4el 70cm yagi

Tomorrow evening is the June leg of the RSGB's UKAC activity "contest" on 70cm.  

I usually use my 2m big-wheel omni, 10W, and stop on for less than an hour. Sadly, my 2m big-wheel has developed a high SWR, so tomorrow I will be using an old 4el homemade yagi indoors. It could be several dBs down. At least it can be hand-rotated from the operating position and the match is good. It will be interesting to see how I get on.

The last time it was used was early 2013.

6m FT8 RX (Monday)

As yesterday, I am again on 6m FT8 with the V2000 vertical omni that has a high SWR TX. So far, 115 European stations spotted apart from the Canary Is.

UPDATE 1606z: 447 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX with the V2000 omni vertical antenna. The map shows the stations spotted so far today.

Sunspots - Monday June 7th 2021

Solar flux is 77 and the SSN 42. A=5 and K=1.

Summer - NOT amateur radio

This delightful image of our grandson was taken in 2010! They grow up fast, but this is life.

6m FT8 RX yesterday

In all, 667 stations were spotted on 6m FT8 RX yesterday despite the omni vertical antenna being faulty and unusable on 6m TX. It looks like the YS1 station was a pirate sadly. I have copied the Americas and Caribbean before on 6m though.

Website navigation

There has been some confusion over how to navigate to the various pages on my new website at www.g3xbm.co.uk . 

For the avoidance of doubt, click the arrow next to the sub-menu not the words.  There may be a way of making the sub-title clickable, but I don't know how at the moment, HI.

As an example, if you want to look at one of the pages on "antennas" click the arrow next to "antennas" first, then select the one you want e.g. "ferrite rod TX antennas".

I have made this a little clearer on the "home" page. If anything else is not clear or wrong, let me know.

6m FT8 RX with the V2000 omni antenna

On TX, my V2000 omni has a very high SWR, so I am RX only. After a very brief check on 10m FT8 RX I am on 6m FT8 RX with 31 stations spotted at 1124z, with the furthermost A45XR (5843km) in Oman. Well, this omni antenna still works fine on RX.

UPDATE 1450z:  112 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 1635z:  257 stations spotted. When 6m is good it can produce some quite good DX via the E layer. Furthermost is YS1AG (8777km) in El Salvador, central America. See map. (See comment below - this could well be a pirate!) .

UPDATE 2144z: 658 stations in 4 continents spotted today on 6m FT8 RX. Nothing yet from South America. It is probably worth leaving the setup running overnight in case North or South America comes through. This already a great day on 6m with an omni antenna that is not working properly.

Schrodinger's cat

 

This photo was shared on Facebook earlier. Some will understand the humour.

Sunspots - Sunday June 6th 2021

 Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 30. A=4 and K=1. 

10m FT8 TX (for a change!) - Saturday

For a change, I am on 10m FT8 transmit with the FT817ND and the tiny indoor loop with the wire inductor. This is less good than the copper central heating pipe inductor, but I was concerned with RF voltages on the higher Q loop on TX. In RX, of course, this does not matter So far, nobody has spotted me on TX today.

UPDATE 1324z:  As nobody spotted me on TX, so I am on RX only at present with the FT817ND and the loop. Perhaps I should put the higher Q inductor back on the loop?

UPDATE 14303z: K5YCM (7275km) spotted amongst 83 stations so far copied. At first I thought he was a pirate, but he seems to have been spotted by many in the USA and Europe so may well be genuine.