Snow - NOT amateur radio

When I first came to Cambridge in 1970 the winters were cold and dry. Nowadays winters are wet and mild. Snow is a rarety. Many winters we see no snow.

This morning we had snow, although it had all gone by lunchtime.

The photo shows the snow this morning.

Petty Cury, Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

This is the view at one end of Petty Cury in Cambridge.

When I first came to Cambridge in 1970 it was a lovely street with shops and plenty of bay windows. In their infinite wisdom, the planners pulled all these down and replaced them with modern monstrosities.

I would like to think they would not be so stupid today. Do we never learn?

Elecraft KX2 transceiver

Apart from a few disadvantages this looks a fine choice for HF. It is very small, it has a good RX and can produce 10W and could even be used handheld.

But....

• The internal batteries have to be removed to charge.
• It does not cover 160m or 6m.
• It is expensive in the UK, but has a 2 year warranty and good technical support.
• The internal auto-ATU is extra.
• It does not have an SDR display.
• No 2m or 70cm.

I quite expect Elecraft to come out with a Mk2  which allows charging in situ of the internal batteries. One thing is certain: if I was to buy one then this Mk2 version would be released the very next day!

See https://elecraft.com/

Rally

Sunday 1 MARCH : EXETER RADIO & ELECTRONICS RALLY

America Hall, De la Rue Way, Pinhoe, Exeter EX4 8PW. Doors open at 10.30am (10.15am for disabled visitors). Admission £2 (under 16s free). There will be trade stands, Bring & Buy (book in from 10.15am), and catering. Details from Pete, G3ZVI on 0771 419 8374 or g3zvi@yahoo.co.uk

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

20m FT8 again with the tiny indoor loop

Again, I am on 20m FT8 with the tiny indoor loop antenna and 10W. 28 stations spotted so far today with best DX spotted on RX being JF8EPR (8779km) in Japan. On TX, spots received from Greece and Sicily.

UPDATE 1737z: My little signal has been spotted by 13 stations so far today. 229 stations spotted on RX.

Stations spotted so far today
on the tiny indoor
loop on 20m FT8 RX 

UPDATE 2037z:  Now QRT. The stations that spotted me today are shown on the second map.   The loop is about 0.5m across and the wire about 1mm diameter! It just sits on my windowstill.

Stations that spotted my 10W
20m FT8 to the tiny indoor loop

Sunspots - Thursday February 27th 2020

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=1.

ICOM IC-705

This QRP radio is still not available. Many think it will be first released in the USA in May at Dayton, although I would expect it to be released in Japan first. As reported on Tuesday, the Chinese Q900 is clearly designed as competition at about a third of the price.   Chinese quality control still bothers me though.

The IC-705 will clearly be market priced so they maximise profits for ICOM and their dealers. This basically means inflate the price as much as the punters will pay. Only drop the price if demand falls.

Elecraft

Elecraft K4 transceiver

Elecraft make some fine products, although they tend to be a bit expensive here in the UK. In the past, I have owned a K1 4-band CW transceiver and a T1 ATU. Their latest newsletter highlights the K4, which is Elecraft's new SDR transceiver. Sadly, this will be too expensive to buy for me, much as I would love one.

See https://elecraft.com/

Beofeng portables

These seem to be "iffy".

They are very low cost, but the quality control seems poor. Some work well, whereas others may be very deaf. It seems to me like the Chinese are still on a learning curve.

At the moment I am not inclined to spend much money on Chinese amateur radio gear. They can do it - see for example of the Apple iPad.

20m FT8 with the tiny indoor loop

A few moments ago I QSYed from 17m FT8 to 20m FT8. Although no-one has spotted my 2.5W yet, it is working on RX with 21 stations spotted so far with AB1EP (4941km) as best DX spotted here so far on 20m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1514z: With 2.5W and the tiny loop indoors the best DX is ES5RY (1791km). SWR is 1:1.  On 20m FT8 RX 68 stations spotted so far today.

UPDATE 1529z: Changed rigs so now running 6dB more on 20m FT8 TX.

Stations spotted to about
1545z today on 20m FT8 RX

UPDATE 1610z:  Now 97 stations spotted on 20m FT8 RX with best DX spotted K6OK (8413km). It really annoys me that the FCC has really messed up USA calls! At one time K6 would have been somewhere like California. Now K6 can be anywhere. It happens to be California in this case.

UPDATE 1627z:  IU6JJE (1570km) was spotting me strongly. Even with my 10W to the tiny indoor loop he was copying me at -9dB S/N on 20m FT8 TX!  On 20m FT8 RX, 106 stations spotted so far.

20m FT8 TX (10
or less) today

UPDATE 1816z:  8 spots of my 10W 20m FT8 so far today. On 20m FT8 RX 139 spots so far.

UPDATE 1900z: After a QSO on 20m FT8 with an EA5, I have now gone QRT on all bands.