Crystal replacements

It is a very long time since I was fit enough to do serious project building work, but I know that buying crystals, unless you are buying very common frequencies, is expensive. Many now use synthesised sources instead as this can be much less expensive. Sadly, health issues have precluded me doing my own experiments. At one time, synthesised sources could be noisy, although I expect things have improved in the last 10 years. If you have used synthesised "crystal replacements" I'd be interested to hear what good solutions there are now.

Many years ago, I had ideas for a low cost 10m DSB rig. With the sunspot count likely to soon be on the up, perhaps it is time to dust this off.

Sunspots - Thursday May 9th 2019

Solar flux is 78 and the SSN 27. A=5 and K=0.

DX VHF FM QSO

The IARU VHF/UHF Region 1 Newsletter has details of the FM 2m QSO between ZS3 and ZD7,

See https://www.iaru-r1.org/index.php/vhfuhsshf

Southgate News

Southgate News is a good source of information about amateur radio, Today includes news of a big solar flare amongst other snippets.

Swifts - NOT amateur radio

Today, I saw my first swifts (birds) this year. They migrate up from Africa, returning in August. The only problem was these were in northern Portugal! What is amazing is these could be the very same ones we see in our village stopping for a "pits stop" to re-feed before flying on northwards. When I see swifts I think summer.

Sunspots - Wednesday May 8th 2019

Solar flux is 78 today and the sunspot number 27 (quite decent for this part of the cycle). A=5 and K=0. It looks to me as of we have passed through the minimum, although this could be just a blip. At the last minimum we went months without spots.

2m activity contest this evening

As this is the first Tuesday in the month, it is the RSGB's UKAC activity contest starting at 1900z for 2.5 hours. Activity levels are usually high on SSB. This is a fun contest.

Sunspots - Tuesday May 6th 2019

The solar flux is 75 today and the SSN 14. A=4 and K=1.

OFCOM - Communications Monthly Update - April 2019

OFCOM has produced its monthly update of this. See their website.

First cuckoo heard - NOT amateur radio

At about 10am today UK time, I heard my first cuckoo this year up here. They have been around for a few weeks, but this was my first heard. This one was not too close. They quite like reed warbler nests.