Grooming gang - NOT amateur radio

"During the three trials, jurors heard how the men - who are all British Asians of mainly Pakistani heritage - preyed on young, vulnerable girls, one of whom was described as having the mental age of a seven-year-old." From the BBC report.

I am most definitely not a racist. Many of my friends come from backgrounds other than white British. What really puzzles me is why every member of this gang is Asian. Is it something in their culture which makes them more likely to act in this way? It is inexcusable. Rather than pay for them in jail, send them back to Pakistan on the first plane. If they cannot follow our way of life, they deserve no part in it.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-45918845

Coax cable

It is many years since I last bought coax (2012?), so I am a bit out of touch on prices, types and sizes. Come to think of it, I must have bought some low-loss coax when David G0LRD installed my 2m big-wheel, but I cannot recall where I got this from!

Every weekend, MLS has some special weekend deals and this week it includes coax and coax tools.

See https://www.hamradio.co.uk/

JS8Call

This is a development of FT8 to allow longer messages. It is not something I have tried. To me, FT8 is enough, but others may be interested. I believe it is at release 0.75.

See http://js8call.com/2018/10/11/announcing-the-first-js8-qso-party-19-22-october-2018/

WSJT-X

There is a lot of free software at this site for digital communication. WSJT-X is still in beta release with the full Rev 2.0 version due in December. If you want to try some digital modes, take a look.

See https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html .

Living "in the moment" - NOT amateur radio

A lot of us spend a lot of our time worrying about tomorrow. Often, what we most fear does not happen!

There is a technique which may help. This has rapidly turned into a word for our time, but there is good science behind it. Mindfulness.

Sometimes we have to think about tomorrow, but perhaps we spend too much of our time needlessly worrying, when we should concentrate on enjoying the good things around us now.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness

More signs of autumn - NOT amateur radio

This photo was taken by my son in Kent a few days ago. More signs of autumn.

10m FT8 again

Rather than 10m WSPR, I have again opted for 10m FT8 today. An earlier CQ was spotted by no-one and, as yet, no-one spotted! Not a great start I have to admit. 😕

Nonetheless, I shall stick with the band and put out the odd QRP CQ on 10m FT8 now and again. In the past few days, the best DX came through in the early evening.

UPDATE 1317z: Apart from a couple of German stations spotted this morning, all very quiet on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1410z: Surprise, surprise! A recent QRP CQ (2.5W) on 10m FT8 was spotted by GW4BVE (237km). No QSOs though. Tropo or aircraft?

UPDATE 1652z: G4CJC (74km) in north London spotted on 10m FT8 RX. No DX. A CQ earlier (2.5W) got no spots! Will we see South Americans tonight?

UPDATE 1949z: Only a single South American this evening here on 10m FT8 RX - PU5FGR (10026km). I am not sure if this was just a poor night or the end of the propagation for the season. At 2000z I shall go QRT on 10m as I think that is it for today. Just 6 stations, 4 countries, 3 continents today on 10m FT8 RX.  I'll try  again tomorrow.

Coming autumn - NOT amateur radio

Spiders web on the window earlier

It is definitely getting colder here. In the garden it now looks like autumn with leaves really falling and dew on the grass.  In a few weeks most trees will be bare.

The seasons are great: each has something special: the long warm summer evenings and snuggling in front of the fire on a cold winter evening.

Sunspots - Friday October 19th 2018

Solar flux is 69 today and the sunspot number has returned to zero. A=2 and K=0.

10m Simple Sideband

My health has not been good for over 5 years, so work on this project stopped sadly.

The ideas were good ones and I am sure there is mileage for someone to progress these. What I really want is for someone to take this on and produce a really simple kit including a PCB and all the parts.

Every summer, such a rig would work right across Europe on 10m. In a few years real DX should be possible with modest wire antennas.

It would make a nice club project. First of all, someone needs to finish the development!

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/10msimple_sb