Kings Parade, Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

King's Parade,
Cambridge, UK

King's Parade is the road just outside King's College Chapel. At this time of year and through the summer it is usually crowded with overseas visitors. This year is different. Hopefully they will be back next year.

17m FT8 QRP (Saturday)

After a break of a few days, I am again on 17m FT8 QRP with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop antenna on the shack windowsill. It is now 1455z. So far, in about 10 minutes, 18 stations have been spotted on RX and my QRP has been copied by nobody yet on TX.

UPDATE 1542z: So far, 30 stations have been spotted on RX on 5 continents and nobody has spotted me on TX yet today.

UPDATE 1800z:  43 stations spotted on RX and nobody spotted my QRP on TX. QRT soon.

What CAN I still do?

Since my 2013 stroke I have been giddy all my waking time, had a very poor voice and get exhausted very quickly. 

All the time I am conscious of all the things I used to be able to do without effort that I can no longer do. Some of these things may still be as a result of my stroke, whereas others may just be because I am getting older.

Maybe I need to change the way I think and focus on all the things I can do rather than the things I cannot.

For example:

• I still manage 2 weekly 2m FM nets.
• I still manage the 2m and 70cm UKAC activity contests each month.
• FT8 and WSPR operation is fine.
• Cutting the grass is still possible.
• Getting breakfast ready is still possible.
• Gardening for short periods is still possible.
• Washing the dishes is still possible.
• Ironing is still possible.
• etc...

Quite a few things are still possible. Getting older, I should expect to find some things harder, so maybe I should accept these and alter my focus. I need to look harder at the things I can do! Making this mental leap is not easy.

10FT8R - 10m FT8 RX

Some weeks ago I mentioned that I wanted to make a DSB transceiver for 10m FT8 based on the WISPY rig that I designed some years ago for 10m WSPR. In the coming years 10m should return to form as a great DX band. In every Es season single hop DX up to about 1500km should be possible.

All being well, I hope to start on the RX section later today. This RX is very simple and should allow me to monitor 10m FT8 RX without having to use the "big rig".

The photo show the original WISPY RX.

UPDATE 1506z: A start has been made. Some of the "meSQUARES" pads have been stuck down. I am thinking that "little and often" is my best approach. Years ago I would have done the lot in one go! See http://www.qrpme.com/?p=product&id=MeSl

IC-705 - getting to know you

There is so much to learn about my new rig, the IC-705. The firmware needs updating and I have yet to connect the PC. There are so many hidden features that I have hardly scratched the surface. I am taking my time.

First impressions are this is some radio. It can do so much!!

Wild walk - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday we did a nice walk along Burwell Lode. We saw several marsh harriers. The photo shows where Burwell and Reach Lodes meet. Lodes are very ancient waterways that once carried important trade thousands of years ago.

Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

We live not far from Cambridge. At the moment there are no foreign visitors. It is still a beautiful place. 

Sunspots - Saturday April 3rd 2021

 Solar flux is 72 and the SSN 0. A=6 and K=1. 

5MHz (60m) band

 Despite a small slot being allocated to the amateur service at a WRC meeting many years ago, this slot is not universally available. As an example, it is not allocated in the UK. Other 5MHz allocations with higher power are available at 5MHz in the UK. 

As a dedicated QRP man, and speaking personally, I would trade the bitty allocations for a smaller, contiguous band with lower power. I have only been on the band with WSPR, so am not well qualified to comment!

See https://rsgb.org/main/operating/band-plans/hf/5mhz/ .

Sub-9kHz amateur radio

Some years ago I experimented on amateur radio below 9kHz. To receive amateur radiated signals at range needs very stable TX signals, very narrow filters and integration periods measured in hours or days. Just listening will not work! Luckily the software needed is freely available on the Internet. 

The photo shows G3XIZ. The frequency is Hertz!! My antenna was the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. 

It is some years since I last experimented on real VLF. As I recall, I copied amateur sub-9kHz signals from several European stations including 2 in Germany and 1 in Austria I think.

In the past I have successfully experimented at the far ends of the spectrum from visible light to far ELF. There is no doubt that we still have a lot to learn. At both these ends of the spectrum the equipment and test gear can easily be home-brewed. In many ways this is one of the attractions. My own VLF earth-mode gear was fabricated in the back of the garage as was my light beam gear: low cost and great fun. The second link includes a link to the files on my earth-mode article in RSGB RadCom in 2011.

See https://sites.google.com/site/sub9khz/

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

Some very old blog pages (which are not maintained so do not follow the links on the left) are at https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp/Home/earthmode. This is a blog about my own experiments with VLF earth-mode.