BREXIT deal? - NOT amateur radio

The Prime Minister has lodged formal proposals on leaving the EU. So far, the feedback from the EU is not good, but at least they are still talking. A better man than me may be able to forecast the outcome in the coming days.

My hopes rest on the EU wanting a deal and that the current proposal is a basis for further compromises on both sides. Whatever our views on BREXIT, most in the UK are fed up now and want a deal sooner rather than later.

Local History - NOT amateur radio

Even though we have lived in this area (East Cambridgeshire) for almost 50 years, it is natural to have a "pull" to where one originates from. In my case this is South Devon and my wife Sheffield.

Today we went to an interesting talk on the history of Newmarket, which is our nearest town. Considering its many royal connections going back many centuries and it being the worldwide centre for horse racing, it is quite scruffy. With all the wealth around we would have expected the town to be quite a classy place. Sadly it is not.

They have a good local history society.

See http://www.newmarketlhs.org.uk/Index.htm

Big-wheel antennas

As many know, I opted for a 2m big-wheel antenna rather than a beam and rotator. This seems to match my sort of operating well. My noise level on 2m is still low thankfully and it was far cheaper than a beam and rotator. On FT8 it gets me considerable distances even in flat conditions and even with QRP SSB it usually gets me over 200km.

The big-wheel has a real fan here!

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/bigwheel

Dahlia - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday we visited nearby Anglesey Abbey where the dahlias are starting to change. Another few weeks and they will be well past their best. We saw this one yesterday. At the moment most are still looking good.

Rally this weekend

Sunday 6 OCTOBER : 46th WELSH RADIO RALLY

Rougemont School, Llantarnam Hall, Malpas, Newport NP20 6QB. Doors open from 10am-4pm with disabled visitors gaining access at 9.45am. Admittance is £2.50. There will be trade stands, a Bring & Buy, RSGB bookstall, Special Interest Groups and lectures will take place during the day. Catering is available on site. Contact: Rob Evans, MW0CVT, 01495 220 455, mw0cvt@sky.com.

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

2m FT8

In the last day 55 stations in 8 countries spotted on 2m FT8 RX. As far as I can tell, this is possible any time with normal "flat band" tropo with FT8. Every time I call CQ with 10W and the big-wheel omni antenna on 2m FT8 I seem to reach N. Ireland, Germany and Cornwall.

We are just going out, but I'll call CQ on my return.

UPDATE 1206z: When we got back I called CQ on 2m FT8 (10W to the big-wheel). 11 stations spotted me with the best DX being EI2FG (565km). Sadly, no QSOs. I guess there are far more monitoring than TXing in the daytime.

UPDATE 1457z: 18 stations in 4 countries spotted me after a recent FT8 10W CQ and 2 QSOs with Gs resulted.

UPDATE 1648z: A quick 10W FT8 CQ was answered (again) by DL6YBF (471km) and spotted by 14 stations. It never fails to me how far I can work and get spotted with low ERP on 2m on FT8.

Sunspots - Thursday October 3rd 2019

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 11.  A=8 and K=2.

Bumper Crop - NOT amateur radio

The trees in our neighbour's garden are laden with apples and pears. Usually they put their surplus fruit out for neighbours to help themselves.

I mentioned before that a friend makes crab apple jelly with our crab apples. Although last year we had a miserable crop, this year is splendid.

2m AM

When I first came on to 2m, AM was the main mode. During the 1970s, FM gradually took over. Also, the Liner-2 got people on the band with SSB. I would say the late 1970s and early 1980s was a golden age on 2m, with G8s gaining access and plenty of activity. Quite a few people used the Liner-2 and a 9 el Tonna antenna.

Although the use of AM on 2m is way down on those early dates, it can still be found. 144.550MHz seems to be the centre of activity. AM is often better than FM and narrower bandwidtth, although the RSGB "experts" seem not to know this!

Often, second hand ex-PMR AM rigs can be obtained very cheaply.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/2am

Dahlias - NOT amateur radio

This morning we went for a walk at nearby Anglesey Abbey. The dahlias there are past their best, but still pretty impressive.