10m FT8 QRP (Monday)

It is now 1116z. For about 30 minutes I have been on 10m FT8 with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop. No spots yet today.

UPDATE 1405z:  Just one station (a local) spotted on RX.  No spots on TX. QSYing to 17m FT8.

Operating from South Georgia and British areas in Antarctica

Until 2020, the Falkland Islands issued licences for these areas, but this stopped last year. This would affect DXpeditions to these South Atlantic areas.  There may be some clarity now. For some time you just had to self-declare competence and a VP8 call was yours!

See https://www.openfalklands.com/ofcom-update-on-vp8-amateur-radio-licences-in-british-antarctic-territory-south-georgia-and-south-sandwich-islands/

Ferrite rod TX antenna experiments in Italy

Riccardo IU1OPK has been doing some very successful tests with ferrite rod TX antennas. on 40m.  For many this may be an answer to compact antennas. We fully accept that a bigger antenna would be better, but these results are good. Below is an extract from the email he sent me. The photos show his arrangement.

"Today I tested the ferrite antenna with WSPR on 40m and it worked well, with power from 2 to 5 watt.
I changed a little bit the design and I found that with a “short circuit” of the upper coil the signals are much stronger... below my scheme and the wspr spots (up to 2600 km).
I attempted some FT8 QSOs with no results but I have been received looking on pskreport website, so even with FT8 some qso should be possible. 

My tests were done both indoor and on my balcony so no strange coupling is noticeable, the antenna was placed vertically, I think that it works like a loop antenna oriented horizontally (not a vertical loaded one since my upper end is grounded).

The “strange” good results around midday and early evening when the critical frequency was around 7 MHz seem confirming a sort of NVIS transmission (quite strong signals and local receivers).

Riccardo's 40m
spots on WSPR

Excellent work Riccardo. Well done.  At the frontier where radio amateurs should be.

Often it is best to ignore experts and just experiment to see what works. Often the so called experts do not know and are just spouting myths they were (wrongly) told years before.

 

Solar data

At the start of each month my favourite site for solar data is updated. We are now a year after the solar minimum and we are looking for indications for the solar cycle 25. In particular, we are looking for forecasts of how big (or small!) it might be. As the cycle progresses, we have a better idea.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

UPDATE 1550z: I see it has been updated already. See https://www.solen.info/solar/images/cycles23_24.png

Talent - NOT amateur radio

Our younger grandson is very talented. He is 11 years old. He is good at sports, art and now crocheting! He is also very good with people. He is not shy.

The photo shows some examples of his work.

Sunspots - Monday February 1st 2021

 Solar flux is 73 and the SSN 0. A=1 and K=2.

Online resource

Some years ago I was pointed to this resource by Steve G1KQH.

See http://www.n5dux.com/ham/files/pdf/

2m FT8 QRP (Sunday)

At about 1744z I QSYed to 2m FT8 with 2.5W and the big-wheel omni antenna. Alredady spotted by 3 stations including EI2FG 565km). No spots yet on RX.

UPDATE 1904z:  11 stations have spotted me this evening on 2m FT8 QRP TX.  8 stations spotted on RX. No QSOs.

UPDATE 2005z: 14 stations have spotted my QRP on 2m FT8 including GI and EI again. 10 stations spotted on RX.

EMF calculator

Southgate News has a piece about a new EMF calculator produced by OFCOM and the RSGB. At some point we may have to show OFCOM that our ERP is within certain limits, for example if a neighbour made a complaint.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2021/january/updated-rsgb-ofcom-emf-calculator.htm#.YBbCt_GTLrc

Grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

This morning we did a "socially distanced" walk with one of our sons and his children. This is a photo of them earlier.