Elecraft K1

One of my least used rigs (it has still to be used at this QTH!) is my 4-band Elecraft K1 CW transceiver. This covers 40m, 30m, 20m and 15m CW at up to about 7W. It has the auto-ATU built in so just needs a 12-13.8V supply, CW key and end-fed antenna to be on the air.

At my old QTH it has worked lots including the USA on all bands with a simple end-fed wire antenna down the garden.  I really should consider selling it or trading it in as it is not being used.

Cranial osteopathy for stroke - NOT amateur radio

Some people think that cranial osteopathy is a "snake oil" treatment. I have now had 4 sessions in Cambridge to help me with my remaining stroke related issues and I think it is helping me to relax.

Certainly the massages are very relaxing. Although I still have problems with speech and swallow of thin liquids and I still feel drunk (wobbly) when walking,  I do seem less tired than I was.  For now, I am continuing the sessions in the belief they are helping. Overall, I desperately want to get back to normal.

6m and WSPR settings

CN8LI (2113km) has been very strong with me but often just outside the lower band edge on my WSPR setting. I have readjusted my frequency so CN8LI is now appearing 20Hz higher. I assume this is Es propagation but it could just be F2 propagation. This is probably my settings being off rather than CN8LI as I had the same issue last summer.

Sunspots and 10m - Mon July 6th 2015

Sunspot number has risen to 131. K=4 which suggests quite disturbed conditions. For the first time in a while 10m propagation is described as "fair" rather than "poor".

Flattered? 472kHz TX transverter kit

An anonymous comment in my last post brought to my attention that there is now a kit based on my 472kHz transverter. I see the kit uses toroids whereas I used homemade coils wound on PVC pipe pieces. Flattered!

See http://njdtechnologies.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MF-Solution-Flyer-2015.jpg .

6m Es

Apart from a brief opening at 1350z to CN8LI (2113km) I have seen no evidence of Es on 6m WSPR. Weather (and storms) allowing, I shall stick with 10m and 6m WSPR through the night again.

UPDATE 1052z:  It looks if the bad storms are over eastern Germany, so I shall remain on 10m and 6m WSPR overnight.

Yaesu copy?

Latest from G1KQH (font, or is it fount?, of all knowledge):

Just brought to my attention by G0FTD

Chinese Michael takers 

http://www.409shop.com/409shop_product.php?id=123665

You can bet its Baofeng based?

73 Steve
http://g1kqh.blogspot.co.uk/

It amazes me that no copyright is safe in China. They will, it appears, rip off any radio. Even the name is a give away. But note the ridiculously low retail price.

Yaesu watch your backs. The Chinese are on the march and you are in the firing line!

Big wheel antennas

Next winter I want to replace my hand rotated beams for 70cm and 2m with a big wheel stack for either 2m or 70cm. I was going to erect a 2m big wheel stack (of 2) but looking at the logs it may better to erect one for 70cm which is the more interesting band.

2 big wheels, suitably stacked, should give about 5dBd gain horizontal and need no turning. This is not far off the gain from my 5el yagi in the best direction.  Quite often I work stations off the direction of maximum gain. For my kind of operation (mainly UKAC contests and beacon monitoring) I think a big wheel is well suited.

70cm big wheel stacks are a lot smaller than the 2m versions. The stacking distance is smaller too. Commercial big wheels are available from Wimo in Germany.

See http://www.wimo.de/big-wheel-antennas_e.html .

Four metres

Four metres (70MHz) is now quite widely allocated in Europe and a few other countries.  At one time this was only allocated in the UK and some UK territories. A few years ago I wanted a way of getting on 4m as this was one of the few bands not covered by my rigs. A simple transverter was called for. The following design fitted the bill. There are very few commercial rigs for the 4m band, among them being the IC7100 from Icom.

It is possible this design has appeared here before.

At the current QTH I have no antennas (even dipoles) for 4m, but I worked some decent distances on an fixed indoor dipole at the old QTH. It should certainly be possible to work Es DX with this transverter although I have not tried. I need to erect a 4m antenna!

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/4m_tvtr .

Sunspots and 10m - Sun July 5th 2015

Sunspot number is 111 today and K=3 . 10m is again expected to remain "poor".  Although F2 conditions are not expected to be up to much, Es may well liven things up on 10m and 6m WSPR.

I usually give a sunspot post each day, but I missed yesterday.