Edging - NOT amateur radio

Birds in our garden love to scrape the soil for creatures to eat. I can't tell you how many times I have had to sweep up! So, this autumn, I am adding edging stones in an attempt to reduce the summer workload. I have done one bit, but have still to do along the path, which is about twice as long.

Commercial optical communications

Many years ago, before my stroke, I did some work at 481THz, red light. I used LEDs as the TX element, but I see that there are some commercial optical links using LASERS. Light has the advantage of being very secure. I expect these commercial units are expensive. My own optical kit was very inexpensive and great fun.

At some point I hope to get back to this work. Amateur optical work is both fun and inexpensive. It is certainly at the frontier of experimentation.

See http://www.lightpointe.com/laser-radios.html .
See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/optical .

Trump and faking it - NOT amateur radio

Allegedly  President Trump tweeted that he was "probably" going to be named TIME magazine's Person of the Year, but he apparently declined. TIME has disputed this. It is also reported that the president has a fake TIME cover showing his golf clubs and him.

TIME has also disputed a claim, allegedly, that Trump has appeared on its front cover more than anyone. I am reporting this, I hope, as it appears on the BBC website, which I believe is NOT fake news.

The media portrays the present president as a fool. "I could not possibly comment", to use a phrase from Yes Minister.

The good people of the USA elected President Trump to run their nation and "make America great again".  Let us hope the next president represents the people well and has them at heart.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42121402 .

10m FT8 RX since breakfast

Since just before breakfast, I have been monitoring 10m FT8 RX. Already, quite widespread European activity, which is encouraging so early.

Sunspots - Saturday November 25th 2017

Solar flux is 74 and the sunspot number still zero. A=10 and K=2

Another good night on 630m WSPR

Last night, my 10mW ERP WSPR was spotted by 9 unique stations with the best being LA2XPA (1310km) way up in Norway. He must have a nice low noise floor!

I spotted 9 uniques here too, with my best DX spotted DH5RAE (995km) in Germany.

OFCOM and programme makers

PMSE users will still have access to 700MHz spectrum after 2020 here in the UK according to OFCOM.

"We believe that continued use by PMSE services is likely to secure the optimal use of this spectrum and maximise the benefits to UK citizens and consumers."

Well, they have to earn a crust at OFCOM. Darn quangos!!

See http://ofcom.createsend1.com/t/ViewEmail/i/FE70F7F0AE1D1BFE2540EF23F30FEDED/59D1BD3EA2F08127C67FD2F38AC4859C

Black Friday emails - NOT amateur radio

When I woke up, there were 10 emails in my inbox. All were about Black Friday deals. They made me sick. Every one was immediately deleted.

This is pure commercialism imported from the USA. It is designed to make us spend more over the thanksgiving weekend. Thankfully, this vomit-inducing commercialism is losing favour here in the UK.

If you good folks in the "land of the free" like it, fine. My personal view is I hate it. Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in the UK. In my view Black Friday has no place either.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42093624 .
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42106850 .

The future of our hobby

As always, Southgate News is providing links to some interesting stuff. One such story was about the future of our hobby. Personally, I have grave doubts about the future, as I have voiced before. One thing is certain: the thing that got us interested in radio is unlikely to be the same today. What "turns on" youngsters today is very, very different.

Some would call me a fireside fusilier in that I am "gunner do this and gunner do that". What is certain is that our hobby has to evolve or die out. The future is in our hands.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2017/november/millennials-are-killing-ham-radio.htm#.Whgjjbp2vIU

10m FT8 RX

Since breakfast, I have been on 10m FT8 RX. So far today 2 stations spotted:  MI0RRE (495km) and IW4EGP (1284km). Nothing outside Europe today.