Amateur radio below 9kHz

Until a few years ago, the conventional wisdom was that you needed huge power and huge antennas to be copied "beyond the garden fence" at VLF and ULF. In recent years much has changed and time and again great distances have been covered by amateurs with quite low power and modest antennas.

The trick is great stability, very narrow bandwidths and long integration times, often of days. For several years just detecting a carrier was enough, but in recent times people have been sending simple messages using EbNaut software.

When at the old QTH I detected signals from several European countries using simple, homemade gear and free software.

Although not totally up to date at all times, I try to update news of amateur VLF and ULF experiments at https://sites.google.com/site/sub9khz/ .

When we die? - NOT amateur radio

This has been mentioned here before. It is something most of us prefer not to think about. Instead we want to get on with our lives.

The year after next I reach 70.  Following my stroke in 2013 I have not enjoyed the health I once had. Compared with many I am lucky though - most of me still works!

Time and again I wonder what happens when we die. Are we just aware of nothing at all, as we were before we were born? Is time and life just an illusion? One thing is certain, we just do not know. With quantum physics, multiverses and many dimensions we cannot experience, it is a brave person who says he/she knows.

All major religions talk about an after-life of some sort. What about morality? If we just die why do we have a sense of right and wrong? Is this a human facet?

No, I am not worried, but I think about this more than I did.

Life is a mystery and I do not have the answers. All religions may hint at answers, but most are thousands of years old, the texts of which were written when we believed the earth was flat, the centre of the universe, demons were real and the world was a very different place.

Geosynchronous amateur satellite delay

A few weeks ago, sorry I cannot remember where, I read that the Qatar amateur satellite, due to be placed in a geosynchronous orbit, has been delayed by a year. This means its launch is now due in 2018 and not this spring.

As the solar activity is likely to be low for a long time, a geosynchronous amateur transponder could be very useful. I certainly hope it is successfully launched in 2018.

The satellite I am thinking about was to have been a Middle-East one with coverage of Europe, Asia and Africa. A separate design covering the USA and just some of Europe was announced by AMSAT-NA last year.

UPDATE 1042z: See https://amsat-uk.org/2014/09/21/eshail-2-ham-radio-transponders/ and https://www.eshailsat.qa/ and https://www.eshailsat.qa/en/satellites .

472kHz WSPR

Someone remarked to me that I copied far more on 472kHz than he did. As you may recall I am just using a totally unmodified FT817 that is a bit deaf on MF with the earth electrode "antenna". I have to use my PC on battery power to ensure a low noise floor, but I do seem to copy quite a bit. Last night my best DX on RX was LA8AV (1035km) and I went QRT at bedtime.

Unique spots last evening on 472kHz WSPR RX

Back on 10m JT65 (2W)

Again, I have returned to 10m JT65 hoping to catch some DX later.

For several days the band has opened for real DX. Don't be fooled by low sunspot numbers. 10m often is open for N-S DX even in sunspot minimum years. Sadly, many just desert the band.

Listening to the CB band just below 10m is often busy when 10m seems flat and devoid of activity. CBers see empty space on 10m, so often illegally use our amateur band.

UPDATE 1154z:  As yet, no spots on 10m JT65, but I expect DX this afternoon.

UPDATE 1412z: PU2ORG (9501km) has been spotted on 10m JT65.

UPDATE 1434z: Now PU2PSP (9584km) spotted. As yet, no spots of my own 10m JT65 (2W). Conditions do seem very similar to last autumn. The falling sunspot number have made very little difference so far compared with last autumn.

UPDATE 2235z:  In all, 5 different South Americans were copied on 10m JT65. Not all these were uploaded to PSK Reporter Maps.

Sunspots and 10m - Monday February 27th 2017

Solar flux is 79 today and the sunspot number 35 (rising). A=2 and K=2.

For several days 10m has been open for N-S DX. It is quite likely that today will also be quite decent on 10m. OK. not as easy as a few years ago but still worth a go.

QRP homebrew from Brazil

This is a great resource for QRPers worldwide with lots of ideas for simple, homebrew rigs. Many of the pages are available in English too. PY2OHH - a call to remember.

See http://py2ohh.w2c.com.br/ .

Simple Mobile Phones?

Both my wife and I use low cost Tesco Mobile "pay as you go" mobile phones, without contracts, for phone and texts. We find these do all we need. My wife's phone is now many years old and she needs a new one.  Any recommendations?

We rarely need data and rely on wi-fi connections for these most times.

472kHz WSPR RX

After a fair break, I am looking on 472kHz WSPR RX. For some reason, my TX antenna current reading is about a third of what it should be, so I am just RX for now until I can investigate further. The earth-electrode "antenna" is still being used.

Initial 472kHz WSPR spots

An asteroid strike. Should you worry? - NOT amateur radio

The chances of a big asteroid hitting us are small. It occurs about once in 40000 years. Even then, most of the globe is not highly populated. Should an asteroid impact on a big city then it could be deadly. I should not lose sleep.

See http://gizmodo.com/we-were-wrong-about-how-the-asteroid-apocalypse-will-go-1792727736 .