OFCOM

OFCOM today has published its grant scheme for programme makers and special events equipment owners  (PMSE) operating at 700MHz. This spectrum is to be freed up sooner than originally planned.

See https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations-and-statements/category-1/support-pmse-equipment-owners

American puzzle - NOT amateur radio

It is not an exaggeration to say that every American I have met has been kind, generous and caring. Really. Yet America, as a nation, come across as brash, arrogant and possibly stupid. Why?

Please don't misunderstand me. I have great deal of time for Americans. As said before, every single American I have met or dealt with has been kind and generous. Also, I have found American drivers perhaps the most polite in the whole world. Watching TV movies with car chases I could hardly believe how good the driving was in the USA. First class!

Sunspots - Thursday August 19th 2018

Solar flux is 67 today and the SSN 11.  A=13 and K=3.

Terracotta Warriors - NOT amateur radio

There is a major exhibition on in Liverpool at the moment of the Chinese Terracotta Warriors. These were immense statues created over 2000 years ago. We went to a similar exhibition in London in 2007. It was very good.

Sunspots - Wednesday August 22nd 2018

Solar flux is 68 today and the SSN 15. A=7 and K=3.

More VLF experiments

Stefan DK7FC is planning more VLF tests at 17.47kHz:

"Hi VLF,

For this week, i'm planning to start with new experiments on 17.47 kHz,
where i have a (renewed) special permission to transmit.

So far the best results were a prooved carrier detection as well as a 1
character EbNaut decode by Edgar from Tasmania (VK7).

The first goal will be to determine the best time (start time and
length) on the path for this season. We have a usable path for about 2
months centered on our autun/spring time (21st SEP).

The Signal will be exported by SpecLab to simple txt files containing
the FFT data. This allows stacking, which will be required to get some
S/N at all. A reasonable stable path is essential during the
transmission time. All this will be determined by running some carrier
transmissions, a few hours per day, starting about 16 UTC.

When knowing the time to try we will attempt to transfer a 2 character
message and then even longer messages. 5 characters would be realistic i
think, with some luck and good propagation and low QRN on the RX site...

More soon.

73, Stefan"

New Monster Antenna

Southgate News has a piece today about a new dual-band monster antenna from Innovantennas for 4m and 2m. I think if I tried to erect this I would incur the wrath of the neighbours. Perhaps you live on a remote hillside and the nearest neighbour lives 2 miles away!

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/august/new-2m-4m-dual-band-yagis-from-innovantennas.htm#.W3w-ZfZFzIU

Llangollen Aqueduct - NOT amateur radio

This is an amazing piece of architecture designed by Thomas Telford centuries ago to take a canal high across a valley. Although there is a narrow path on one side the other side has a sheer drop! We were taken here today by our wedding "best man". That was 47 years ago! He lives on the Wirral near Liverpool. I was too giddy to walk across.

Catch 22 - NOT amateur radio

This book is always rated highly but I have yet to speak with anyone who has enjoyed it. I managed to get through it, but found it boring as hell. My wife has tried several times, but always given up! We gave away our copy (keep it PLEASE) and were only too glad to get rid of it. Maybe it means more if you are American and it was read years ago?

If you read it, I'd like to know how you got on.

I still find it hard to see why it is so highly rated.

Sunspots - Tuesday August 21st 2018

Solar flux is 68 today and the SSN 15. A= 14 and K=2.