Pye - NOT amateur radio

For a long time in the last century, Pye was a very big name in the electronics world. Pye made a diverse range of products. Now there is a website and permanent exhibition to celebrate this.

See https://www.pye-story.org/

UK economy - NOT amateur radio

In the last few hours the Bank of England has produced revised predictions for the UK economy. Although the fall-out from Covid-19 will have grave consequences for the whole of the world, the predictions of the UK are not quite as dire as they once were. Yes, the dip into recession will be bad and the recovery slower, but things could have been much graver. It says something when a dip of 9.5% in economic activity is considered good news!

10m WSPR

As it is there, I have turned on the 10m W5OLF 500mW WSPR beacon using my indoor loop. No spots of me yet today (it is now 0805z).

If 10m WSPR remains quiet, I may try 10m FT8 later.

6m FT8

A few moments ago (it is now 0802z) the 6m FT8 gear was turned on (10W to V2000 vertical omni antenna). So far, nothing yet spotted on RX and no spots of me on TX. Although the main Es season is over, there could well be some Es at some time in the day. The main trouble is many just assume it is all over and desert the band!

UPDATE 0819z: Just a single spot of me so far by G4IFX (146km). On 6m FT8 RX nothing.

UPDATE 0923z:  3 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX. With 1 Italian spotted the looks like there is some Es around.

Pig statues - NOT amateur radio

"Each to their own", they say. Well, I was surprised to see 2 pig statues in a local garden yesterday. Well I guess it is a change from pixies and garden gnomes!

Projects for the autumn/winter

For several years I have had an E-field probe that needs erecting in a nearby tree.  This should be a good RX antenna on 137, 472 and 1800kHz. It might also be effective on higher bands too. The antenna is very small.

I also want to erect either a wire dipole or inverted V for 10m, which is my favourite band and which should be better next year.

My problem is ladders. Since my stroke in 2013 I feel very wobbly on ladders! I have not ventured into my floored loft since 2013! I have a box of amateur gear up there waiting to be explored, HI. I have forgotten what it is in it.

I shall try to do these projects before the end of 2020.

Sunspots - Thursday August 6th 2020

Solar flux is 73 and the SSN 13. A=5 and K=1.

2m FT8 (10W to the big-wheel omni antenna)

Just before going QRT on all bands I decided to try 2m FT8.

One CQ was answered by local G4NBS (22km) and I was spotted by 17 stations in 3 countries the best being EI2FG (565km).

On 2m FT8 RX the best spotted here was PE3T (361km) of the 11 stations in 3 countries.

Optical communications

Optical RX

Until my stroke in 2013, one of my joys was building and testing optical communications gear. Although I had a successful line-of site speech contact, my "thing" was weak signal communication over the horizon.

Even without any visible signals in the sky I was able to detect my beacon from home on 481THz (red optical) way over the horizon, even though it was firing through double glazing. Had I been able to carry on, there were so many things I wanted to try including higher powerLEDs, further distances and a better tripod.

Sadly, these days I am too wobbly to do this portable work. As all the gear can be built and tested in the "back of a garage" with simple test gear, this could appeal to those interested in serious, but low cost, experimentation. Over the horizon optical work could do with attention.

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

Solar Cycle 25

It would appear we have now passed solar minimum and the long climb has started. This was reported on the Space Weather site recently. This is encouraging, although it could be some years before we see a real improvement. The good news is the up-slope is faster than the down-slope.