70cm UKAC

As this was the second Tuesday in the month, it was the 70cm leg of the RSGB's activity contest. I was only running 5W to a 2m halo fed with lossy coax. Best DX tonight was just 105km, although I was only on for 20% of the time because of my poor voice.

IC7300, FT991A or KX2?

I am thinking of getting a new radio. The choices are the above. The KX3 is just too expensive in the UK. Any views?

5W would be enough for me, but sadly the ICOM and Yaesu transceivers are not available in QRP versions in Europe. At the moment I favour the FT991A, if the price is right. It would rarely be used at 100W but having 430MHz could be useful.

60m in Finland

Southgate News reports that the 60m WRC band (15kHz wide) is being allocated in Finland a year early. It is a great pity that a wider allocation is not being made in CEPT countries. 100kHz wide would have been so much better. Still, the 15kHz band will be allocated world-wide in the end. Of course, the FCC in the USA might eventually allocate this band, maybe in 2020? I joke not. The FCC has been unbelievably slow with the 137kHz and 472kHz bands.

Luddites? - NOT amateur radio

One can't help feeling really sorry for Southern Rail passengers who pay over the odds for season tickets and get a rubbish service, with crowded trains, cancellations and strikes. The dispute is over who oversees the closing of doors!  In this case my sympathies are with the commuter who is getting a poor deal. The unions are wrong. 

It is beholden on unions to act on behalf of their members, but they have to act responsibly. Yes, I know they are concerned about jobs, but this is plain stupid. If I was in charge I would sack them all (union members that is). Normally my political sympathies are left of centre. We cannot behave as if we lived in the 1800s. This is the 21st century for goodness sake.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38296623 .
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite . The Luddites were textile workers and weavers who destroyed machinery in the hope of preventing job losses. We have to be efficient - end of story.

Southern Rail union members - grow up!!

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday December 13th 2016

Solar flux is 70 today and the sunspot number 13. A=6 and K=1.

10m JT65

Around 0815z, I went QRT on MF WSPR and started up on 10m JT65 again. FR1GZ (9724km) has already been spotted. It remains to be seen whether or not he spots me too. FR1GZ is on Reunion Island in the south Indian Ocean not too far east of Madagascar.

UPDATE 1326z: No other DX on 10m JT65 so far. I think this is more to do with a lack of activity than conditions. Please, use 10m. G4CJC (73km) has been spotted on 10m JT65 -  either tropo or aircraft reflection.

MF TX so far this season

So far this autumn on 472kHz (630m) WSPR I have been spotted by 20 unique stations in 4 countries (G, F, PA and DL). I am running 5mW ERP from my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. I think this is fewer than last year, although I started much later this year.  My impression is that there are fewer active stations, although I may be mistaken. It will be interesting to see the total by Easter. Best DX is DK6XY at 723km.

PC update and 630m WSPR

My shack PC needed an update. When this happens it does not sync to an internet time server. This occurred during the day (probably after lunch) so no South Americans on 10m JT65 may have been because of timing being out rather than propagation.

Anyway, the PC is now updating and I shall be on 472kHz (630m) WSPR for the rest of the evening and overnight.

Smallest APRS TX

See https://git.scd31.com/laptopdude90/smallest-aprs-transmitter .

Looking for a small APRS transmitter? You might like this, which was on Twitter earlier. Although I have a Twitter account I rarely use it, but I get emails about Twitter most days.

The mystery of MH370 - NOT amateur radio

It is almost 2 years since this Malaysian Airlines plane just disappeared. Now relatives are looking for clues as the official authorities seem to have all but given up. One can imagine the nightmare these people have been though.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38257433 .