Granddaughters - NOT amateur radio

Earlier in the last week we had all our grandchildren here. The photo shows our 2 granddaughters together.

Sunspots - Sunday September 1st 2019

Solar flux is 66 today and the sunspot number still zero. A=38 and K=5. For those who read August 1st my apologies!! I have just noticed this error and corrected it.

Solar numbers

Usually very early each month my favourite source of solar data updates its information. This usually happens either late on the first day or on the second day of the month. As last month, one wonders what the forecast for sunspots looks like later this year. As far as I know, we have been pretty spotless in August.

Homemade recordings - NOT amateur radio

When still at school, i.e. a very long time ago, a friend and I made some homemade records using a big horn, lots of shouting and the plastic lids of coffee jars.

Looking back, these were very exciting days. Although I still have a record, I no longer have a means of playing it.

As we have moved increasingly to digital and streaming, analogue decks are fewer, although some still swear by vinyl records. As I recall there was nothing too profound recorded.

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

CEPT position at WRC 2023

Although several years off, CEPT has agreed on the items to be on the agenda of WRC-23 according to Southgate News. It seems likely that bands under threat may be safer.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/august/cept-cpg-decides-position-on-144-50-and-1240-1300-mhz.htm

2m FT8

At about 1820z, I switched to 2m FT8, initially calling CQ. Best DX spot was by DL3YCX (475km), which is not bad with 10W to the big-wheel omni. In all 5 stations in 3 countries spotted me.

UPDATE 1855z: On 2m FT8 RX just 3 spots so far this evening.

UPDATE 2024z: A recent 2m FT8 CQ was spotted by 4 stations. On RX just 4 G stations spotted. In all, 7 stations have spotted my 2m FT8 CQs this evening.

UPDATE 2146z: A recent 2m FT8 CQ (10W) was spotted by 9 stations with best spot being by EI2FG (565km) in southern Eire. I shall probably remain on 2m FT8 RX overnight. 8 stations spotted so far on 2m FT8 RX in 4 countries. This is disappointing as it feels people have now had their FT8 fun and have "moved on", but what to and where?

Icom's IC-705

Image on the ICOMuk link shown

Great! ICOM has just announced a new multi-band QRP transceiver at the Tokyo Ham Fair. It should be available March 2020 and for less than $1000.  I hope they sell this world-wide as it exactly fits my needs.

See https://icomuk.co.uk/Icom-IC-705-and-IC-PW2-Prototypes-Shown-at-Tokyo-Hamfair-2019/2/1982/

See also https://dx-world.net/new-icom-ic705/

See also https://qrpblog.com/2019/08/icom-ic-705-hf-vhf-uhf-portable-transceiver-announced

See also https://icomuk.co.uk/files/icom/PDF/newsFile/IC-705_Tokyo_Hamfair.pdf

The last but one link has lots of photos. It looks to me like a great addition to the range and a bit like a 2020 IC703, but based on SDR technology!

Fred tells me 4m will be available on European versions - even better!

My thanks again to Steve G1KQH and Fred G4BWP for spotting this.

6m FT8

An earlier 6m FT8 CQ was spotted by 6 people including 9A5CW (1253km).  This looks like Es. It was very early. So far, I have just spotted a couple of Gs on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1040z: Quite a bit of Es now in 6m FT8. An earlier CQ was spotted by several Gs with one G QSO. Best DX this morning on 6m FT8 RX is UW1HM (2293km). In all, 34 stations from across Europe already spotted this morning.

UPDATE 1202z: Now 49 stations spotted today on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE  1532z: 50 stations in 13 countries spotted so far on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1605z: A recent 6m FT8 CQ was spotted by 3 G stations only.

UPDATE 1743z: A very recent 6m FT8 CQ resulted in no QSOs and was spotted by just 1 G station.

Darts with the grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

When all the grandchildren came to stay this week, a great hit was the new darts board. We attached this to a tree and we all had hours of fun.

Heathkit Twoer and similar

The older generations may remember the "Benton Harbour Lunch boxes" that were popular rigs back in the 1960s. These were 5W AM rigs with super-regen RXs. In many areas these were mainstays of VHF activity.

Compared with FT8 today we would be amazed. DX was 10 miles! On FT8 every day Germany is copied. With a super-regen and its broad selectivity even 50 miles would be considered amazing!

I always wanted the 2m version, but the nearest I got was the manual. Several similar designs were made by yours truly, but the styling never was quite as good.  To this day, I like the styling. As a QRP rig on any band I think this style is classic. Maybe one day I shall finish the Tenbox in a similar styling, although I would be very happy if someone else did this as my building skills are nothing like they were.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/lunchbox