North Norfolk, UK - NOT amateur radio

Norfolk is one of the most rural and unspoilt counties in the UK. Today we drove up there and back 167 miles in all.

Our favourite place to eat in Norfolk is The Old Reading Room at Kelling, which is run by real locals. "We don't do change in Norfolk", one of them said. This is a place not "up itself". Food is low cost, simple and just great. Surrounded by second hand books in the longest sale in history,"all books half marked price". I think the signs are so old they have faded. 😊

UK Rallies this weekend

6 AUGUST 2017 : 28th KING'S LYNN ARC GREAT EASTERN RADIO RALLY
Gaywood Community Centre, Gayton Road, King's Lynn, Norfolk PE30 4DZ. Car parking on site is free and talk in will be provided on 145.550MHz. Doors open at 9am, with admission £2. There will be trade stands and a Bring & Buy. There are amateur radio pitches outside as well as tables inside. On site Catering will be available. Details from Ted, G4OZG on 01553 768 701, 0794 683 8656 or email g4ozg@raynet-uk.net www.klarc.org.uk

6 AUGUST 2017 : LORN RADIO RALLY
Crianlarich Village Hall, Main Street, Crianlarich, Perthshire FK20 8QN Doors open at 10.30am and entry is £2. There will be trade stands (tables are free but a raffle prize appreciated) as well as a Bring & Buy. There will be a raffle drawn at 1.30pm. Catering is available on site. Details, by email, to lornradioclub@gmail.com

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

New Weather App (free) - NOT amateur radio

Those who know me know that I have little faith in the UK weather forecasts from the Met Office. Quite often the local forecast for now is wrong! There is a new (free) app that might be useful. My thanks go to Richard Fusniak for bringing this to my attention.

See http://www.anglia.ac.uk/news/app-can-help-banish-those-barbecue-blues .

Sunspots - Friday July 4th 2017

Solar flux is 75 today and the sunspot number 13. A=12 and K=4.

6m MSK144 - what frequency to use?

The "old" 6m MSK144 frequency (still used by some) was 50.280MHz but in the latest WSJT v1.8 this is now 50.360MHz. I have been monitoring the "new" frequency since just before breakfast, but nothing spotted so far.

I am beginning to think many who I'd have copied on the "old" frequency have not yet moved. With the Perseid meteor shower I was hoping to catch some activity. Maybe I turned on too late. Even so I would have spotted a few stations by aircraft reflection by now.

UPDATE 1855z: Well, I was monitoring 50.360MHz MSK144 RX all day until just now and not a single spot all day.  I have now swapped to 6m FT8 RX and already spotted a station in Kent.

472kHz band

In the autumn and winter, this is one of my favourite bands.

For several seasons now I have been on 472kHz WSPR transceive with my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. Despite the very low ERP (around 5mW!) it has been spotted well over 1000km away several times. My transverter which appeared in QST magazine about a year ago produces 10-15W, so with a decent antenna it could do well.

As far as I know, the USA is still awaiting access to this band. This is a fascinating band, well suited to WSPR.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/mflf/472khz_tvtr

6m FT8 - plenty of Es

All morning, I have been on 6m FT8 RX. There is plenty of activity and plenty of Es from all over Europe. The take-up of this new digital mode is nothing short of phenomenal. It seems that this is being adopted as the successor to JT65. It takes less bandwidth and it takes far less time to complete a QSO.

UPDATE 1550z: Best DX on 6m FT8 RX, so far, is SV1DH (2432km). There was a lot of 6m Es earlier.

UPDATE 1920z: There has been no Es lately on 6m FT8. The last was EB1DWF (1215km) at 1741z. I am still on 6m FT8 RX.

OFCOM annual communications market report

OFCOM as released its annual report on the communications market.

See http://ofcom.cmail20.com/t/ViewEmail/i/818C622B3FCCEACB2540EF23F30FEDED/59D1BD3EA2F08127C67FD2F38AC4859C

DXing with crystal sets

OK, a confession: it is a long time since I last listened with a shortwave crystal set.

One thing is certain: at the right time it is possible to hear true worldwide DX, and not via relays.

These days there are fewer English language SW broadcasters and it is much tougher. We are also in a period of declining solar activity, so fewer HF bands are open and these stay open for less time. Nonetheless, crystal sets are easy to make and require no power. DXing with crystal sets is a fun activity.

One of my many planned projects is a multi-band crystal set capable of covering from VLF to VHF. It may never get made, but this would be fun.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/crystalset .

Perseid Meteor Shower

See http://spaceweather.com/ which writes:

"This week, Earth is entering a stream of debris from huge comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Specks of dusty debris hitting the top of Earth's atmosphere at 110,000 mph are burning up in the night sky, producing a spray of shooting stars from the constellation Perseus."