Castle trust bonds: avoid? - NOT amateur radio

The top of my Gmail seems to have regular ads for Castle Trust offering bonds with very good interest rates.

I read somewhere that these funds are "dodgy" and you could end up losing capital. I have no idea whether true or not, but personally I shall be avoiding them. I once read that if something appears to be too good to be true then it is and is best avoided.

Generally, interest rates are poor.

Sunspots and 10m - June 22nd 2015

Sunspot number is 79 today (K=4, quite disturbed) and 10m propagation is "fair" again.  I'll be lucky to catch any F2 spots on 10m today, although Es looks promising on both 10m and 6m WSPR with plentiful EU Es DX on both bands. Yet again, the greater distances are on 6m. I assume the optimum Es skip must be greater on 6m than 10m?

UPDATE 1054z:  All the 10m activity seems to be Es currently apart from the locals.  I have received no "outside Europe" spots on 10m since before my holiday last week.

Early start on 6m Es

Not long after 0400z I was spotted by OH1KK (1848km) on 6m WSPR. Yesterday my 6m best DX was nearly twice as far as the best DX on 10m, which was via Es.

UPDATE 1035z:  Lots of 6m (and 10m) Es around with spots from right across Europe. The Es season was late starting here with me, but certainly across Europe is now in full swing.

4X1RF (3519km) spotting me yet again on 6m WSPR

I truly believe this is too regular and too far for multi-hop Es.  I remain to be convinced. Yet again 4X1RF (3519km) has spotted my 1W ERP signal on 50MHz. So far, he has spotted me 4 times today on 6m WSPR. Amazing. Signal at the moment seem to be getting stronger.

UPDATE 1726z: 4X1RF (3519km) has now spotted me 9 times on 6m WSPR so far today and the signal is getting stronger. The last report was -15dB S/N.
 
UPDATE 1821z: 4X1RF has now spotted my 6m WSPR signal 13 times today so far. There is other Es about too at much shorter range.

UPDATE 2005z: 4X1RF has now spotted my 1W ERP on 6m 22 times today.  Incredible almost.

UPDATE 2018z:   Plenty of 6m Es about with spots from HB9 and EA1. Spots from 4X1RF seem to have stopped now.

UKAC 70cm results so far this year

At the moment I am in 97th position out of 141 entries in the AL section of this, once a month, RSGB activity contest on 70cms. It takes place on a Tuesday evening between 8.00pm and 10.30pm UK clock time.

With a small 5 element hand-rotated beam and 5W and having missed one session in May, I don't consider this too bad. I usually am only able to operate for about 40% of the contest time because of my poor (stroke affected) voice.

The next 70cm session of the UKAC is on Tuesday, July 14th. All being well, I shall be active for this session, probably for an hour or thereabouts.

Using the RTL-SDR as a transmitter

OK, this is very low power but it shows you what can be done. A QRPP transmitter or signal generator anywhere between 500MHz and 1.5GHz.

Please note the image below is not on my blog (it is linked as shown) and will be immediately removed if this is a problem.

http://rtlsdrblog.rtlsdrblog.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/transmit_hack_rtlsdr-500x375.jpg

See http://www.rtl-sdr.com/using-the-rtl-sdr-as-a-transmitter/

See also http://www.steila.com/SDR/RFgenmod/index.html .

Good EU Es on 6m and 10m WSPR

Throughout the day, there was good Es on both 6m and 10m WSPR with plentiful EU exchanges of spots on both bands. So far, I have seen no evidence on WSPR of real Es DX outside Europe apart from spots by 4X1RF, although not today. See later post about 4X1RF spots.

Of course, I was not on last week.

Sunspots and 10m - June 21st 2015

Sunspot number is 84 today (K=1) and 10m is expected to remain "fair". Not that much F2 propagation, but with the prospect of Es to liven up both 10m and 6m.

Japanese goods should be cheaper!

The exchange rate (Sterling to Yen) has improved enormously in the last few years and was around 195 Yen to the UK Pound in recent days. Not long ago (2 years ago?) it was less than 130 Yen to the Pound. In real terms Japanese radios should be hugely less expensive based on the exchange rate alone becoming so much more favorable. These are not marginal changes they are huge.

Don't feel too sorry for the dealers. After all, they have to put fuel in their cars. If they struggled a few years ago they are not struggling any more! No, we the consumers are seen as easy fodder, to be milked. The dealers make big profits from early adopters who must have that shiny new radio whatever the cost. Once their greed has been satisfied, the price will drop to attract the rest of us.  I predict the Yaesu FT991 will soon drop in price. Just how much will depend on how much of the exchange rate change the dealers are prepared to pass on to us. One thing is certain, the UK dealers are doing well at the moment.

The FT817 is another story. All development costs were recovered in the first few years. As for LCD and other "supply issues" I just do not believe it. These radios have sold well worldwide for about 15 years and Yaesu has the buying power on anything. No, the true story is someone is making huge profits on this radio, and we the buying public are being taken for a ride.

When the Chinese take the amateur market seriously the Japanese suppliers and their dealers will have a rude awakening.

Jersey - NOT amateur radio

The plane we flew home in.

Well, I can recommend Jersey as a holiday destination. We had very good weather and a good hotel and room which helped. Staying in St Helier helped as the outstanding bus service was right on the doorstep. There was no need to hire a car as everywhere was accessible by the very regular bus service.

The island has small roads in the main, lovely villages, good beaches and a rugged coastline. The people were all kind and helpful. Currency is Sterling and English spoken. Most street names are French even though British since Norman times.