Radio Equipment Directive (RED)

See https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/radio-equipment-directive-proposal .

Quite soon this new directive will apply in Europe including the UK. Many low cost modules may cost a little more as receivers will need to be more carefully designed to meet RED requirements. It is likely that more stringent RX parameters will have to be met. I wonder if some of the very low module costs are as a result of the dumping of old stock? This could well impact super-regen receivers that are sensitive, but not very selective. Although fine in some markets this type of receiver is less than ideal in a very busy ISM band where they could easily be blocked.  Listening around 433.92MHz recently, very many ISM devices could be copied.  One of my old colleagues is involved in international committees working on RED.

The "internet of things" means very many devices will include radios in future, such as a basic internet terminal in washing machines or RFID tags.

Sunspots and 10m propagation - Feb 5th 2015

Sunspot number today is 85. 10m propagation is expected to be "fair".  So far today, just LZ1OI (2153km) and local G4IKZ (18km) copying my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon this morning.  No further DX as yet, although I expect 10m to open to the USA after lunch.

UPDATE 1045z:  Just been spotted on 10m by 4X1RF (3519km).

UPDATE 1114z:  4X1RF has spotted me 3 times so far today.

UPDATE 1214z: 4X1RF (3519km) has, so far, spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon 6 times this morning. No sign, as yet, of spots from stations in the USA.

Yet more transceiver modules!

A search on eBay has thrown up lots of useful RF transceiver modules, not as low cost as the AM ones found by G6ALB, but nonetheless very low cost and suitable for local communications, Some are 100mW and some 500mW or 1W.  The ones I saw were data units, but these should be suitable for speech  with simple mods. I am unclear how some of these are programmed to the correct frequency. There is usually a choice of either VHF or UHF and I think some are essentially FM.

Put  "UHF transceiver module eBay" into Google to see what comes up. Or try "VHF" instead of UHF. I was amazed how low cost these were.

USA WSPR spots on 10m today

The last spot from the USA of my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon was WG2Z (5600km) at 1836z. There was an isolated spot by EA6ZL (1485km) at 1944z. This may have been Es.  The first USA spot today was also WG2Z (5600km) at 1220z.

UPDATE 2012z:   I am still active on 10m and MF.

UPDATE 2105z:  On 10m just being spotted by local G4IKZ (18km) since 1944z. I am still active on 10m and MF. 

Another blog to follow - NOT amateur radio

Today we went out to Eye and Thornham Parva in east Suffolk.  We ate at Beard's Deli Cafe in Eye. We have a blog to record our East Anglian Church visits. Although mainly for our own records (otherwise we'll forget!) it is a public blog, so you are invited to join my wife and I "virtually" and add comments if you wish.  We hope to visit several churches each week.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/  .

Some of the loveliest and oldest churches in the world are in our part of England (Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire). Even if you have no religious interest they are of historic interest. I find it amazing that so many were built so long ago when the population was 2-3 million only in the whole country. These churches were very important in medieval times.

More useful modules

Yet again, I am indebted to Steve G1KQH for the following:

Low cost AM modules yesterday, now the Dorji today.. Its just never ending what next comes along, I can’t keep up any longer going to have a funny turn! 

https://hamgear.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/make-your-own-transceiver-with-a-dorji-dra818u-or-dra818v/#comment-10498

73 Steve
http://www.g1kqh.talktalk.net/

Sunspot number and 10m propagation - Feb 4th 2015

Sunspot number today is 112 and 10m propagation is expected to be "fair". No great 10m DX this morning (Europeans and near Asia only) but the band did again open to the USA after lunch.

472kHz WSPR

No new stations spotting me or being spotted, today.  My best report was from G3WCB (101km) and my best DX on RX is again DK7FC (669km).  I am still using the earth-electrodes and 5mW ERP.

2m UKAC tonight

If I have my dates right, tonight is the February 2m leg of the RSGB's UK Activity Contest.  My 3 el beam is still not rotatable - it is fixed aiming SW, so I may use this and my halo instead for about 1 hour. The feeder to the halo is only RG58 so the loss is much greater than when on the beam which has fairly low loss coax.

Stations worked with  less than 5W to a halo on 2m

UPDATE 2135z:  I stayed on 2m for 1 hour before I had to stop because of my poor voice. 5 stations were worked with best DX  G3MEH (84km). I used just the halo antenna with the high cable loss. Best DX heard was in IN99 and JO33 squares. As I was running real QRP and a halo for an hour only,  it was not a bad effort. I wonder if I should replace the halo and feeder with a better cable and better omni antenna such as a big wheel? Gain would be a little down on the small beam, but better than the halo. Many stations are worked in contests off the main beam.  Only one station worked this evening was /P. Several more stations would have been workable such as G2XV and G4CLA.

10m USA WSPR spots

WG2Z (5600km) spotted me first today at 1250z. There are lots of USA stations spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon this afternoon.

UPDATE 1812z:   For now, it looks like K9AN (6505km) was the last USA spot of my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon today. As this was over an hour ago I suspect this was the last, but I'll have to wait another hour or so to be sure.

UPDATE 1900z:  K9AN (6505km) was the last station in the USA to spot me today at 1704z.