Kings - NOT amateur radio

This photo of Kings College Chapel, Cambridge was taken a year ago. Now is probably a good time to visit the city as there are fewer visitors.

Storms

At the moment it is windy and rainy here. At one point, I thought (wrongly) I had seen lightning. I was thinking about disconnecting my rigs and antennas, then checked the lightning map. It looks like the nearest storm is in the Mediterranean, so I think things can remain connected.

UPDATE  0953z: Now blue skies and sunshine!

160m FT8 RX last night

I definitely think conditions on 160m are changing.

Last night 3 North Americans and 1 Caribbean station spotted on 160m. In total 304 stations spotted here with the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground on 160m FT8. Best DX on 160m FT8 RX was KV4FZ (6764km) in the US Virgin Is.

Stations spotted here in the last day on 160m FT8 RX

10m FT8

A local was looking for someone to TX on 10m FT8 so he could test his RX. From about 0853z I have been calling CQ (2.5W) on 10m FT8. He may well have got others active before me. No spots on RX or TX.

UPDATE 0912z: Now RX only on 10m FT8. I see G4WSZ (12km) copied my 10m FT8 CQ call.

UPDATE 0952z: No RX spots on 10m FT8 RX so far today here. A bit like BREXIT, no results yet.

UPDATE 1100z: Just G0OYQ (177km) spotted. I have now QSYed to 432.174MHz vertical calling CQ on 70cms FT8 (2.5W) vertical with the V2000 omni antenna.

15m QRP CW Transceiver

Many years ago, I designed and built this little 800mW CW transceiver for 15m. It worked really well, although sadly it was pulled apart years later so the box could be re-used. Now I wish the rig was still complete.

Maybe I should try a rebuild sometime? The first challenge would be finding the box, as I haven't seen it for years. It may be in a box in the loft. I haven't been in the loft since my 2013 stroke. Climbing the loft ladder makes me so giddy these days.

It worked some very impressive DX despite just having a low dipole. Details are on my main website.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/15m_pipit .

Sunspots - Thursday March 14th 2019

Solar flux is 71 today and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=1.

QSY to 160m FT8 RX

About an hour ago I went QRT on 10m FT8 and moved to 160m FT8 RX. Already lots of Europeans spotted (84 stations already) with best DX currently RO9O (5145km) in Asiatic Russia.

It will be interesting to see how many stations from "across the pond" tonight.

UPDATE 2039z: So far this evening, 109 stations spotted on 160m FT8 RX using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.

UPDATE 2248z: Now 178 stations spotted this evening.

Cambridge Posters - NOT amateur radio

It is hard to say nothing happens in Cambridge judging by the number of posters my wife saw this morning.

Caveat emptor - Kuhne and Oscar 100 upconverter

This appeared on Facebook earlier about the Kunhe Oscar 100 upconverter. I do not know if these comments are correct, but it is worth a few questions of the manufacturer if you are thinking about buying one.

"It has been reported that the Kuhne up converter has a major design flaw related to frequency stability. This is so major that the voice is almost not intelligble on SSB from some stations using this Kuhne product. I have attached a recording documenting this issue (stations significantly worse than this has been heard as well). The station on the recording is using the Kuhne up converter.

Customers have also reported several soldered straps on the product so it appears thst an unfinished prototype has been released (!) Finally the product is not equipped with an input for external reference. This is very supprising since this is an S band transmitter. It should be clear to any seasoned and experienced RF engineer that frequency stability must be very critical on an S band transmitter for narrowband operation released into the market.

It is very surprising that Kuhne releases what in my opinion appears as a unfinished prototype with stability issues and straps into the market. Especially when we compare the price to other offerings in the market.

**Buyers be aware!**"

QSYed to 10m FT8 RX

Whether or not I spot anyone today on 10m remains to be seen, but about 10 minutes ago, I QSYed to 10m FT8 RX for the day. As yet, no spots.

UPDATE 1130z: Still no 10m FT8 RX spots here today.

UPDATE 1340z: 2 spots so far with best DX DJ8QX (466km).

UPDATE 1550z: No further spots today on 10m FT8 RX. I shall probably QSY to 160m FT8 shortly. Roll on the Es season! At the moment for poorly equipped stations (like me) 10m is hard work, even with FT8.