Ely Cathedral earlier - NOT amateur radio

As it was sunny this morning, we did a walk around Ely. The cathedral is very very old and stands on a hill and can be seen for miles, a bit like Chartres in France. Centuries back the central tower collapsed and they replaced it with the wooden octagon.

Flags are at half mast as the Duke of Edinburgh died last week.  All the flags we saw were at half mast.

Last weekend the university boat race was held at Ely for the first time since 1944.

It is a nice city.

Dalham stream - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows the view over the stream at Dalham, near Newmarket. 

This is a delightful village with lots of thatched cottages next to the stream.

160m FT8 RX overnight

Stations spotted
overnight on
160m FT8 RX

Overnight I remained on 160m FT8 RX. 246 stations including several in the USA. Furthermost was K4ODL (6722km) in Georgia.  

Stations spotting
my 2.5W QRP FT8
on 160m last evening

Last evening, I was on TX too and my 2.5W was spotted by 22 stations in western Europe.  1 QSO with a French station.  The stations spotting my QRP TX last evening are shown in the map.My TX technique is to call CQ and work anyone that calls me. I am sure more QSOs could be had if I "went looking".

As usual, using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground which works so well. 

17m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

At the moment I am on 17m FT8 with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop antenna.  At 0725z, no spots on RX or TX. It is very early.

UPDATE 0805z:  No spots.

UPDATE 1122z: 42 stations spotted on RX.  I may try TX again later.

Modified
loop

Stations spotted on
17m FT8 RX

UPDATE 1415z:  Replaced the wire used on the loop with copper central heating pipe (see photo). Q is higher suggesting better efficiency. Hope the higher RF voltage will be OK.  Since making the change one Italian has spotted my QRP TX. 100 stations spotted on 17m FT8 RX today. Mostly on RX currently. See map of stations spotted on RX.

HF beacons

Thanks to the blog at EI7GL, this is a list of HF amateur beacons which is regularly updated. 

See http://dl8wx.de/BAKE_KW.HTM .

Sunspots - Sunday April 11th 2021

 Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0.  A=4 and K=2.

160m FT8 QRP (Saturday)

At 1942z, I turned on 160m FT8 using 2.5W and the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. Immediately, 13 stations across Europe were spotted on RX and my own QRP was spotted by 10 stations on TX.  All this within about 5 minutes! By contrast, I was on 10m FT8 all day without spotting anyone. 

UPDATE 1951z:  Amazing! 22 stations spotted on RX and 12 stations have spotted my QRP on TX.

UPDATE 2041z:  66 stations spotted on RX and 18 stations have spotted my 160m FT8 QRP on TX.

Pheasant breakfast - NOT amateur radio

My brother has tame pheasants in his garden in Devon as the photo shows. 

Here they are eating breakfast. They eat from his hand.

EI7GL on 10m

At the moment, 10m has not "got going" . The Es season has not properly started and the F2 openings are few. 

Better equipped stations are copying more than me. John in Eire is certainly doing a bit better than me! I am not sure what gear and antenna he uses. It certainly must be better than my indoor loop made with thin wire, HI.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/ .

Sixbox - simple 6m AM rig

It was way back in 2009 that I designed and built the Sixbox rig. Unlike the Fredbox for 2m, the Sixbox did not use a PCB. 

It is not suitable for DX, but could be useful for local natters.

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