On earlier posts you may have noticed mention of this band. It is available in very few countries at the moment. Being between 10m and 6m, it could be a very useful allocation. Es and MS could be quite effective. As John has shown, it could also be useful for aircraft scatter.
There are now 2 beacons on the band in Eire. These should certainly be received in the UK and mainland Europe by Es and MS. A few other countries have special access.
This ICOM radio covers 2m, 70cm and 23cm. It is an all-mode SDR transceiver. I do not own one, but know some who do. It has a lovely colour LCD which is touch screen as well as having good ergonomics.
On 23cm it has a useful 10W pep. With a reasonable yagi some quite good DX should be possible as long as the coax run is short and the cable low loss. When runs are long or the coax is not too good, people put PAs and preamps up near the antennas.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/vhfuhf-commercial-rigs/ic-9700 .
As signals have to be very strong, low level interference is unlikely to be a limitation. It was all fun and a different sort of challenge.
Remember, all the power comes from the broadcaster, unless you find a way of harvesting power from other broadcasters. Certainly, nothing comes from the receiving end!
These days there are far fewer English language broadcast stations on HF.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/crystal-set-dxing .
Last week I redirected my www.g3xbm.co.uk domain to my new Google Sites web pages. Maybe I am being dense, but I could not find out what limits apply to webspace. If it is there, it was not obvious to me. If you know, please let me know.
From the outset may I say that we all are less than perfect and we all have things about ourselves we are not proud of and that we would rather not tell people about. We are human.
What really annoys me though are people who publicly pretend to be honest and upright folk, who clearly are not.
In the UK we have had the BBC and the BBC person who lied and covered up the devious means to get an interview with Princess Diana in 1995.
We also had the case of the sub-postmasters accused of fraud when the fault was with the software. Some even went to prison or lost homes - basically lives ruined. All the while those in charge were in denial. One is even an ordained minister!! Gross hypocrisy!
In my view those involved in both these scandals should face custodial sentences and be made to pay for their gross misdemeanours. This includes those who did the deeds and those who covered them up knowingly.
Both the BBC and the UK Post Office must uphold the law at all times and be above reproach. We deserve nothing less.
At about 0900z I turned on the 10m FT8 RX. No spots yet. The 10FT8R is a 4 transistor direct conversion RX for 10m FT8.
UPDATE 1220z: So far today, 23 stations spotted on RX, mostly in Spain with 1 in Slovakia and 1 in the UK.
UPDATE 1435z: 36 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX. Best DX is EA9ABC (1873km) in Ceuta, N, Africa.
UPDATE 1945z: QRT. In total today 4 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R and the tiny indoor loop.
The Dayton Hamvention is usually one of the biggest amateur events on the planet. People usually travel there from all over the world. This year, like last, it is a virtual event sadly. These days will end.
Often, the big manufacturers announce new products here. It is an important date in the diary. If you want to attend virtually, there is a link below.
See https://hamvention.org .
They are already selling tickets for 2022, which hopefully will not be virtual.
Today is my wife's birthday. Before you ask, NO I am not pregnant and don't you be so darn cheeky! 😀😀
