10m FT8

Well, I have been on 10m FT8 for about 10 minutes. At first I called CQ (2.5W). As yet, no spots either RX or TX. Now I am RX only on 10m FT8.

UPDATE 1315z:  Just a couple of G spots so far today. Best DX is G0NGL (222km). Poor!

UPDATE 1406z: PA8MC (404km) in Limburg spotted on 10m FT8. Aircraft reflection?

Anglesey Abbey - NOT amateur radio

We visit this National Trust property most months. Although it is in the top ten National Trust places in England and often busy, the grounds are so big you can often find yourself alone and far from crowds.

160m FT8 RX last night

In all, 40 North Americans and 1 Caribbean spotted here overnight on 160m FT8 RX as well as loads of Europeans again. Without doubt, the very best night this season! Best DX was K7RL (7605km) on the west of the USA. The earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground works fine.

Stations spotted overnight 

on 160m FT8 RX. Best yet!

Joule thief

If you have partially drained batteries, you may be interested in this idea. It can power LEDs from almost drained batteries, although with a bit of thought I am sure you can think of other uses.

This photo is on Wikipedia. The basic schematic is simple.

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

Reconnecting Korea - NOT amateur radio

Nearly my entire life Korea has been divided.  Years ago I went to South Korea for work, but never to the north.

I gather there are holidays in North Korea to include visits to potato farms and processing factories - not exactly my "cup of tea".  😉

Now there is a project to join north and south by rail and road. I really hope people divided by war can move freely and see long lost relatives.

North and South Korea are very different places these days. Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is a capitalist city, oozing wealth. The northern state capital, Pyongyang, is very communist and controlled.  Let the people of Korea decide how to move forward.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-46686428/north-and-south-korea-ceremony-held-for-transport-re-connection .

Sunspots - Thursday December 27th 2018

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0. A=3 and K=2.

Pye PF1 UHF handhelds

If you can find these, they can be converted to the 70cm amateur band, but they are hard to get hold of these days. TX power was 50mW. Perhaps they appear at rallies from time-to-time or on eBay?

My first project at work was converting these to 12.5kHz channel spacing. This was a task set by the late Mike Gotch, M0IMG. 

At the time I had no idea Mike was a keen amateur. Years before he had been a pirate and lost his licence I believe. In later years he was a keen 6m man. He retired early to care of his partner, who had cancer. Mike died as a result of the after-effects of a stroke.

The 12.5kHz version was never introduced commercially, but the exercise was a good one for me. The PF1, a product of the 1960s, transformed communications for the UK police. It was in 2 units, one for RX and one for TX. Even now, it still looks good.

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

160m FT8 RX

At 1510z I decided to QSY from 10m to 160m FT8 RX. As usual on 160m, I am using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. It is now 1517z and nothing spotted yet. Once it gets dark, this will no doubt change!

UPDATE 1556z: Getting dark here now and already 14 stations in 10 countries spotted on 160m FT8 RX. Best DX spotted so far is RZ6LY (2943km).

UPDATE 1840z: Absolutely loads of Europeans spotted on 160m FT8 RX again. Results on this band have far exceeded my expectations with all over Europe and North America spotted every night.

Stations so far spotted here 

this evening on 160m FT8 RX

UPDATE 2006z: WU1ITU (4831km) was first spotted at 1958z. This is the earliest yet.

UPDATE 2310z: With 10 North Americans spotted already on 160m FT8 RX this evening, this could be the best night yet this season. I'll check again at breakfast time.

E-field probe RX antennas

These are RX only antennas, but they can be remarkably successful on VLF, LF and MF. Years ago I made my own, but these days building and erecting is much harder.

A while back I bought an EFP from Roelof PA0RDT, although I have not got it erected yet. Roelof gets good results with his, although they need careful sighting to avoid noise pickup. If you are interested in the lower bands RX only, these antennas may be your answer.

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

Rally

Friday 28 DECEMBER : YEOVIL ARC TABLE-TOP RALLY

Sparkford village hall, Church Rd, Sparkford, Somerset BA22 7JN (on the A303 north of Yeovil). 10 Tables, light refreshments, off road parking, wheelchair friendly. £2 admission.10am till 3pm. Contact Bob Harris, G8UED, 01963 440167, wjh069@gmail.com.

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/