Years ago, I was involved in wide area paging development professionally. With the advent of small mobile phones, paging went out of fashion. I used to enjoy getting news updates and other services on my tiny pager. We made pagers for the UK market as well as for the USA and other countries. We manufactured the USA ones in California and Mexico.
According to Southgate News the first amateur POCSAG paging gateway has been authorised in Bognor Regis. It will be interesting to see how popular amateur paging becomes. One issue will be pagers. I don't know how common these will be on the surplus market. No-one wants them, but is there a source?
See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/august/mb7pbr-dapnet-pocsag-pager-gateway-licensed.htm#.W4evK_ZFzIU
30 Aug 2018
10m WSPR TX (500mW)
Since before breakfast I have been on 10m WSPR TX. Not surprisingly, no spots received. If I get any spots today, this will be a bonus.
UPDATE 1652z: Still no spots all day today.
UPDATE 1652z: Still no spots all day today.
6m FT8
For the last few hours I have been on 6m FT8. My CQ call (2.5W) was spotted by no-one and, so far, I have only spotted G0PQO (50km). It is still quite early, but it looks like people are now deserting 6m.
UPDATE 1050z: 4 stations in 3 countries spotted so far on 6m FT8 today. Best DX is LB6D (1030km). Disappointing.
UPDATE 1237z: Nothing further.
UPDATE 1810z: 9 stations in 4 countries spotted. Non of these, I think, were Es.
UPDATE 1050z: 4 stations in 3 countries spotted so far on 6m FT8 today. Best DX is LB6D (1030km). Disappointing.
UPDATE 1237z: Nothing further.
UPDATE 1810z: 9 stations in 4 countries spotted. Non of these, I think, were Es.
More grumpy old man - NOT amateur radio
A few weeks ago I had to ring up my car insurance firm to ask for a premium reduction. Reluctantly, they reduced the premium by just a little, despite being with them for years and never making a claim.
What infuriated me was the "could not care less" attitude by the person (English) in the UK call centre. Surely I am just the sort of customer they should want to keep? No, they make bigger profits by creeping up the premiums each year and assuming many just renew automatically. Personally, I find this totally immoral. Sadly, this seems to be the model all insurance companies work with. Needless to say I told them to get stuffed. This is business they lost and good riddance. No doubt as a new customer next year they will offer me a great deal to hook me in.
Recently, before a holiday, we tried to buy a couple of PO bonds. They promised to call us when everything was in place and money transferred from other PO accounts. Yesterday we checked on-line as we had not heard. The money was still in the original accounts! So, all money is being withdrawn and bonds set up with someone else. Their loss. Yet again, no-one seems to care, which is sad. In my working life this would have resulted in the sack. You don't treat customers like dirt, never ever. Golden rule: the customer is always right. What is needed is accountability and responsibility. Sadly this seems lacking almost everywhere. People are just numbers and those who deal with them (if not just a computer) headless morons.
What happened to the personal touch?
What infuriated me was the "could not care less" attitude by the person (English) in the UK call centre. Surely I am just the sort of customer they should want to keep? No, they make bigger profits by creeping up the premiums each year and assuming many just renew automatically. Personally, I find this totally immoral. Sadly, this seems to be the model all insurance companies work with. Needless to say I told them to get stuffed. This is business they lost and good riddance. No doubt as a new customer next year they will offer me a great deal to hook me in.
Recently, before a holiday, we tried to buy a couple of PO bonds. They promised to call us when everything was in place and money transferred from other PO accounts. Yesterday we checked on-line as we had not heard. The money was still in the original accounts! So, all money is being withdrawn and bonds set up with someone else. Their loss. Yet again, no-one seems to care, which is sad. In my working life this would have resulted in the sack. You don't treat customers like dirt, never ever. Golden rule: the customer is always right. What is needed is accountability and responsibility. Sadly this seems lacking almost everywhere. People are just numbers and those who deal with them (if not just a computer) headless morons.
What happened to the personal touch?
Sunspots - Thursday August 30th 2018
Solar flux is 69 today and the sunspot number has returned to zero. A=6 and K=2.
29 Aug 2018
QRT time
After another great day on 2m FT8 RX it is time to go QRT. At the end of the day 43 stations in 8 countries spotted.
A late (brief) CQ call was spotted by GI6ATZ (479km). Not bad for 2.5W and a big-wheel omni antenna. In all, 5 spots received.
A late (brief) CQ call was spotted by GI6ATZ (479km). Not bad for 2.5W and a big-wheel omni antenna. In all, 5 spots received.
Swifts gone? - NOT amateur radio
See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/swift/
Too easy?
Today, I am on 2m FT8 RX. It is amazing what comes through. I am pretty sure what I am spotting on my big-wheel omni antenna is there every day. I suspect most stations come in via aircraft reflection although some are via tropo.
Getting worse? - NOT amateur radio
Perhaps it is me becoming more of a grumpy old man, but in many ways things seem to be going backwards. In our village our only bank has closed. About a year ago our local building society branch in the village closed. Years ago you could ring your local bank manager. Now you are just an anonymous number in an Indian call centre! I tried to contact a train company but was connected to an Indian call centre who really did not have a clue. In fact they were totally useless. Many shops have closed.
Some things are better, but I think that god "profit" is gradually making life harder for us all.
Somehow we have lost that personal touch. I am sure this is a worldwide issue and not just here in the UK. Slowly but surely, life is getting harder, when it should be getting easier.
Some things are better, but I think that god "profit" is gradually making life harder for us all.
Somehow we have lost that personal touch. I am sure this is a worldwide issue and not just here in the UK. Slowly but surely, life is getting harder, when it should be getting easier.
5MHz newsletter
Southgate News has details on how to get the latest 5MHz Newsletter as a free PDF file.
See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/august/the-5-mhz-newsletter.htm#.W4aMw_ZFzIU
See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/august/the-5-mhz-newsletter.htm#.W4aMw_ZFzIU
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