Just looking - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows our son with his son looking at one of the oldest houses in the village. 

WSJT-X v2.3.0

Today the released version of WSJT-X V2.3.0 was made available. Previously just release candidates were available.

With Windows 10 I had all sorts of issues as it tried to block the download in case it harmed the PC. I said "keep" and "install anyway".  Only then could I go ahead.

Sunspots - Tuesday February 2nd 2021

 Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 0. A=5 and K=4.

2m FT8 QRP (Monday)

It is now 1827z. A few moments ago I QSYed to 2m FT8 QRP running 2.5W to the big-wheel omni antenna. Already 8 spots of my QRP TX and 2 stations spotted here on RX after about 10 minutes.

UPDATE 1910z:  15 stations have spotted me on TX and 8 stations spotted on RX.

Breaking ice - NOT amateur radio

Have you noticed how very young children love puddles? 

Even my 13 year old grandson still seems to like them, especially if icy. 

This was him yesterday on our walk. It was very muddy with the puddles icy.

17m FT8 QRP (Monday)

It is now 1420z. A few minutes ago I QSYed to 17m FT8 with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop antenna. So far today, 43 stations spotted on RX, but no spots of my QRP TX.

UPDATE 1448z:  72 stations spotted so far on RX, but nobody has yet spotted my QRP TX.

UPDATE 1535z:  106 stations spotted so far on 17m FT8 RX and just one spot of my 2.5W on TX. I think one of the issues is being clobbered by co-channel stations running far more ERP. Although a channel appears clear here, it may not be.

Stations spotted on
17m FT8 RX today

UPDATE 1802z:  189 stations spotted today on 17m FT8 RX.  QSYing to 2m FT8 QRP shortly.

The EU and vaccines for Covid-19 - NOT amateur radio

There seems little doubt that the EU was very slow ordering vaccines. For example, they ordered AstraZeneca vaccines 3 months after the UK and have only now approved its use!  It seems the EU bureaucracy really slowed down the roll-out in Europe. 

This is one reason why so many voted to leave the EU in the UK. In my view, this was a "shot in the foot". The UK government is far from perfect, but on vaccines they got it right.

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.