Kindness

One thing my stroke has taught me is that there are a lot of good and kind people in the world.  I have been so grateful for all the genuine kindness. These good people have expected nothing in return. They have just been so very kind. It has been wonderfully heartening to find out just how kind and generous people are.

I had G6ALB help me with antennas, countless offers of help to build my "Ultimate 3" kit from people all over the world, and today I received a crystal for my 40m Pixie in the post from Andy Cutland in Jersey.

We hear a lot about bad things but rarely the good news. I am giving you this now: in my experience the good and kind people are all over the world.   A million thanks to all of you who have helped me or offered help. It really was/is appreciated.

Elad SDR transceiver

From Italy come the news of the Elad SDR transceiver, which was featured in RSGB's RadCom last month. This is being sold in the UK for £899. It is an SDR 5W transceiver covering from 9kHz to 54MHz.  It can be used with or without a PC.  It has 0dBm output at all frequencies and 5W in the amateur bands. Looks a very nice radio.

This image resides on the Elad website and will be removed immediately if copyright is being infringed or having this link is otherwise an issue.

10m USA WSPR spots today

Despite the low sunspot number, today people in the USA were spotting my 500mW WSPR beacon early. KC2GMM (5562km) was the first today at 1210z. This is one of the earliest yet. Even with a sunspot number of just 23, the 10m band is open to the USA. Promising for future weak peaks.

UPDATE 1415z:   Plenty of USA and Canadian stations currently spotting my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon.

UPDATE 1645z:  10m is still wide open to the USA and Canada.]

UPDATE 2006z:  The transatlantic opening is still going strong but I shall have to go QRT as I need the same antenna for 40m. KC2GMM (5562km) was the last stateside station that copied me, but I suspect I would have been heard by stateside stations later.

Young amateurs?

When I was fit and healthy, I gave quite a few talks to radio clubs in East Anglia. One thing is very apparent: our hobby is mainly an interest of men and older men at that. Of course, there are the odd exceptions. In some clubs membership was good, whereas in others not so good.

What is very clear is that unless young blood is soon attracted and kept, our hobby/interest will die out within 20-30 years. I notice that this was a topic on the Southgate News Page today. I don't think this is just a UK thing, although in the USA I see licence numbers are at an all time high.

Certainly, the pure magic of radio we experienced when my generation was young is no longer a draw: it is possible to Skype video across the globe instantly via the phone in your hand nowadays. In my youth, the only way to communicate around the world really was by amateur radio and for that you needed to pass the RAE.

No, we need to find what fascinates the younger generation and use that as a lure. It is the whole future of our interest that is at stake here. To me, radio is still magic, especially QRP.  However I can see this is not a source of fascination to today's youngsters, to whom texting and mobile internet are second nature.

What would draw in and keep young people fascinated by our hobby today? I think the word "fascinated" is important. As a youngster, radio communications fascinated me and has kept me interested for a lifetime. It is this fascination that is missing today I think.

472kHz and 28MHz WSPR beacons now ON

In the last 30 minutes, both of these have been switched on.  5mW ERP (20% TX, 80 % RX) on 472kHz WSPR and 500mW (100% TX) on 28MHz WSPR.

Best DX on 10m so far is 4X1RF (3519km) and on 630m I have yet to be copied or copy anyone.

UPDATE 1125z:  G3YAC (12km) has now spotted me a couple of times on 472kHz (630m) WSPR, but not too strongly.

UPDATE 1146z:   Apart from locals G4IKZ (18km) and G3YAC (12km) very little so far on 10m WSPR although 4X1RF (3519km) has spotted me 4 times so far this morning. Activity on 10m WSPR is moderate with 60 active stations worldwide when I last checked.

Sunspots and 10m - Mon March 9th 2015

Sunspot number remains low at 23 today.  10m propagation is expected to be "fair".

As yet, I have still to turn on my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon. It is now 1000z. I intend to have it running shortly but it takes about 20 minutes before it fully stabilises.

472kHz records

Last night LA4ANA (1042km) copied my 5mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" for the second time. OR7T (337km) also copied me for the first time last night when I was using the earth-electrode "antenna".

In the last 2 weeks alone, 29 unique stations in 6 countries have spotted my 5mW ERP when I've been using the earth-electrode "antenna". The overall total is greater.

Unique stations who spotted me in last 2 weeks on 472kHz WSPR

.

Sunspots and 10m today - Sun March 8th 2015

Today has been a non-radio day.  We went to Canterbury by train to see our son, his wife and our "Kent" grandchildren. If going for the day Sunday travel by train works out as cheap as by car. We have done this several times now since I was ill, I would not want to drive that far.

Sunspot number has fallen further to just 20, the lowest for some time, and 10m propagation was expected to be "fair".

I see from WSPRnet that 10m opened to the USA from G although none of radio gear has been on today.

472kHz WSPR this evening

So far, no great TX DX on 472kHz this evening although G3XKR (347km) in North Devon is copying my 5mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna". It would be good if this evening or overnight I was copied again over 1000km. Last night the PC crashed just after midnight so all DX overnight was missed.

UPDATE 2140z:  PE1RKT (285km) has spotted me a couple of times this evening.

Sunspots and 10m - Sat March 7th 2015

Sunspot number today is 37 and 10m is expected to be "fair". Already the 10m band is well open to the USA and there was some decent stuff coming through on 10m well before lunch.