70cm activity contest (UKAC)

This contest is held every month, although I resorted, as usual, to my 2m big-wheel omni last night as my antenna and I use 5W. In all, 4 stations worked with best DX G3MEH in IO91QS.Usually I work G4CLA (105km) , but my voice said, "go QRT".

Sunspots - Wednesday February 13th 2019

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN still zero. The active side of the sun is still pointing away from Earth I think. A=6 and K=2.

Es'hail2 geosynchronous satellite operational

Ahead of the official opening users can now experimentally unload to this satellite and it is already busy! Most users I have heard are using 5-6W and getting solid access. So far, so good.

Not sure if it is just me, but everything goes dead on the web SDR after about a minute or two. When I reload the page all is fine again for a limited time. I am using MS Edge with Windows 10.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

QSY to 160m FT8 RX

At about 1615z, I QSYed from 10m to 160m FT8 RX. Already there are Europeans coming through. 5 stations spotted in 3 countries within 10 minutes. Best DX on 160m FT8 RX is UT4XU (1963km).

Boots and flowers - NOT amateur radio

Our local Montessori school has found a great way to use odd boots and make the place inviting too.

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.