Getting older - NOT amateur radio

On my next birthday I shall be 72. When younger, life seemed endless and death was rarely on the radar. Nowadays more and more people of my age are dying, so death is more immediate. In the last few months several people that I know have died.

As a younger person, I had a quite strong faith. It was a bit "off the wall" though. These days I am aware of other faiths across the world and I just do not know. Our planet is just one of probably billions in the known universe. Maybe all religions are just attempts to come to terms with our existence. 

I am puzzled by human consciousness. One thing is certain: our brains are small and incapable of answering the deep questions. Somehow I cannot believe that when we die we just cease to exist. Before we were born we knew nothing however. Death remains the ultimate mystery.

Puzzled.

US presidential election - NOT amateur radio

The people of the USA vote for their next president next week.  

Every American I have ever met has been kind and generous. On the whole they are warm and kind people. It is not my intention to interfere, but this is a once in 4 year chance to have your say.  Vote!

I am disappointed that the choice is between two 70-80 year olds and am surprised that no-one younger could be found. To the rest of the world it appears like you have to be old to lead the USA!

Although I am not a great Trump fan, Joe Biden will be in his 80s if he is elected and serves a full 4 year term.  It seems to me a choice of who will do the least harm rather than who will be the most dynamic and charismatic leader.

15m FT8 QRP (2.5W to the indoor loop)

Today I am on 21MHz FT8 with the loop indoors and 2.5W.  38 stations spotted so far (at 1055z), but nobody has yet spotted my 2.5W.

UPDATE 1219z:  79 stations in 3 continents spotted so far on 15m FT8 RX with the furthermost being YB2MM (11920km) in Java. On TX 3 spots of me so far. Results with the indoor loop continues to astound me. This is the poorer loop too! On the loop with copper pipe it is several dB better. The first Caribbean  station has just been spotted today.

Stations spotted to 1450z today

UPDATE 1450z: 169 stations spotted on 15m FT8 RX so far today.

WSJT-X bug again

I am more convinced than ever that WSJT-X has a bug with Windows-10. This never happened with earlier versions of WSJT-X. I am using the latest released version. 

For some periods FT8 appears on the waterfall screen with smeary signals and no decodes. It is as if the decoder does not "get" the signals correctly. After a time it corrects itself and decoding starts. 

This is a real pain.

I might try the latest release candidate to see if this is better.

APRS - more than just position data

 APRS has never been used here, but Southgate News has a piece on using APRS for so much more.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/october/aprs-more-than-just-position-data.htm#.X5vZxruTK00

Sunspots - Friday October 30th 2020

Solar flux is 85 and the SSN 35. A=14 and K=0. Things are definitely getting a bit better.

2m FT8 (2.5W and the big-wheel omni)

For the last few minutes (it is now 1900z) I have been on 2m FT8. So far, I have been spotted by 4 stations with the furthermost being G4HGI (244km).  Although I have spotted some stations these appear not to have uploaded to PSKreporter.

UPDATE 2205z: QRT. 1 QSO Earlier. 

Grandson's art - NOT amateur radio

Our younger grandson is 11. His latest paintings are attached.  There are other pictures (much earlier) on my main website.   In my view (even though I admit a degree of bias!) he has talent, unlike his grandparents!

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/home/art

Another cancelled rally

Not unexpectedly, the Holsworthy rally in Devon, due to take place this Sunday, November 1st, has been cancelled. 

Let us hope that things get better next year. They can hardly get worse. At least we know this is a nasty blip.  We will get over it. It is hard to think that right now!

IC-705 antennas

As the IC-705 is becoming more widely available, minds are turning to portable antennas. 

From my own limited experience, I can say that magnetic loops work and are small. They are not ideal where frequent changes of frequency are required (if efficient they are very sharp) but they are ideal for modes like FT8 or PSK where most of the time you are within a few kilohertz. 

With high power, often vacuum sealed capacitors are needed. With QRP, ordinary capacitors are fine. Even though the voltages at the high impedance points are high, they are nothing like the kVs seen with higher power.

I suspect loops are down on full-sized antennas, but they work pretty well. Being narrow-band probably helps keep QRN down too. In the absence of external antennas they can be used in the shack. If making the loop yourself use the thickest material you can for the loop inductor: I use central heating copper pipe, but I suspect thick coax would be fine. You don't need much.

I see Southgate News has a piece on a new commercially available loop although it is quite easy to make your own.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/october/al-705-magnetic-loop-antenna-for-the-icom-ic705.htm#.X5qZKLuTK00

See also https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/magloop