Sunspots - Wednesday April 25th 2018

Solar flux is 72 today and the sunspot number 19. A=5 and K=2.

Dandelions - NOT amateur radio

These yellow flowers, common in UK grass in the spring and summer, are often classed as weeds, but they are actually quite beautiful.

E-field probe RX antennas

It is a common misconception that big antennas are needed for MF, LF and VLF reception. This not true!! Some very small antennas work very well indeed. One of these is the E-field probe (EFP) which makes an excellent antenna on receive. Years ago, I made one and was very impressed. Siting is important with placement as far from houses as possible recommended. EFP antennas are available from several sources, although you can make your own.

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

Coincidences - NOT amateur radio

Years ago, I was at university with people who since became famous. I was idly looking on Wikipedia at one of these - Mark Hedley - when who should be on BBC Radio 4 "World at One" but Sir Mark Hedley! Talk about coincidences!  I also knew Robin Field-Smith who became Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary and an MBE. When I first came to Cambridge I slept on his floor, little knowing how famous he would become later.

Flowers - NOT amateur radio

The collage shows some of the spring flowers seen recently on walks. Although it is dull today, one feels spring has finally arrived after a long, wet, winter.

2m FT8

After a brief period on TX before breakfast in which my best DX was being spotted (again) by G4RRA (334km) in Devon, which is good (for me) with 2.5W and my big-wheel omnidirectional antenna. Since then I have been RX only on 2m FT8 with 13 unique stations in 6 countries with best RX DX being DK3MZ (472km).

UPDATE 1016z: Now 20 uniques in 6 countries spotted on 2m FT8 so far today.

UPDATE 1238z: Now 28 uniques in 6 countries.

UPDATE 1459z:  Now 42 uniques in 8 countries. Best RX DX DL3DQL (897km).

UPDATE 2016z:   With 55 uniques in the log, it will soon be time to go QRT on 2m FT8 RX. I eventually went QRT at 2040z.

Pye Telecom PF1

My very first job at Pye Telecom was to convert a PF1 RX to 12.5kHz channel spacing. Looking back, this was a test by Mike Gotch (later G0IMG, now SK) to find out what I could do. Mike was an assistant chief engineer back then. When he left he was a keen 6m man.

The PF1 was a UHF transceiver pair that was adopted by the UK police in the 1960s. It had a separate TX and RX unit. The TX was quite low power and had a pop-up antenna. The RX had a plate antenna.

Later, I worked on several Pye Telecom/Philips/Simoco/Sepura portables and pagers. I worked on several intrinsically safe units. Overall, it was a fun career. These days radio is still my main hobby and I am not involved professionally.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/pf1

Sunspots - Tuesday April 24th 2018

Solar flux is again 74 and the sunspot number 20. A=5 and K=1. So, much the same as yesterday.

Mud - NOT amateur radio

On our walk this morning bluebell hunting we were surprised by the quantity of mud on the paths after a week of hot weather. The photo shows me struggling! I was totally ill prepared with suede shoes and no stick.

2m FT8

2m FT8 in the first few minutes today

As I was getting nowhere on 10m FT8 today, I have QSYed to 2m FT8 instead.

A brief TX period saw my 2.5W to an omnidirectional big-wheel copied by several stations with best DX on TX being F6DBI (501km).

At the moment I am on 2m FT8 RX only with 10 unique stations spotted in 5 countries in just a few minutes.

UPDATE 1817z: Now 28 uniques in 6 countries on 2m FT8 in just a few hours.

UPDATE 2110z: Now 33 uniques in 8 countries today on 2m FT8. And I have only been on since teatime!

UPDATE 2140z: Now QRT on all bands