Original Fredbox 2m transceiver photos

Whilst clearing the loft, my XYL came across the original photos of the original 2m AM Fredbox made back in the mid 1970s. It was rebuilt some years ago. The original photos are attached here.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/fredbox

10FT8R - 10m receiver for FT8

As my fine motor skills are not as good as they were, I have decided to start with a receiver based on WISPY for 10m FT8 using 14.040MHz crystals pulled very slightly to 14.037MHz and a Polyakov mixer.  Polyakov mixers need oscillators running at half the received frequency. This also means the radiated signal from the oscillator is very low.

At some point later, I will extend this to a full FT8 transceiver. The receiver will work with free WSJT-X software running on the PC.

As 10m gets better, the whole world should be spotted on a receiver that is unbelievably simple costing the same as a few drinks out.  Of course during the Es season 10m is good out to about 1500km at any point in the sunspot cycle, so this RX may be used at other times too without tying up the "big rig".

53 years ago - NOT amateur radio

My wife and I met 53 years ago. How time flies! We met in 1968 and married in 1971, so our 50th wedding anniversary is later this year.

We have 2 children and 4 grandchildren.

160m FT8 RX overnight

Last evening and overnight I was on 160m FT8 RX using the FT817ND and the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. 160m FT8 seemed very busy as the photo shows. Once again, there were many N. American stations in the log which has 355 stations logged on 160m FT8 RX.

Quantum Entanglement - NOT amateur radio

One of the aspects of quantum mechanics that fascinates me is quantum entanglement. According to quantum theory, quantum entanglement suggests that particles completely separated (even at the other ends of the universe) can share something in common. One day, this may be a clue to teleportation. There are aspects of this which are totally weird. 

In my view, we still have a lot to learn about physics. Quantum mechanics and relativity seem to be imperfect descriptions and I can imagine in the next 100 years we will find other more integrated, theories that better describe things.

In 100 years you can imagine our descendants looking back at our theories in amazement.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement .

Sunspots - Wednesday March 3rd 2021

Solar flux is 75 and the SSN 28. A=20 and K=5.

Quiet corner - NOT amateur radio

Since we moved to our village in 1975, it has grown quite a lot. When we came the population was just over 4000 whereas it is nearly 7000 now.

Despite this, it still feels like a village. It has some lovely quiet corners as the photo shows. Here, they have really blended new houses with the old.

IC202 2m SSB/CW

Nostalgia time again....

Way back, I owned an ICOM IC202. This was a 2m SSB/CW VXO controlled rig. The VXO covered 200kHz and behaved like a VFO.  It had a very "military" look. 

Later, it was replaced by the IC202S. Many still use these today to drive microwave transverters. I used mine on 10m with a homebrewed transverter. It worked some impressive DX with 1W pep on 10m SSB with just a low wire dipole antenna.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp/Home/ic202 .

As this is my old website and not maintained, do not follow the links on the left as these are not maintained.

Blossom - NOT amateur radio

Every year, we look forward to the blossom on the tree near our village Post Office. 

It is now coming out at last, a sure sign of spring and better days ahead. 

It normally lasts for a few weeks, then is gone. At the moment, it is glorious.

OFCOM Communications Monthly

Every month OFCOM updates its "Communications Monthly" with the latest statistics it holds. See the OFCOM website for more details.