14th century cross - NOT amateur radio

At the moment there seems to be a craze across the UK to hide painted pebbles. Young people especially seek these out, take a photo and post on social media, then re-hide the stone somewhere else for the next person to find it. It is innocent fun. Yesterday I noticed a stone on the base of this 14th century stone cross at Thurlestone, Devon.

Es season and getting outdoors

We are now in the Es season in the northern hemisphere and 10m and 6m will be good for low power DXing now for several months. On bands like 10m and 6m DX on SSB should be workable out to around 1500km with 1W or less. Often signals are very strong.

This is a good time to venture outdoors to a quiet electrical environment with a QRP rig. One advantage of a whip antenna is the whole rig can be moved around to get the best signal. Use a counterpoise.

There are some tips on pedestrian portable operation on my website. I guarantee you will not be disappointed! Many will be surprised how easy it can be. Whatever, it is a great way to enjoy sunshine and our hobby. Even outside the Es season DX can be worked, but the next few months are good.

Sunspots - Monday May 7th 2018

Solar flux is 69 today and the sunspot number 14.  A=31 and K=5.

The uBITX

This design from India appears to be gaining in popularity. Today, I was made aware (by Steve G1KQH) of a mod to increase the power output on higher bands. Several people are selling suitable enclosures.

Kits come from India with built and tested boards. As I understand things, it is very easy to build and test this multi-HF band rig. It looks a very low cost way of getting on HF.

See http://www.hfsignals.com/index.php/ubitx/

The other half? - NOT amateur radio

We did a lovely walk in Thurlestone, Devon earlier. On the way we spotted this in someone's garden. Talk about how the other half live!

"Just popping down for the weekend". I expect this is a second home and the owner pops down when it is sunny! He/she probably has a private jet to get further. 😊

Dual band antenna

Some years ago, I made this dual band antenna for 10m and 6m. It worked well.

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

My MAIN website

A reminder to those who do not know that my main website is at www.g3xbm.co.uk where you will find plenty of details about my projects (mostly simple!).

I also have a YouTube channel G3XBM which has videos about many of my projects. If you have not had a chance, you may care to take a look.

President Trump - NOT amateur radio

OK, I have tried very hard to remain open minded, but personally I find his latest address to the NRA about blood on the floors of a UK hospital of little value. Yes, we do have a knife crime issue in some parts of some groups in the UK. In my view guns are not the answer to knife crime.

If I understand him correctly, his NRA address is aimed firmly at the powerful gun lobby in the USA.  Most of his tweets come from the hip it seems.  Who does he think he is? A wild west fighter from the 1800s?  No sir, you are meant to be leader of the free world! Instead many in the free world think you are just ignorant and stupid.  Sadly, we have very few truly great potential leaders.  The world is in great need of inspiring leaders.

My recommendation to him?  Please, just shut up. Read your briefs and stop spouting rubbish, especially if you are unclear of real facts on the international stage. If the good people of the USA elected you, that is fine. Internationally is a very different matter. The leader of the free world must be a person who is above reproach and highly respected on the world stage. 

These are my personal views based on what I have seen and heard with my own eyes and ears.   Others are perfectly entitled to have different views. A true democracy would be very weak if we were not entitled to say how we feel freely and openly. I respect the right of people to hold views very different from mine.

Promontory Fort - NOT amateur radio

At Bolt Tail, near Hope Cove, on the South Devon coast is a very old promontory fort. It is quite possible that one of my ancestors manned it many thousands of years ago, as this is where we came from at least as far back as the 1400s.

There is something quite humbling about this. Our lives seem quite long, but they are just a speck really. And this fort was built very recently considering life on Earth.

Dust to dust and all that.

Sunspots - Sunday May 6th 2018

Solar flux is 68 today and the sunspot number 14.  A=20 and K=6.