection on the modern age.

The banking crisis is hitting us all and fixing the problems will take years and years. Motto: NEVER trust a banker or government and bury some of your savings in a box in the garden!

7 mile optical daytime QSO by Bernie G4HJW and Jenny G0VQH

G4HJW and G0VQH enjoyed a successful 7 mile optical frequency QSO during daylight when in Scotland recently. Bernie also worked GS3PYE/P. There is a video of the QSO recorded by the good folks at Cam Hams. The QSO used the now famous Finningley optical transceiver designed by Bernie last year in 100mm (drain pipe!) optics. They were going to try an infra-red QSO too but as rain set in they abandoned the attempt.

Second solar peak

The solar numbers are looking quite good currently and there now seems some likelihood that the second peak we are now seeing could (just) exceed the peak of Nov 2011. Fingers crossed.

457kHz personal rescue beacons

http://www.pieps.com/en/avalanche-transceivers/231-pieps-vector

When in Switzerland last week and thumbing through magazines I noticed references to 457kHz personal rescue beacons to help locate people buried in avalanches. They are small, lightweight, like GPS units, and have a range of 40-80m and a battery life from a single cell battery of up to several hundred hours.

There is useful information on these at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalanche_transceiver and on http://www.pieps.com/en/safety-equipment/232-pieps-backup .  Although of no direct amateur radio application, I thought this an interesting device.