Dominic Cummings - NOT amateur radio

The facts in this case are hard to make out in this political storm. Basically the UK Prime Minister's special adviser is being accused of going against the spirit of the lockdown rules by driving 250 miles to ensure his 4 year old child could be cared for. This may be legally OK but seems stupid in the circumstances at that time.

Personally I think he should resign as he is doing the UK government little good by diverting attention from the core issue at the present time, which is controlling the Covid-19 virus. If you cannot trust people close to the heart of government who can you trust? It is imperative that people in whom we trust are following the spirit of the law. Many of us have not seen our grandchildren in the flesh for many months. If he had been ill, he of all people would have found people close by who could have cared for his 4 year old. It smacks of one rule for you, but not for those in power.

6m FT8

This morning I decided to go on 6m FT8 again with 10W and V2000 omni antenna. Although no QSOs, my signal has been widely spotted. On 6m FT8 RX best DX are a couple of stations in Kazakhstan with best being UN3GX (5535km) near the Chinese border.

UPDATE 1347z:  395 stations have, so far, spotted my 6m 10W FT8 TX and I have spotted 322 stations. At the moment this is shaping up to be the best Es day this season here on 6m.  Still hoping for some transatlantic spots, although nothing yet.

Stations spotting my
10W TX to 1927z today 

UPDATE 1928z:  461 stations have spotted me today but nothing from the Caribbean or Americas.

Sunspots - Sunday May 24th 2020

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0. A =4 and K=1.

Table restoration - NOT amateur radio

Today, I worked on the last of three small tables sanding the tops down, cleaning and rubbing Danish wood oil in to feed it.

The photo shows me working on the third table earlier. I think this was after the first sanding. I am cleaning it with white spirit.

"So" - NOT amateur radio

Have you noticed how many people say, "so" at the start of sentences? It seems this is quite common these days. As for "like" it would seem this is the new, "um".

AM operation

These days many on the air have never used AM (amplitude modulation). Many prefer FM or SSB for chats.

Certainly, I get the impression that our national society, the RSGB, is anti-AM. They have continued not to put 144.55 as the AM frequency of choice in 2m bandplans. They continue to have the fatuous remark about AM users being mindful of bandwidth, when well set-up AM often occupies less bandwidth than FM. I also found out that one RSGB official had no idea there was a preferred slot for AM on 10m! I get the impression that they haven't a clue!

AM has its place on less busy bands. It also lends itself to easy homebrewing. To me, it seems a shame that AM is hidden away. It is not the best mode for many reasons, but well modulated AM on 10m is a real joy to hear.

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

10m FT8

Trying to compare 10m WSPR with 10m FT8 is difficult. On WSPR I can use my stand-alone 500mW WSPR beacon without the PC, whereas for FT8 I have to use the FT871ND and the PC. In both cases the antenna is the indoor loop.

Today, I am on 10m FT8 using the FT817ND and the indoor loop. Power is 2.5W. So far (0820z) I have been spotted by no-one at all. On 10m FT8 RX a couple of Spanish stations have been spotted.

UPDATE 0840z:  One QSO so far and 1 spot of me from northern Spain. On 10m FT8 RX, 8 stations spotted with best DX being UA9CAW (3817km).

Stations spotting me on
10m FT8 TX today with 2.5W 

UPDATE  1922z: So far today, 60 stations have spotted my 2.5W 10m FT8 to the indoor loop. With already nearly 5 times more stations spotting me on FT8, I conclude that FT8 seems to have largely replaced WSPR as a weak signal mode.  WSPR is about 10dB better than FT8, and the power level I use of FT8 is less than 10dB more.

UPDATE 2038z:   Now 70 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 2130z:   73 stations have spotted me. On 10m FT8 RX 6 South Americans spotted with best DX spotted CE4WJK (11814km). In total, 373 stations spotted. Soon be time to go QRT.

Sunspots - Saturday May 23rd 2020

Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 0. A=6 and K=2.

Covid-19 hope? - NOT amateur radio

It would appear that many of the most seriously ill patients with Covid-19 have low T-cell counts. A trial has started to see if giving a drug treatment to counter this can help recovery.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52754280

More updates on ICOM IC-705 availability

On the MLS webpage they announce that the ICOM factory in Japan is to start full production of the IC-705 transceiver in June. This is earlier than I was expecting. Often there can be teething troubles with early production models. Those that have placed deposits will get theirs first. Should I buy one, I would wait until these teething troubles with the hardware and software are eliminated. This could be several months.

See the MLS IC-705 webpage for more details.