432MHz activity contest

Every month there is an activity contest on 432MHz (UKAC). Activity is mainly SSB. Running 10W to my 2m big-wheel omni for an hour I managed 6 QSOs as shown on the map.  This is a friendly contest.

After an hour I had enough according to my voice!

137kHz transverter

A few moments ago I found this photo of my 137kHz TX transverter. It must date from 2012.  ERP at the time was 140uW, although the transverter put out about 24W in to 50 ohms. The antenna was not very efficient. Mind you, it proves that even <1mW ERP can span useful ranges.

20m FT8

Overnight I left the 20m FT8 RX on. There were no spots during the night. Since breakfast there had been 10 spots of eastern European stations at 0648z. Still using the indoor loop antenna. 

UPDATE 1245z:  So far today, 110 stations spotted with 2 in the USA.

Sunspots - Tuesday September 8th 2020

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

20m FT8

At the moment (1337z) I am on 20m FT8 with 2.5W to the indoor loop, using the FT817ND. Several Europeans spotted on RX, but no spots of me yet and no QSOs.

UPDATE 2023z: RX only on 20m FT8.  258 stations spotted with best DX spotted being PY2KP (9578km). 5 continents spotted today on 20m FT8 with the indoor loop (see photo). The loop is about 0.5m across with quite thin wire.  20m still seems to be open with plenty of Europeans spotted in the last 15 minutes.

UPDATE 2144z: Now 292 stations spotted with the loop and FT817ND on 20m FT8 RX today with the best DX spotted being LU9DCB (11212km). As an experiment I am going to leave the RX on overnight.

15m FT8

Since just before lunch, I have been on 15m FT8 with the indoor loop. Apart from a very brief period, this has been RX only. With no spots at all, I suspect something is wrong. I am going to check!

UPDATE 1330z: Nothing untoward spotted, although there was a very high noise level on the band, possibly due to a local source?

Old magazines - NOT amateur radio

We have a collection of magazines going back to 1883 as the photo shows. 

Racehorses - NOT amateur radio

We live very close to Newmarket, which is the world home of horse racing. It is in Newmarket where we do most of our food shopping.  The town is 4 miles away.

In Newmarket the horse is king.  On almost every trip we have to stop for horses crossing the road. There are plenty of places where horses train as the photo shows. Newmarket is surrounded with gallops, which are huge grass fields mainly for horses.

In the town you often see two sorts of folks: rich owners and short jockeys!

Oscar 100 - very quiet?

Every few weeks I try to give an update on activity levels on the geosynchronous satellite, Oscar 100. This is a very unscientific look. My impression is activity is lower than it was. It's certainly not busy. The impression is people, especially in Europe, enjoy the challenge of getting a signal through it, then lose interest.

As I say, this is just my impression based on a quick look at the web SDR at Goonhilly. I may not be correct.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

What is it? - NOT amateur radio

This appeared on Facebook earlier. Can you spot it?