The FT7 HF transceiver

The first HF transceiver I ever owned was a 10W FT7 by Yaesu. With this, with low wire dipoles, I worked DXCC on SSB including a station in New Zealand. From memory, this was mostly on 10m.  I sold it years later to a friend. It was VFO controlled, no memories, no synthesisers. It was a great radio - very quiet and a joy to use. It was one of the very best transceivers I have ever used.

For about 20 years we have had 5W multi-band, multimode, transceivers (including VHF and UHF) in the form of the FT817 and FT818 handhelds.  These are about a tenth of the size of the FT7, but with the battery.

Later Yaesu made a higher power version, the FT7B (50W) which is shown in the video below.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/ft7

Medieval graves - NOT amateur radio

Earlier this week we went to Peterborough Cathedral. Around the back were several medieval graves as the photo shows. These were unearthed when some restoration work was being carried out.

2m FT8 Saturday

Since 0817z I have been on 2m FT8. As usual running 2.5W to the big-wheel omni antenna. 

UPDATE 0920z: 7 spots of me so far with EI2FG (565km) as best DX.  2 stations spotted so far on RX here with best being DL9BBE (476km).

UPDATED 1400z:  21 stations in 2 countries spotted with the best being DB9VE (551km). 10 stations have spotted me and 1 QSO.

UPDATE 2215z:  QRT. 

Sunspots - Saturday October 3rd 2020

 Solar flux is 72 and the SSN 0. A=9 and K=2.

Best Man - NOT amateur radio

This week, we have had the best man at our wedding in 1971 staying with us. 

It was good to see him. We see him most years. To think, next year it will be 50 years married!

The photo is in our front garden.

OFCOM

OFCOM has announced it is changing some of the fees for Wireless Telegraphy licences. See their website for full details.

Borrowed time? - NOT amateur radio

As we get older (I am 72 in December) we have a different perspective on life. 

Years ago life seemed to be endless. Nowadays we are more aware of our limited time. Some of our close friends have died in recent months. One of my wife's closest friends has gone in to a care home for people with dementia. A year ago she was fine.

Every day is a precious gift. Tomorrow we could be dead or we could live for another 30 years. I guess the message is count every blessing. We go from children to old people very quickly! We look back and wonder where the years went.

At G3XBM

In all, I have been in the hobby since the early 1960s. It is not possible to do everything, but I have tried quite a bit over the years. Normally I use QRP powers. Using high power, and big beams would certainly make some things easier, but for me the fun is seeing how far low power and simple antennas get. Each to their own. Thank goodness we are all different.

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

2m FT8

 At the moment (it is now 0842z) I am on 2m FT8 with the FT817ND and the big wheel omni antenna. So far, 4 Gs have spotted me and I have spotted nothing yet on 2m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1543z:  9 spots of me today with the best spot being ON6LEO (392km).  On RX 28 stations spotted here with the best DX being EI5ASB (494km).

OFCOM opens access to EHF frequencies

OFCOM has announced access to 18.2GHz of spectrum in the 100-200GHz spectrum. See the OFCOM website for details.