New radio - pass

After oscillating between several new radios, I have decided to purchase none at this time. It seems my trusty FT817ND does all I need, so I will not invest in a new radio at the moment. If I really can't decide and I am content with what I have, why bother?

10m FT8 RX

As is my usual pattern, I am on 10m FT8 RX for the day. If I get any spots, I shall be pleased!

UPDATE 1548z: Just LA3VEA (1127km) spotted so far today.

472kHz WSPR overnight

Last night, a total of 11 stations spotted my 10mW ERP with best DX being PA0O (440km).  I spotted 13 stations with best DX EA7HPM (1726km).

Stations that spotted me overnight

Stations I spotted overnight

Stroke update - NOT amateur radio

If this is of no interest please feel free to ignore it and look at another post. 

These days (5.5 years after my 2013 stroke) it is hard to tell what is old age and what are the after-effects of the stroke. When on my feet, I feel giddy all the time. I think this is worse than it was. My voice is poor. I find driving stressful. These feel like stroke after-effects.

Life is about making the best of "us" as we are. My main issue is most people assume I am "normal". Indeed I look fine. This is the trouble with hidden disabilities: people simply do not understand.

This is why I use digital modes like WSPR and FT8 a lot: my voice is not needed and I can be "normal". Sadly, my experiments away from home are all but impossible. I get exhausted quite easily with almost any physical or mental activity: after about 25 minutes I am exhausted. By exhausted I really mean exhausted, not just tired. After a rest I am fine again. Thankfully, time on the PC does not wear me out.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/stroke

4m transverter

Some years ago at the old QTH (2012?)  I designed and built this transverter for 4m (70MHz). As I recall I erected a wire dipole for the band just before a contest and worked a few stations on CW.

At the present QTH, I have never been on 4m.

Many years ago (1968?) I recall working ZB2VHF via Es one summer from university with 4W of AM on 70.26MHz. I can't recall the 4m antenna we used, but it was at best a small yagi.

As I recall, this QRP transverter put out 1-2W on the band, but could probably produce a bit more with some optimisation.

These days there are quite a number of countries on the band. This was not the case back in the 1960s when it was mainly a UK allocation and only 70.2-70.4MHz. Maybe I should give the band another go? As I recall it is quite an effective Es band in the Es season, and with a few watts much of the UK can be covered.

Sunspots - Tuesday February 12th 2019

Solar flux is 69 and the sunspot number 0. A=9 and K=3.

Lock-up - NOT amateur radio

Back in the 1800s, village miscreants were put in the village lock-up. I guess this was a follow-up to the stocks, when rotten eggs and tomatoes were thrown. Maybe we should bring back stocks? Sorry, this would violate the miscreants human rights and heath and safety legislation! The photo shows our village lock-up. These days it is a garage.

Earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground details

Several people have asked for more details of the "antenna" I use on 137kHz, 472kHz and 1.84MHz.

The far end is a ground rod (copper I think) about 1m long. The wire back to the shack is about 12m long and runs along the garden fence (about 1.5m off the ground). At the near (shack end) it connects to the mains ground.

At the old QTH I tried a separate ground just outside the shack and running the "return" wire along the ground. Results were much the same. At 137kHz, 472kHz and 1.84MHz I am pretty sure this structure acts as a loop in the ground.

On VLF earth mode, I suspect the "antenna" is not acting as a loop.

                               --- Sketch and photos to be added on a later post, probably Feb 15th? ---

472kHz WSPR

About 30 minutes ago, I QSYed to 472kHz (630m) WSPR using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground (10mW ERP). Even though the transverter crystal takes about 20 minutes to fully settle, plenty of spots on RX and TX. At the moment (it is still light here) best DX on RX is PA3ABK (306km).

Initial 472kHz WSPR spots

10m FT8 - a blank

Most of the day I was on 10m FT8. At first I went on TX, calling CQ (2.5W) and then on RX. Not a single spot all day! I have now QSYed to 630m (472kHz) WSPR with 10mW ERP and already had far more success.