Trump - NOT amateur radio

BBC TV had a professor of American Studies on this morning. He thought Trump was running the Presidency like a business and was using "The Apprentice" TV show as a model. "You're fired", seems to be the catch phrase for those around him with whom he falls out. This professor thought Trump would be out by June next year.

A lot in the USA did vote him in. Personally, this is more worrying. Did so many really think he would "make America great again"? As a clear outsider, I fail to see how the good ordinary citizen of the USA could be well represented by this man. Clinton was also far from perfect in many eyes.

As I said yesterday, we reap what we sow. Elections and referenda have serious consequences and it pays to think of the future, whether with US presidencies or EU "leave"/"remain" votes.

Sadly it appears many in the UK and USA believe the clocks can just be turned back to "the good old days". They cannot: we live in a very connected, multi-cultural world and we have to adjust, not be ostriches pretending otherwise. The USA is a trading nation and depends on the rest of the world. Isolationism is history - wake up!

10m WSPR TX

For several days now my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon is being spotted by Es. This morning it has been spotted in Germany already. Not as good as yesterday, but I am getting out and it is still very early for Es.

UPDATE 1247z: Up to now, 12 unique spots received of my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon with spots from as far apart as Italy and the Faroes. Another good Es day on 10m WSPR.

6m FT8

In the end, I remained on 6m FT8 RX overnight. This morning there is some Es about (Greece and Montenegro), but it is not as good as yesterday. Every time I look at 50.313MHz FT8, I seem to spot stations. Some are Gs by tropo or aircraft, but it rarely fails.

UPDATE 1718z: A truly amazing day on 6m FT8 RX again. In the end, there have already been more Es spots than yesterday! It is hard to believe this is a VHF band.

UPDATE 2140z: After yet another amazing day on 6m FT8 RX, I am now going QRT. V2000 vertical omni seems to work very well.

Stations spotted on 6m FT8 today

Oleg's report (QRP and QRP Club)

As usual, a report from Oleg:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,

Weekly Rendezvous and Parade (WRP) Report (August, 20, 2017)
Pay attention, please!
For  all  active  QRP  operators, for all Rendez-Vous and Micro Radio
Parade  Frequenters and Visitors, for all simplest radio constructors
and milliwatt operators - new "72" e-mail reflector and on-line group
created. To enter the "72" group send empty e-mail to address -
72+subscribe@groups.io
See the group on-line -
https://groups.io/g/72
Also visit page "QRP 14.060" in the Facebook

RV  Visitors of the week: UR7VT ON6KZ, RA1M, IZ4VSZ, IK2UZQ, F6ACV/p,
RV3UF,  UA1CEG,  UA0SBQ,  RV3GM,  Z35M, DJ0MEW, PA0WDW, EA6BB, G3XJS,
RW3DF,  SA2RFQ,  PA0PJE,  LY3G, HB9AGO, HA2NP, IK5SRE, SP5AGU, SP9MA,
RX3DOR,  EA2BD,  DK1HW,  UY1IF,  OM6TC, DL1HSI, F6EAZ, UR8QV, OH6NPV,
ON6WJ,  R2AJA,  G3JFS, OE5PGL, UA9MLY, US5QV, F5MAI, RU3NJC, R2FAE/p,
UA1CEX, US3EN, F3MB, UW5EKR, R1CAN
MRP  Visitors:  ON6KZ (0W3), IZ4VSZ (0W2), RV3GM (0W3), PA0PJE (0W1),
UY1IF (1W), US5QW (QRPp)
Welcome new Visitors -
IZ4VSZ, SA2RFQ, HB9AGO, HA2NP, IK5SRE, SP9MA, EA2BD, US5QW, F5MAI
Congrats!
LY3G, F6EAZ became Honor Frequenters (regular visitors)
See full Visitors and Frequenters lists on the Club 72 web page, please.
Comments...
see full version of the WRP Report including comments and pictures on
the blog - https://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/
Thanks all for activity and comments!
See you on the next week RV and MRP

72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"


This is a periodic Newsletter of the Club 72. Don't reply to Newsletter address! Send any requests or news to mr72@club72.su please.

Sunspots - Sunday August 20th 2017

Solar flux is 88 today (not bad) and the sunspot number a respectable (for this part of the cycle) 33. A=-31 ad K=5 (high).

Burwell Fen - NOT amateur radio

We went for a brief walk this afternoon up near the "cock-up" bridge on Burwell Lode. We saw several birds including some swallows, a tern and 2 mute swans as well as these fine highland cattle with big horns. Although the fens are bleak, they have a certain beauty, especially the wild fen skies. Burwell Fen is now owned by the National Trust.

Diversity in our hobby

Southgate News brings to our attention a piece by the RSGB president. There is little doubt we have to work on this if our hobby is to survive and thrive.

Before my stroke I used to give talks at several clubs in East Anglia. Certainly at that time we, in the UK, had, in the main, a hobby for older white males. I do not know if things have improved since then, but they needed to.

Just think, in your club what happens when the older members are too disabled to get to meetings? Will your club still exist? No, we have to encourage more younger people into the hobby. They need to be fostered and encouraged so they stay. Is radio really no longer the magic it was to the majority of us?

See http://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/2017/08/17/diversity-in-amateur-radio/  .

Sentence intonation - NOT amateur radio

Have you noticed that younger people tend to go up at the end of a sentence? It rarely fails: if a sentence goes up at the end then the person saying it is probably under 30 years old, like. 😉

FT817 and FT817ND

These little rigs from Yaesu have basically remained unchanged since 2000. They cover all bands from 160m-70cm (not 4m or 1.25m), all modes, 5W. With transverters, mine have been used from VLF upwards on all available bands. They work well, but I was surprised Yaesu did not do an upgrade in time for the last sunspot peak. Also, I was surprised they had no real competitors. These days there are a few SDR radios around, but the FT817 reigns supreme.

With mine I have worked the world including some great handheld DX. For base station use I recommend the Z817 auto-ATU. I tried the Elecraft auto ATU but prefer the Z817. I am very happy with the FT817, although the early ones had PA failures with low voltage. This was fixed (I think) in the FT817ND.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/ft817 .

Still good Es on 6m

After a brief transceive period before breakfast, I am again on 6m FT8 RX. So far, plenty of early Es about. Best DX on 6m FT8 RX is SV1QEZ (2402km).So far, 5 countries spotted on 6m FT8: England, Spain, Slovenia , Italy and Greece, but it is only 0835z.

UPDATE 0900z: Now 7 countries spotted with the best DX on 6m FT8 RX SV9RGI (2776km) on Crete.

UPDATE 1332z: Another excellent Es day on 6m FT8 RX. The photo shows the stations copied so far today on 6m. This mode has really "taken off".

UPDATE 1935z: Even more 6m FT8 spots!