ICOM IC-705 transceiver

As many already know, I am a keen QRP man and low power suits me fine. In the past, very few radios have excited me, but the ICOM IC-705 does. When it eventually appears in the UK (late 2020?) I can see myself getting one.

It is 5W from the attached battery and 10W from an external PSU. It covers 160m-70cm including 4m in the European version. This is SDR based like the IC7300 and well suited to my sort of operating. My main bands are 10m, 6m and 2m using FT8.

I can see it appearing in Japan first and then in the USA and Europe. I hope they add an auto ATU in the production units as this seems an omission in a rig that is supposed to be used in the field. Maybe they should make it slightly deeper and include this and a better heatsink?

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/ic705

472kHz WSPR TX (10mW ERP) overnight

Last night was good with spots from Norway and Finbar in the north of Eire. Altogether very satisfying. The table is in distance order and shows the stations who spotted me in the last 12 hours on 472kHz WSPR.

Mud - NOT amateur radio

Every year they have a splendid set of dahlias at nearby Anglesey Abbey. However, the grass in front is always badly churned up. In recent years they have tried to address this issue, but failed. This year they restricted access until the end of August, but now it is a sea of mud. They really want gravel, but this will not look as good of course.

10m FT8

Although a recent FT8 CQ call on 10m was spotted by no-one, I have already spotted 7 stations on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1030z: Now 23 stations in 8 countries spotted here on 10m FT8 RX in the last couple of hours. So far, all are Europeans.

UPDATE 1255z: 52 stations spotted this morning on 10m FT8.  A recent 10m FT8 CQ was spotted by no-one, which rather surprised me.

UPDATE 1530z: Still 52 stations spotted, suggesting that whatever sort of opening we had is now over. A recent 10m FT8 CQ again was spotted by no-one.

Sunspots - Saturday November 2nd 2019

Sunspots return!

Solar flux is 71 and the sunspot number 11. It looks as if the more active side of the sun is now visible again.  A=4 and K=0.

Revised solar data

My favourite site for solar data was updated today.  The candidate for sunspot minimum was June 2019. If correct, we can expect conditions to improve, on average, for several years. Of course, it is still too early to be sure.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/

5MHz newsletter

Southgate News reports that the 5MHz newsletter is now available for free download. I have tried 5MHz WSPR in the past.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/november/latest-edition-of-5-mhz-newsletter.htm

472kHz WSPR TX

Yet again I am on 472kHz WSPR TX for the evening and overnight running 10mW ERP. So far 10 stations have spotted me with best DX being PA3FNY (330km)

472kHz (630m) WSPR TX overnight

Not a bad night with my 10mW ERP being copied by 15 stations (see table). Norway was not reached again last night, but a fair smattering of reports.

13 of the 15 stations spotting my 

10mW ERP on 472kHz WSPR overnight

10m FT8

Today, I am on 10m FT8 with a bit more power (around 15W). A recent 10m FT8 CQ at about 0900z was spotted by no-one, but on RX a couple of stations already spotted with best DX spotted being IV3FGT (1143km) near Venice.

UPDATE 1040z: Now 8 stations in 6 countries spotted today on 10m FT8 RX with best DX spotted so far being EA8ACW (2988km). Results this morning confirm once again that many people have moved from WSPR to FT8. It also confirms that 10m is far from dead!

UPDATE 2024z: For some time now I QSYed to 630m WSPR, but today was a revelation on 10m FT8. I had 1 QSO and copied 37 stations including ZB6WN (8932km). This outside the Es season and at sunspot minimum!