The photo shows another view of our walk at Wicken last week. It was a delightful walk.
1 Mar 2021
Wicken walk - NOT amateur radio
The photo shows another view of our walk at Wicken last week. It was a delightful walk.
New webpage created - 10m FT8 QRP transceiver
I am keen to have a go at this, but fear my energy levels and fine motor skills may not be up to it these days. Years ago, this would have been trivial for me.
Imagine, working the whole world on a very simple rig, low cost, smaller than a pack of cards that you have built yourself!
I just hope QRPguys take this further and do a kit. It would be so popular that someone has to do it.
QSY to 17m FT8 QRP (Monday)
As 15m seemed pretty quiet here, I have QSYed to 17m FT8 QRP with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop antenna. It is now 1358z. So far, just 2 stations spotted on RX and nobody has spotted me on QRP TX yet.
UPDATE 1445z: 9 stations spotted on RX with furthermost E21EIC (9481km) in Thailand. Nobody has yet spotted me on QRP 17m FT8 TX.
UPDATE 1852z: 40 stations spotted.
New OFCOM EMF rules coming in
If you use over 10W, the new OFCOM rules on EMF may apply to you, especially if you are investigated over complaints by neighbours. As a QRP man, I am not bothered!
If you have a big tower, beam and full power you may have issues. You have to show that people can't be harmed by excessive EMF. If I had my way, all UK licencees would be limited to 100W, or even 10W!
See the OFCOM website for more details.
I quite like the Eire approach. In Eire, amateurs have access to much of the Band 1 spectrum. Why not grant all UK radio amateurs access to big chunks of spectrum at, say, 100mW ERP on a strictly non-interference basis? If you cause interference you get closed down, otherwise carry on. Oh silly me, this requires people with brains!!
Personally, I'd like access to some VLF spectrum and 40MHz. I guess the main issue is military access. I still don't understand why so much UK spectrum is reserved for the military when most is unused for most of the time. Views?
15m FT8 QRP (Monday)
It is now 1050z. Today, I am on 15m FT8 with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop antenna. So far, 7 stations spotted on RX and 1 spot of my QRP on TX by SV1HAB (2412km).
UPDATE 1211z: With just 8 stations spotted on RX and just 1 spot of me on TX, I may QSY to 17m FT8.
Updated solar data
My favourite website for solar data is usually updated early each month. Often this is on the 1st or 2nd of the month. Included, usually, is a forecast of the climb towards the next solar peak. It is worth checking.
Simple circuits
Inspired by "Hot Iron" edited by Peter Thornton GW6NGR I see reference to Rick Andersen KE3JJ. He has several very simple designs on his site.
See http://www.ke3ij.com/ .
Sunspots - Monday March 1st 2021
Solar flux is 78 and the SSN 13. A=6 and K=6.
It is hard to think we are in March already. According to the UK Met Office we are now in spring. The Es season is only a few months away now.
28 Feb 2021
Stroke update - NOT amateur radio
My 2013 stroke left me outwardly looking fine, but it has had a lasting impact on me. Before I was quite active and healthy, but these days things are far harder.
In many ways I am more fortunate than many. My voice is poor and driving, and being driven, is far harder. A few years ago I could drive 300 miles to Devon. Even 10 miles is hard these days.
CDARC 80m net
As an experiment I tried to join the CDARC (Cambridge club) 80m net this morning with my 2.5W and the earth-electrode antenna. Although I had no problem hearing people, I could not be heard. My noise level is very low on this antenna, but I needed more power to overcome noise others were probably suffering.
The SWR is too high for the auto-ATU on my FT991A. It just says "High VSWR" and gives up. On the FT817ND it works fine.
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