Grandchildren and ducks - NOT amateur radio

For some time now we have had  a pair of tame mallard ducks waddling around our close. Today they were curious when we arrived home and came into the drive and front garden. The photo shows our granddaughter looking at them.  When they realised there was no food on offer they wandered away.

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday March 22nd 2015

Sunspot number is 40 today but all HF looks disturbed. 10m propagation is expected to be "poor".

So far this morning, my 500mW WSPR beacon has been spotted by RK3ABW, LZ1OI, EA8/LA3JJ and G4IKZ. Apart from the local, these all look like single hop F2 propagation. No reports from 4X1RF.

40m Pixie kit at INCREDIBLE price

I bought my 40m Pixie kit for $10 and thought this was a bargain.  Then Andy Cutland sent me this link.

Hi Roger, this is the cheapest i've seen yet. What fantastic value !

Check out this item I found on eBay:

End time: 15 Apr 2015 10:33:10

Item: DC DIY RADIO CW Shortwave Transmitter QRP Pixie Tool Receiver 7.023-7.026MHz

URL: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=131457860419&alt=web

(Sent from eBay Mobile for Android)

At £3.19 with free shipping there is no way you could make this cheaper in my view. Remember this price includes a crystal, PCB and all the board mounted parts.  This looks identical to mine which works very well. This is a refined Pixie and performance has exceeded expectations. Netting is excellent TX to RX and AM breakthrough very modest. My power out is about 400mW and a 1uV signal level very good on RX. A totally usable 40m CW rig for not much more than a cup of coffee.

Even with the after-effects of my cerebellum brain bleed I was able to build the kit without any issues.

Legal local AM broadcasting in the USA

On http://www.amateurradio.com/ there is a link today to the SSTRAN ANT3000 MW AM transmitter kit. This is legal in the USA for broadcasts around the home or with an FCC Part 15 compliant base loaded vertical for greater ranges.

Very many years ago my very first ever TX was an AM transmitter for MW using a crystal earpiece  a microphone. This was one of the circuits in my Heathkit Electronics Workshop which I got for Christmas 1961. It only got around the house. Another circuit was a MW receiver and I recall DXing with it that same holiday.

This kicked off my interest in radio and amateur radio that has remained with me ever since. I am not sure this TX was strictly legal in the UK. Years later I have reached the other side of the planet with less power!

N-S DX on 10m, but again no USA

Despite the lowish sunspot number and a forecast of "poor" 10m conditions I see that FR1GZ (9724km) spotted my 500mW WSPR beacon late lunchtime. 4X1RF (3519km), EA8/LA3JJ (2870km) and G4IKZ (18km) have all been spotting me but, yet again, absolutely no spots from the USA yet again.

It seems we are moving more towards spring/summer conditions with N-S paths still holding up but far less frequent E-W openings on 10m.

Sunspots and 10m propagation - March 21st 2015

Sunspot number has fallen to 27 and 10m propagation is expected to remain "poor". Best 10m DX with the 500mW WSPR beacon this morning is 4X1RF (3519km) but no other DX at all as yet.

FT817 replacement?

I have mentioned this before, but I am truly amazed that Yaesu has not updated the FT817.  OK, I have heard the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" argument but on simple commercial arguments I think they must be stupid. There is a worldwide market (500000?) ready to upgrade yet I think they have now missed the window of opportunity as sunspot numbers are falling.

I wonder if any sharp eyed, sharp eared readers have heard any rumours of an imminent replacement?

Alibaba

Some weeks ago I bought a small 40m Pixie CW transceiver kit via www.alibaba.com for $10. This arrived by air very quickly and I was very impressed with the kit and the excellent service. Apparently you can buy these even cheaper on eBay. I built mine in a few hours and it works well.

A quick search in Alibaba for other amateur radio products shows a wide range of units are available. Of course, I have no idea if VAT or duty is included.   My little 40m Pixie kit just dropped in my mailbox and cost me just over £7 total including shipping. Buying the individual parts would probably have cost me more!

See http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=amateur+radio .

10m WSPR - no USA again, well not so far today

EA8/LA3JJ (2870km) and 4X1RF (3519km) and a few Europeans, but no stateside stations today yet on 10m WSPR spotting my 500mW WSPR beacon. With 10m conditions expected tp be "poor", it would not surprise me if the band does not open to the USA today at all.

UPDATE 1528z:  Still no sign at all of any spots from stations in the USA. 4X1RF has been spotting me several times.

UPDATE 1825z:  No spots from the USA again today. I'll leave the beacon on for a few more hours just in case the band opens, but I fear this is just another bad day on 10m.

UPDATE 2057z:  With just local G4IKZ (18km) spotting me now for ages, it is time to go QRT for today on 10m WSPR. Now QRT on 10m. PC clock reset to internet time on 630m (472kHz): after almost 12 hours it is probably in need of being reset. On 10m the WSPR-AXE-CW beacon from W5OLF seems to need resetting far less often, although I reset this each morning to internet time to be sure. I think it would be accurate enough for weeks without doing this.

UPDATE 2120z:   Looking at WSPRnet, I see many USA WSPR stations being spotted in Australia and New Zealand at around 13000-15000km. Maybe we'll see better conditions tomorrow on 10m?

Will hydrogen be the future fuel?

No-one can really argue that carbon based fuels like petrol, diesel and gas are not good for the environment and a good proportion come from politically sensitive regions like the Middle East. Electric vehicles use expensive batteries and have poor ranges. Possibly efficient hydrogen fuel cells may be the future? Korean car manufacturers think they have now reached the point at which hydrogen fuel celled powered cars are commercially viable. Of course we need the infrastructure such as refueling stations. They claim ranges of 300-400 miles, which are fine. They claim refueling will only take a few minutes.

I remember fuel-cell makers trying to convince me that fuel cells were better than Li-Ion batteries for our TETRA radios. At the time it was hype. Things have moved on quite a lot since then. Of course, the oil industry needs to evolve. They should be heavily investing in technologies for the future.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31926995 .