Windmill 1931 - NOT amateur radio

We think this photo of the windmill next door was taken in about 1931. I have no idea who took it. Our bungalow was built about 40 years later and is behind the shed on the right.

Today the windmill is fully restored and has 4 sails which occasionally rotate, usually on special occasions. The tail wheel turns regularly and we can tell the wind direction by the way the main sails are orientated. The windmill is part of Burwell Museum, which is very extensive and one of the best local museums in the UK.

In the video below, the hedge is in our garden.

See http://burwellmuseum.org.uk/

Yet more houses - NOT amateur radio

We moved to this village in 1975 when the population was just over 4000. It is now over 6000.

Wherever there is a gap more houses get built. These cater for the well healed and rarely for ordinary workers. For example, the space in the photo has recently been built on. At one time it was a pub carpark.

XBM80-2 transceiver

This was a very simple 80m CW transceiver that I designed and built many years ago, apparently in 2010.

Like all my designs please take this as a starting point as you may very well be able to do much better. As you can see this was just experimental. At the time it was fun. These days, such experimental work is probably beyond me since the 2013 stroke.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/80m_xbm80

Sunspots - Monday September 23rd 2019

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=0.

2m FT8 again

It is getting dark and I have switched to 2m FT8. On RX 3 stations spotted including 2 in Germany. On 2m FT8 TX (10W to the big-wheel omni) 14 spots so far with the best DX report coming from G4LOH (455km) in Cornwall.

UPDATE 2009z: A recent 10W 2m FT8 CQ was again copied by GI6ATZ (479km). The antenna was still the big-wheel omni so the ERP was maybe 20W? FT8 is pretty remarkable.

Climate change facts - NOT amateur radio

Unlike President Trump of the USA who allegedly thinks climate change is a Chinese hoax, I prefer to believe in evidence as presented by people that have studied the real data. Sorry that means reading, which President Trump allegedly does not do that often.  A true statesman looks at the facts.

People of the USA, when you vote next year look at the evidence, please. This is a global emergency which requires us to think beyond the votes and lobby groups active in the next few years. The whole future of our planet is at stake, not who is US president in 2020 November.

Just look at the fiercer hurricanes and the Bahamas. It is happening now!!

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49773869

Time flies - NOT amateur radio

It seems hard to remember that we were abroad on holiday just a few weeks ago. We seem to have packed in a lot since. On the whole the weather here has been mild and sunny. Yet again we went on a Saga holiday, which was very good. The holiday rep who looked after everything was local and very good. I kept a blog.

See https://roses2019.blogspot.com/

Inconsiderate parking - NOT amateur radio

Most times we love living next door to a restored windmill and museum. However, today is a special day with music and dance, so there are more people than normal. What I do not like is people who park without consideration for local residents, blocking driveways by parking badly. In future, if we need to go out in the car on such days, we need to park on the road and not on our driveway.

6m FT8

According to the weather forecast and the storm maps, the worst storms seem to be further west in the UK and here looks OK. So, I have reconnected everything and gone on 6m FT8 calling CQ (10W) initially. No spots received and nothing spotted yet on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 0929z: Still no spots. Many are still asleep in the UK or have deserted 6m.

UPDATE 1045z: A recent 10W FT8 6m CQ resulted in 2 G spots, but no QSOs. Still no spots on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1250z: Just 2 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX so far (G and GD).

UPDATE 1315z: 3 stations spotted so far on 6m FT8 RX (G and GD). In answer to my own 10W 6m FT8 CQ call just now, just a couple of Gs spotted me. No QSOs resulted.

UPDATE 1608z: A recent 6m 10W FT8 CQ was spotted by one G station. At first I was puzzled as it said I was spotted 6 minutes ago, but there was nothing on the 6m PSKreporter map. Switching to "all bands" revealed that G4RDC (127km) was incorrectly reporting me as on 2m. He had obviously forgotten to change his band setting. Just 4 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX with best DX being HB9DVZ (870km) in eastern Switzerland.

Early 2m FT8 RX

Overnight, I stayed on 2m FT8 RX. Around breakfast time I was again spotting lots of stations including 3 Germans. Then the weather was forecasting storms, so everything was switched off and disconnected.