Garden blossom - NOT amateur radio

At the moment the garden is filled with blossom. This does not last long, but looks great whilst it lasts. 

In my opinion the garden looks its best in the spring.

Amplitude Modulation

Although I have not used AM recently, partly as a result of my poor voice, I can see the attraction of the mode. It lends itself to home brewing and in the past I have designed and made several AM rigs. At one time they were practically giving away ex PMR AM rigs.  

The Fredbox and Sixbox are examples of AM rigs I have designed and made in the past.

Southgate News has announced the formation of an AM Amateur Radio Society.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2021/april/announcing-the-formation-of-the-amplitude-modulation-amateur-radio-society.htm#.YIgZpGjYrrd .

My thanks to Steve G1KQH for pointing this out.

Bluebell hunting - NOT amateur radio

This morning we went bluebell hunting and saw this tree. 

We also saw plenty of bluebells. 

This Waresley Woods near Sandy, Bedfordshire.

Happier times - NOT amateur radio

 

The photo shows happier times when we ate out. I cannot recall when or where. It looks good.

10m FT8 RX

My 10FT8R RX (homemade) for 10m FT8 RX was turned on at 0739z with the indoor loop. Later today I hope to create a schematic for this 4 transistor RX, which works well.

UPDATE 1540z: No spots.

UPDATE 1700z: Just 1 spot so far - G4NBS (22km). I notice David G0LRD has spotted 67 stations today on 10m FT8.

70cm activity contest (UKAC) published

The RSGB has published the results of the April 2021 contest. Despite limited time, limited power and just a 2m omni antenna, I have climbed in the results. I only come on for the fun and never expect to do anything!

See https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfresults.pl?Contest=432MHz%20UKAC&year=2021 .

OFCOM spectrum auction final results

OFCOM has announced the final results of recent auctions of 700MHz and 3.6GHz spectrum. See the OFCOM website for details.

Sunspots - Tuesday April 27th 2021

 Solar flux is 80 and the SSN 54.  A=14 and K=3.

Phaser 2 kit - on its way

A few days ago I queried where this was. 

For some reason the email went into spam (not any more!) and I was informed the kit is in the UK and on its way to me by UPS. It must have shipped by air.

This is a 4W SSB transceiver for 10m FT8. With the Es season just upon us, it could be very effective.

See https://midnightdesignsolutions.com/phaser/index.html .

Fewer swallows? - NOT amateur radio

Like many, I keep my eyes open for the first swallows (birds) returning from Africa. Usually I see my first ones in early April. Although I have seen some, I am sure there are fewer. This may be because more perish on the journey due to lack of food.

We still see swifts, although these are later to arrive. To me they make a late spring or early summer evening. Usually you hear their screaming, look up and see them overhead hunting. Swifts are about, although I have seen and heard none yet.

Cuckoos used to be commonly heard, although I heard none last year. They tend to lay their eggs in the nests of willow warblers. Just occasionally they can be heard. More rarely, they can be seen on wires overhead.

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