The UK Prime Minister said that our Covid-19 "track and trace" system would be world beating. Yesterday we were told that 16000 people had been missed due to a technical glitch. The overwhelming impression is of utter chaos.
5 Oct 2020
Our windmill in the 1980s - NOT amateur radio
Because of Covid-19 people have not been able to go up to higher floors this year sadly. Let us hope 2021 is better. The windmill is 200 years old.
6m FT8 (2.5W to the V2000 vertical omni)
Although the Es season is well behind us, I again decided to try 6m FT8.
Although I have only been on for about 15 minutes, I have been spotted by a couple of Gs but no DX. On RX, just M0MVB (31km) has spotted me strongly. He is a serious 6m operator who worked some impressive DX this year on the band. By comparison, I am just playing.
UPDATE 1220z: Still just the 2 spots of me. On RX best DX is OZ3K (703km).
UPDATE 1402z: Even well outside of the Es season I am spotting signals from Spain and Denmark on 6m FT8. I think these are Es, but they could be aircraft.
Chinese transceivers
Steve G1KQH has reminded me about a new Chinese amateur radio HF transceiver.
Many of the things we buy are made in China. It is now hard to find things not made in China. All this is because we demand lower and lower prices. We exported our UK manufacturing base to China. When China gets too expensive, we will look elsewhere. Like King Canute, we cannot stop the tides, but in the end we have to question this on many levels: we are exporting our pollution for example.
Sadly, we live in a consumer driven economy that cannot last for ever. Things are designed not to last too long so we are encouraged to replace items and so fuel our "throw away" mentality. We are all guilty.
Not sure why, but I still have issues with Chinese quality control. In the end the Chinese will get better and their quality control will be as good as the Japanese. The real question is will the Chinese be attracted by the (relatively small) amateur radio market? There are a few players, but no-one has seriously taken on the Kenwoods, Yaesus and ICOMs of this world yet. If they do, I could see some leaving the amateur radio market.
Family collage - NOT amateur radio
This collage of members of our family summarises last week. Some photos have been on before but together they show our week.
4 Oct 2020
6m FT8
At about 1042z I decided to try 6m FT8 with the FT817ND (2.5W) and the V2000 vertical. It is now 1054z and no spots given or received yet.
There was TEP on 6m yesterday in the Americas, although I think we are too far north.
UPDATE 1443z: 1 spot of me 2 hours ago by a Spanish station EA5ISZ (1573km) who was worked too and 5 stations spotted on RX including 1 in central France. Even well outside the Es season DX to be worked on 6m with QRP and a simple antenna.
UPDATE 1950z: QRT.
Noise issues
At the moment I am fortunate in that I am not plagued by too much HF noise. It is high on 160m, 80m, 60m, 40m and 30m, but I have not had problems with FT8. Others have been less fortunate with a worsening HF, and sometimes VHF, noise floor. As time goes by, this could get worse. In the end, the only noise-free bands may be 70cm and higher.
One person who cured his problem is G4SWX, who had problems from the neighbour's LEDs on his patio. Many problems are due to substandard parts that don't meet EU regulations. Companies cut corners to save a few pence and get away with it as there seems little OFCOM enforcement. If I am wrong, please accept my apologies.
BREXIT - NOT amateur radio
With Covid-19, people have rather lost track of the trade deal negotiations between the EU and UK. Any trade deal has to be agreed before the year end. At the moment we seem some way from agreement with both sides hanging out for the best deal for them.
In the end, I am sure both sides want a trade deal. It is a case of who blinks first!
I hope in the end both sides accept compromise and both are able to feel it is fair. The EU does a lot of trade with the UK and vice versa.
2m FT8 - 2.5W to the big-wheel omni antenna
Since 0830z I have been on 2m FT8 again. 7 Gs have spotted me so far and I have spotted just one station F4EMG (193km) in northern France.
UPDATE 1040z: 11 stations, all G apart from EI2FG (565km), have spotted me so far and 4 stations spotted on RX with best DX F0EYI (465km) in Brittany.
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