Sunspots - Saturday January 26th 2019

Solar flux is 76 and the SSN is 27. These are higher numbers than we have seen for a long time. A=13 and K=2.

472kHz WSPR TX (10mW ERP)

For the first time in a while, I am on 472kHz TX (20%)  with 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. Usually, the crystal in the transverter has to settle and this takes about 20 minutes. During this time, there are a few Hertz of drift. Then it settles and there is no drift.

UPDATE 1805z:  A couple of UK spots of my 472kHz QRPP from G8LCO and G0MRF. Oh, it helps if you enable TX! For the first 30 minutes or so, I had forgotten to click this and wondering why no-one had spotted me!

UPDATE 2320z So far this evening,12 different stations have been spotted here and my 10mW ERP has been spotted by 5 stations with best DX PA3ABK (306km). I shall be staying on 472kHz WSPR overnight.

Older houses - NOT amateur radio

In our village are some quite old houses. I think the oldest dates back to the 1100s and is supposed to have a secret tunnel (now blocked off) going to the nearby church. We were told about this by someone who lived there, so it is probably correct.

A quite old house (17th century) is Tunbridge Farm shown in the photo. This photo was taken on a very dull day.

reCAPTCHA issue?

Certainly, every time I have tried to add a comment to the blog the "I am not a robot" thing has not been working: it just hangs and then gives up. I think there is a fault with linking to the reCAPTCHA thing. Other things seem to work OK and I can reach blogs and other sites OK.

UPDATE 1532z: At the moment it is working.

10m FT8 RX

Most of the day I have been on 10m FT8 RX. So far, just a couple of spots: 1 UK and 1 German. At the moment 10m seems dead!

UPDATE 1627z: One word will summarise 10m here today: CRAP!! In all just 3 spots and 2 of these were UK in the London area. Time to QSY to 630m WSPR.

160m FT8 RX

Not a bad night, although I have seen better. In all, 2 North Americans, 2 Caribbean and 1 South Americans spotted. Best 160m FT8 DX spotted was PY4AZ (9012km) in Brazil.

Stations spotted here overnight on 160m FT8 RX.

Sunspots - Friday January 25th 2019

Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 19. A=19 and K=3.

Getting better? Maybe.

472kHz WSPR RX last evening

In the end, I decided to stop on 472kHz WSPR RX only until bedtime. Then I QSYed to 160m FT8 RX overnight. On 472kHz, 13 unique stations spotted including 3 in Norway using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. All the usual suspects!

Stations spotted on 472kHz WSPR last evening.

Yaesu FT818

Like many, I found the FT818 a real disappointment.

It looks like Yaesu "copped out" and simply upgraded the FT817ND to overcome parts obsolescence. No attempt whatsoever has been made to actually upgrade the radio such as adding a Lithium Polymer battery, speech processor or auto ATU. Basically it is still an FT817ND. What did the FT818 development cost? $10?

However, it is about half the price of the IC7300 which is 100W and a much better radio, so I am told. Maybe Yaesu will introduce an SDR QRP radio soon? That is, if they don't go bust first! Now, I love Yaesu products and have owned many over the years. But, it seems Yaesu has lost its way in recent years.

Had Yaesu wanted to, they could have developed a world beating radio with thousands selling their FT817s and upgrading to FT818s. It seems to me very unlikely anyone will sell their FT817s to buy an FT818. To me, this is a disaster and shows the market intelligence of a 5 year old. My views and others are free to disagree.

The best I can hope for is Yaesu is beavering away on a QRP SDR radio with everything we want. If they don't, I give them 5 years or less and they will be dead - gone forever.

Stones hidden - NOT amateur radio

Over a year on, the craze in our village for hiding painted stones or pebbles, which are found, then photographed and posted on social media, then rehidden, is still going on. Only today we found one which we photographed. We left it where it was so someone else can find it.