IC-705 and FT8

One of the things many ICOM IC-705 owners will want to do is run FT8. As I understand it, you can use the single USB cable for both audio and CAT rig control. I see there is a YouTube video about this.

Schools in England - NOT amateur radio

March 8th sees the return to school of all children in England. 

The person in charge of education at ministerial level was interviewed on the BBC and Sky earlier. One option reported as being considered is longer school days and shorter holidays. 

One of my sons is a teacher and he has had to do online teaching as well as classroom teaching. I hope they discuss proposals with teachers first! 

Yes, school children must catch up, but in most cases teachers are near burn out. Imagine being told you have shorter holidays and longer days. I can see even more early retirements and people leaving the profession. Government in the UK - open your eyes!!!

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56311723 . 

Ailunce HS2

This radio, the Ailunce HS2, costs just under £650. The adverts don't mention the power (at least I couldn't find it), which I assume is 5W.  It is available from Radioworld in the UK Midlands. 

At this price, it must be Chinese. I would be concerned about quality control and warranty, although on paper it looks good. As this is preliminary data, perhaps they are testing interest?

As I have said many times before, once the Chinese get interested in this market (will they?) the Japanese will really notice.

It is much smaller than it looks. At a guess I'd say it looks FT817 sized.

17m FT8 QRP (Sunday)

 At about 0835z I went on 17m FT8 with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop. It is now 0932z. So far, 2 stations have spotted my QRP TX with the furthermost being UR7IM (2631km) and on RX 28 stations spotted here with the furthermost HL5BLI (9059km) in South Korea.

I remain amazed how well this simple QRP set-up works. Later, if I have the energy, I may try thicker wire for the loop. Somewhere in the garage is the roll of central heating pipe that I might use. Failing that, just thicker copper wire or a parallel stretch of copper wire might make things even better.

UPDATE 1208z: 89 stations spotted so far on RX.

UPDATE 1430z: 138 spots of me in 5 continents today on 17m FT8 RX.  4 spots of my QRP on TX.

Shack

This photo may have been on before. If so, my apologies.

It shows me in the shack checking the birds in the garden with binoculars. Building is done on the left and operating on the right.

The photo makes the room look much bigger than it is. 

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/shack

Did we really have holidays? - NOT amateur radio

This photo shows a crab lunch (excellent) we had last September when we were in North Norfolk. 

Things felt almost normal. 

Sunspots - Sunday March 7th 2021

Solar flux is 77 and the SSN 23. A=16 and K=1.

They are coming - NOT amateur radio

Looking at the latest Devon bird sightings, I see that sand martins have started to arrive. These birds are among the first migrants to come.  Swallows usually arrive here in East Anglia in early April with swifts early May. The photo shows a sand martin.

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/sand-martin/

Flower pot antenna

Steve G1KQH recently sent me an email with some useful links on how to make 1/2 wave verticals. I am sharing it with you in case this gives you ideas.

"The latest G4NSJ video pointed me to investigate..

Cheap to make for anything from 28MHz to UHF I guess.. Ideally a starting point is to make one for 2m

Gain 1dB over 1/4 Wave

Details here: 

http://vk2zoi.com/articles/half-wave-flower-pot/

You can even make it Dual band:

http://vk2zoi.com/articles/dual-band-half-wave-flower-pot/

There is even an online calculator:

https://nomonsuhendar.blogspot.com/2020/12/flower-pot-antenna-calculator.html

73's G1KQH"

17m FT8 QRP (Saturday)

At about 1130z, I went on 17m FT8 with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop. It is now 1141z and 3 stations spotted on RX with the furthermost EA8WU (2985km) and nobody has spotted my QRP on TX. 

UPDATE 1145z: So far, 4 stations spotted on 17m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1259z: 15 stations spotted so far on RX. Nobody has spotted me on TX.

UPDATE 1400z:  2 stations have spotted me on TX and 37 stations spotted on RX.

UPDATE 1555z: 4 stations have spotted my QRP TX and 65 stations spotted on RX with the furthermost YB1AR (11781km).

UPDATE 1820z: 72 stations spotted today on 17m FT8 RX today. QRT soon.