Linnet - NOT amateur radio

For the last few days I have seen this bird about 100m away on a telegraph wire. It has never been close enough to see clearly, but I managed to identify it using the zoom on my wife's camera. It turned out to be a linnet. I think it must have a nest nearby.

Storm risks

At the moment, there are storms in Switzerland, although we have a chance of storms in the UK later. As a precaution I have gone QRT and disconnected everything.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/blitzortung/europe/index.php?lang=en

UPDATE 1800z: This afternoon we had thunder and lightning as well as rain.

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday June 27th 2017

Solar flux is 73 today and the sunspot number 19. A=7 and K=2. Although I am not on the air currently, there was widespread Es on 6m, so I expect on 10m too.

6m JT65 - now QRT

As there is a risk of storms later, I have gone QRT on all bands and disconnected all power and antennas. There were lots of European 6m Es spots, plus of course my "friend" (supposedly) in Indonesia, but more probably in the UK!

Optical comms at 481THz

It is some years since I last tried optical communications. This has been because of my poor health. 481THz is easy: all gear was home made and test gear is simple. In most ways nanowaves are easier than microwaves. My "speciality" was non line of sight (NLOS) using digital techniques. I also had one 2-way optical QSO over about 11km. Then I had a stroke and everything stopped!

My experiments used low cost red LEDs. At some point I'd like to try infrared. My tripod was low cost. A better one is really needed as aiming is important.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/optical .

10GHz contest and 1296MHz operation

Sadly, I have no gear for 10GHz. I think there was a 10GHz contest on Sunday afternoon. I have thought about getting something, also for 1296MHz /P. If I was fitter I might have got "my arse into gear" sooner. As it is, I guess one can only do so much in our great hobby, especially if fitness is a thing of the past!

There is a quite low cost 1296MHz 2W transverter available from Bulgaria (SG lab) which has had good reviews. I know G8LRD (David) uses one with his FT817 when out portable and works some decent ranges. I cannot remember what antenna he uses.

The image is from the SG Labs website. I hope they don't mind me linking to it.

As you can see, this is small and light enough to be mounted on a portable mast close to a 23cm antenna to minimise cable losses.

As I could not find a price for this transverter on their website, I dropped them an email. I got a reply very quickly: 156 euros plus 8 euros economy shipping to the UK. They accept PayPal. Not bad for a 2W, sensitive, transverter. This is for V2.3 which also accepts an external 10MHz reference.

See http://www.sg-lab.com/TR1300/tr1300.html

137kHz E-field probe mag-mount RX antenna

Some years ago I did some tests (in the car) looking to see where I could copy my low uW ERP 137kHz signal from home. Results surprised me, even with my deaf FT817.  I gave up on the far side of Cambridge (approximately 24km) with S/N still respectable.

This is all that you need to receive on the LF bands.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/137efp.

10m WSPR

After a break of several days, I have returned to 10m WSPR this morning (500mW, TX only) hoping for some Es spots. It is some time since my little beacon has been spotted outside Europe, apart from one South American spot.

UPDATE 0810z: Widespread 10m Es, especially from eastern and central Europe. Best DX so far is EA1FAQ (1249km) in northern Spain.

6m JT65 (again)

Yet again, I am active on 6m JT65 with 1W ERP. Certainly JT65 seems to get much more activity than WSPR. During the Es season I have no problem being spotted out to more than 3000km and I have spotted most continents this season on 6m JT65.

UPDATE 0814z: Widespread 6m Es.

UPDATE 1635z:  Yet again, I am supposed to have spotted a station in Indonesia. Yet again, I do not believe this! It is probably a pirate in the UK.

Sunspots and 10m - Monday June 26th 2017

Solar flux is 73 today and the sunspot number is 20. A=11 and K=2.

As on previous days, lots of Es on 10m (and 6m), but no evidence of F layer DX. Not saying it is not there, but nothing seen here.