Sunspots and 10m - Friday Sept 18th 2015

Sunspot number has risen to 72 (K=3) but 10m propagation remains "poor". Another poor day on the higher HF bands?

UPDATE 1120z:  So far just local G4IKZ (18km) spotting me on 10m WSPR. As yet, no signs here of any Es or F2 propagation. Others with better antennas on 10m may have fared better.

Another UK Radio Rally

The following Radio Rallies are coming soon:

Sunday 20 SEPTEMBER : CHIPPENHAM & DARC 'MINI' INDOOR RADIO RALLY
Neston Village Hall,
Pool Green,
Neston, Corsham,
Wiltshire SN13 9SN.

OT 10am, £2, U16 free (sellers 9am, £5 per prebooked table), C.

Parking on site is limited but disabled spaces will be made available. Main parking please in Leafield Way (trading estate), 5 min walk, not Pool Green Rd.

E-mail g0iue@btinternet.com or 07584 054 924 on the day only.
www.g3vre.org.uk.

QRP commercial rigs

The FT817 successor may be announced at Dayton next year. If correct, this is about 3-4 years too late.

The ICOM IC703 is not being replaced by the 10W version of the IC7300 outside of Japan. Personally, I do not understand the major Japanese manufacturers. Surely there is a worldwide demand for a 5-10W SDR based, radio?

It seems the huge world-wide QRP market is not being well addressed by the Japanese. It is their loss.  I think they are all nuts!

Ten-Tec seem to be struggling with their latest Argonaut judging by recent price cuts. See http://www.rkrdesignsllc.com/products/transceivers-receivers/ten-tec-model-539-argonaut-vi-qrp-1-10-watt-transceiver/ .

No, personally I think we are seeing QRPers getting a rough deal of late.

FT991 price dropping

Yaesu FT991

MLS are advertising a time limited offer of the FT991 and a bundled SMPSU at £1149.95. Now there will soon be an ICOM competitor albeit with no 2m/70cm but with 4m in the European version (and arguably a better radio?) at less than £1000 in the form of the IC7300.

No, I confidently predict the FT991 will sell for less than £1000 before the year is ended.  If you are in the market for a 100W radio it is a toss-up between the IC7300 (SDR based) and the FT991. At the moment, the IC7300 looks better value.

Yaesu may announce a (long awaited) FT817 replacement at Dayton next spring but don't expect to see units in Europe before autumn 2016 or later, is my bet.  The Yen exchange rate has vastly improved (making Japanese goods less expensive to buy) and now the FT991 has a serious rival - result is Yaesu has to drop its price for the FT991 or they lose out. My advise is wait a few months.

Sunspots and 10m - Thurs Sept 17th 2015

Sunspot number today is 67 (not bad) and K=3 suggesting  conditions are a little disturbed. 10m propagation is expected to remain "poor". So far this morning just spots from local G4IKZ (18km) on 10m WSPR, but I remain hopeful that we'll see some F2 later. I am also on 6m WSPR (20% TX 30dBm ERP , 80% RX).

UPDATE 0925z:  Still just local G4IKZ (18km) on 10m WSPR and nothing at all on 6m WSPR given or received.

UPDATE 1725z:   All quiet on 10m and 6m WSPR still.

Meteor Scatter software

Steve G1KQH (font of all knowledge) sent me this a few days ago:-

"Did you see a mention of this software in PW, Roger?

Might be useful via your bent wonky wheel?

http://lz2hv.org/mshv

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

Elecraft K1 posted to new owner

The Elecraft K1 is on its way to its new owner, who I hope gets as much fun from it as I did in past years.  Over the time I had it, it worked some good DX on CW.  It has not been used since before my stroke. I may put the money towards a new radio at some point in the future. I prefer to do the building myself, but currently my fine motor skills are still not good. Thankfully I can eat most foods OK, although drinks still need to be taken in small sips. Life is tough and I never expected this.

Sunspots and 10m - Wednesday Sept 16th 2015

Sunspot number is 66 today (K=2) and 10m propagation is again "poor". So far today, 10m WSPR has been poor with no Es and no F2 seen here, but see update! This may change. I certainly hope so.

UPDATE 1646z:   EA8BVP (2986km) spotted me a couple of times by (I think) F2 this morning.  I have only just noticed this! Maybe he and others will spot me again later?

Still no 10m Es or F2 on WSPR

Well it is almost 2000z and still no sign of anything apart from local G4IKZ (18km) on 10m WSPR. It was around this time last night that DX was spotted so I'll stick around just in case, although things don't exactly look that promising. I am also on 6m, although that seems a total waste of electricity!

UPDATE 2220z:   No DX on 10m WSPR. Today has been a total dead loss. Tomorrow is a new day though.  I am hopeful that tomorrow will be better. It can hardly be worse than today!  Well I suppose the tree supporting my antenna could blow down or the PSU expires?

More on my stroke - NOT amateur radio

It is almost 2 years ago that I was admitted to hospital.

Stroke - I am still finding things out. The latest revelation seems to be an inability to realise when spellings are wrong. In the past I could easily tell when things were wrong but sometimes it is days before I spot a spelling mistake or that a word is missing in something I've written.

I also struggle with finding some words - I just cannot bring to mind the right word. I know this did not happen before. I have been struggling since Saturday for one word. FRACTAL! Now I have looked it up I shall probably remember it. It is almost as if dragging things up from some parts of my brain is harder than it was.

We had a romanesque vegetable which has fractal patterns but I could not remember the word for the pattern. This is daft, but true.  I do so hate being as I am.