No radio today

Today, I have not been on the radio on any band. Usually I go on an HF band in the day and 2m FT8 in the evening. 

10m simple (not necessarily single) sideband transceiver

10m is coming back to life. 

At any point in the solar cycle it can be good for Es contacts (in the Es seasons especially) with low power and simple antennas. This autumn we could well see some real F2 DX more commonly on 10m.

One of my aims in the past was to design a very simple rig for 10m sideband that almost anybody could build. Sadly, my health got in the way and even this is probably beyond me now. Others may well have better ideas. All I want is someone to have a go. 

I can see a simple 10m kit in my mind that could be built at really low cost on a single PCB with a simple case. All this to allow everyone to get on 10m phone for less than the cost of one meal out (remember those!?).

My (dated now) ideas were here.

EMF calculator

Quite a few people have been concerned by recent letters from OFCOM about changes to our licences in the future to ensure we do not put members of the public in danger. 

With QRP this is very unlikely, but with high power and beams you may be required to prove this if you were ever investigated.

There are several calculators available to help work this out e.g. on the OFCOM and RSGB websites. I see Steve G1KQH has found another, the link of which is on his blog.

Crystal set DXing

As radio amateurs, we are often after new challenges. One such is DXing with crystal sets.  In the past, there have been some remarkable designs.  

Remember that all the power is provided by the TX station (no batteries, no solar cells etc.), so people struggle to get the strongest signals with decent selectivity. 

Amateur DX is possible, and on 80m I have copied SSB signals at some distance. Of course, this was just envelope detection and I had to use other means to ID the station with certainty. On bands like 10m, it should be possible, at times, to copy DX stations, especially with Es on a crystal set. Signals need to be in the low mVs to be received.

In the days when AM was common on 160m I have copied stations at some distance on a crystal set. Patience is required. People regularly copy 80m AM nets in the USA.

See https://crystalradio.net/crystalplans/index.shtml

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/crystalset.  As this page is quite old, some of the links may not work. At some point I really must check and delete any that no longer work.

Remember that old pages, now closed, can often be found on the Wayback Machine.

1933 recordings - NOT amateur radio

Southgate News has some interesting links to some recording made in 1933 on aluminium disks of AM broadcasters.  Of great historic interest.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2021/march/dxing-in-england-1933.htm#.YE3QayuTLrc

King's - NOT amateur radio

Living close to Cambridge it is all too easy to take sights that people come across the world to see for granted . The photo shows King's. 

Orchids - NOT amateur radio

My wife has a "touch" with orchids. She gives them a thumbnail of water a week. Too much water can kill them. 

Sunspots - Sunday March 14th 2021

 Solar flux is 81 and the SSN 12.  A=17 and K=3.

Vancouver statue - NOT amateur radio

We live about 1 hour from Kings Lynn in Norfolk. 

On the quay is a statue of George Vancouver as shown in the photo taken some years ago at this time of year.

Better times? - NOT amateur radio

We live a few miles from Cambridge.  In normal times it is busy with university students and visitors from all over the world. The photo shows some of the bikes in normal times. Hopefully these days (after Covid-19) will return. 

When you can't have normal, you realise how important this was. We haven't been in to Cambridge since last summer! We used to go every week.