Beetle - NOT amateur radio

This fellow was seen last night. It was about 3cm long.

Oscar 100 update

Regularly, I give an update on activity through the narrowband transponder of Oscar 100, the geosychronous satellite made available to radio amateurs in early 2019. I check the Goonhilly web SDR periodically.

My last very unscientific look suggests that activity levels remain very low. The level of activity continues to surprise me. By now, I would have expected it to be very crowded.

I guess these days it is too hard for most "black box" operators. After all, you have to assemble things and aim dishes! 😀

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

Learning CW

With modes like FT8, many people may question why we still need CW. My answer is with CW it is possible to build very simple rigs that can work a very long way.

As an example my recent article in RadCom shows 2 simple circuits and my 15m CW Pipit transceiver (on my main website) was used for a first contact with the USA many years ago despite only having an output of just 800mW. This was with just a simple, low, wire dipole.

Sunspots Thursday July 23rd 2020

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 11. A=3 and K=1.

OFCOM annual report and accounts 2020

You will be thrilled to know that OFCOM has published its latest report and accounts. See the OFCOM website for more details. Don't all rush.

6m FT8

Since about 1355z I have been on 6m FT8 with the 10W and the V2000 vertical omni antenna. It is now 1405z.  So far, I have been spotted by  just a couple of UK stations and no QSOs.

UPDATE 2030z:  QRT. On TX 15 stations spotted me (no QSOs) and on RX 30 stations spotted.

With the Kent grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

This photo shows us with the Kent grandchildren yesterday.

Kingfisher Bridge nature reserve - NOT amateur radio

This morning we went for a walk around Kingfisher Bridge nature reserve. They have introduced water buffalo which are natives of Africa.

VLF tests in Devon

A couple of stations in South Devon, G3WCB and G4IUG are doing some tests with sub-10kHz transmissions with earth-electrodes. They can use high power and GPS lock. So far they have covered 1km with Hellschreiber. They can cover far further. It would not surprise me if they were spotted by Paul Nicholson in Yorkshire as long as they can send a long stable signal that can be integrated. This may need days of integration.

See https://sites.google.com/site/sub9khz/news20 for more information.

Sunspots - Wednesday July 22nd 2020

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 11. A=4 and K=1. Sunspots return!