See http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=qrp+kit .
Occasionally I look on eBay to see what is on offer. Searching for "QRP kits" throws up quite an interesting selection of stuff, much of it only available by eBay and not otherwise advertised. Some of these items are good bargains.
Touch wood, I have never yet had a bad experience on eBay when buying or selling. Mind you, I would be very careful and not spend too much. Some dealers are good (the vast majority) but there are always a few "bad eggs".
Caveat emptor.
11 Oct 2014
No 10m USA here yet
Although 10m WSPR is open here to South America with CX2ABP (11127km) spotted at -28dB S/N (weakly) at 1216z, there have been no North Americas seen here yet. This suggests conditions are not as good as they have been in recent weeks. To be fair, there are hours yet for the USA and Canada to appear. Even on bad days, the USA has appeared very briefly.
UPDATE 1252z: KZ8C (6290km) has just spotted my 2W 10m WSPR.
UPDATE 1330z: The 10m band does seem to be waking up to the USA now after a slow start.
See post about WSPR-X woes above.
UPDATE 1252z: KZ8C (6290km) has just spotted my 2W 10m WSPR.
UPDATE 1330z: The 10m band does seem to be waking up to the USA now after a slow start.
See post about WSPR-X woes above.
RA3APW's 100mW 10m WSPR pounding in again
Karen RA3APW's 100mW 10m WSPR to an indoor whip in Moscow (2443km) has been detected 10 times already this morning. He seems to put out a very decent signal. I assume this is single hop F2 propagation. Best DX on 10m WSPR RX today, so far, is South Africa.
Sunspots today
The sunspot count has slipped further to 54 (stable) yet 20-30MHz propagation remains "normal". Already on 10m WSPR I am seeing Europeans (SM and EA5) either on F2 backscatter or Es.
Later in the sunspot cycle, i.e when sunspot count is very low, it will be interesting to see how frequently Europeans are copied on 10m WSPR outside of the peak Es months. If stations stick with 10m, I suspect there will be Eu's copied most days, albeit just fleeting openings, ideally found using WSPR.
Later in the sunspot cycle, i.e when sunspot count is very low, it will be interesting to see how frequently Europeans are copied on 10m WSPR outside of the peak Es months. If stations stick with 10m, I suspect there will be Eu's copied most days, albeit just fleeting openings, ideally found using WSPR.
10 Oct 2014
G1KQH blog
See http://g1kqh.blogspot.co.uk/ .
Steve, G1KQH has just started his own blog. Steve has frequently supplied useful information to me. I usually post these gems to my blog. I wish him well with his new venture. Personally I find blogging compliments what I do in amateur radio, compliments my main website http://www.g3xbm.co.uk and acts as a diary for future reference. I find it fun to share my exploits with others. I hope my readers enjoy it too.
Steve, best of luck with your blog.
Steve, G1KQH has just started his own blog. Steve has frequently supplied useful information to me. I usually post these gems to my blog. I wish him well with his new venture. Personally I find blogging compliments what I do in amateur radio, compliments my main website http://www.g3xbm.co.uk and acts as a diary for future reference. I find it fun to share my exploits with others. I hope my readers enjoy it too.
Steve, best of luck with your blog.
10m JT65 and JT9-1
As my wife was having "girly" friends around I was banished to the shack. Usually, since my illness, I turn on WSPR in the shack and monitor progress in the lounge on another PC. WSPR beaconing usually suits my health as it requires minimal intervention.
As I was actually in the shack today, I took the opportunity to try JT65 and JT9-1 modes on 10m. On JT65 I worked the USA, Georgia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Russia and on JT9-1 I worked the USA. Time was limited and I am sure lots more could have been worked.
Since the guests went I QSYed down to 472kHz WSPR. As before, the same stations are being spotted and are spotting me, which is disappointing.
As I was actually in the shack today, I took the opportunity to try JT65 and JT9-1 modes on 10m. On JT65 I worked the USA, Georgia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Russia and on JT9-1 I worked the USA. Time was limited and I am sure lots more could have been worked.
Since the guests went I QSYed down to 472kHz WSPR. As before, the same stations are being spotted and are spotting me, which is disappointing.
Driving again after 13 months
For 13 months I have not been allowed to drive because of my brain bleed. I have had to rely on my wife totally.
Today, I drove to and from the local garden centres at Fordham. This is a round trip of nearly 10 miles. Both the neurosurgeon and my doctor said "yes" and DVLA agreed I could drive again. I informed the insurer too just in case. I would probably not want to drive too far for a while, but at least I can drive again locally. This is a major step for me. Just a little more independence.
With luck, I hope to be able to resume some amateur radio field experiments quite soon. I am still wobbly on my feet though. It would be good to try some earth-mode tests from this QTH.
Today, I drove to and from the local garden centres at Fordham. This is a round trip of nearly 10 miles. Both the neurosurgeon and my doctor said "yes" and DVLA agreed I could drive again. I informed the insurer too just in case. I would probably not want to drive too far for a while, but at least I can drive again locally. This is a major step for me. Just a little more independence.
With luck, I hope to be able to resume some amateur radio field experiments quite soon. I am still wobbly on my feet though. It would be good to try some earth-mode tests from this QTH.
10m to North and South America
10m is again wide open, with lots of stateside stations spotting my 2W or I am spotting them. In addition, CX2ABP (11127km) in Montevideo has already been spotted here 5 times so far.
RA3APW's 100mW to an indoor whip from Moscow is again blasting in here and Karen has been a good signal a lot of the day so far. In all, another good day on 10m WSPR.
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| 10m WSPR spots from a single 2 minute TX burst today |
146-147MHz to full UK radio amateurs soon
Today, OFCOM announced that 146-147MHz will be temporarily released to full UK licencees from Oct 31st this year, by NoV. Personally, I would have preferred other parts of the spectrum to have been released instead as 2m is never that busy, at least it is very quiet usually around here. If you plan to operate 146-147MHz in the UK you will need to get an NoV via the RSGB. Note that this is temporary.
I wrote to OFCOM suggesting officially allowing UK amateurs access legally to sub 8.3kHz, re-releasing the 73kHz band and a new allocation around 40MHz (ideal for Es experiments). In OFCOM's release they say I asked for a new band at 400MHz. I did not.
I wrote to OFCOM suggesting officially allowing UK amateurs access legally to sub 8.3kHz, re-releasing the 73kHz band and a new allocation around 40MHz (ideal for Es experiments). In OFCOM's release they say I asked for a new band at 400MHz. I did not.
Japan on 10m WSPR
JO3VSR (9403km) using 5W was copied on 10m WSPR at 0854z this morning at a strong -16dB S/N. In addition, lots of stations across Europe have been spotted. Conditions on 10m are still pretty good.
UPDATE 0924z: 4X1RF (3519km) just spotted on 10m WSPR.
UPDATE 0924z: 4X1RF (3519km) just spotted on 10m WSPR.
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