6m FT8 RX (Friday)

Most of the morning I've been on 6m FT8 RX with the V2000 vertical omni antenna. So far today 54 stations spotted at 1245z with the furthermost HZ1SK (4759km) in Saudi Arabia.

UPDATE 1742z:   271 stations spotted here so far. Mostly EUs via Es.

10m WSPR TX - 500mW (Friday)

Spots of me at 1732z

Most of the morning I've been on 10m WSPR TX using 500mW. It is now 1235z and so far I've been spotted by 6 different stations. 

UPDATE 1416z:   21 stations across Europe have spotted me.

UPDATE 1732z:    40 stations have spotted me so far. one South American has spotted me 10 times!

21MHz (15m) QRP CW - my homebrew "Pipit"

Many years ago I designed and made this QRP (800mW) CW rig of 15m. 

It worked remarkably well and worked some impressive DX. 

For several months it was the only rig I used, out of choice. Every QSO was so satisfying. It appeared in GQRP SPRAT. It was in the days before schematic drawing packages, so the schematic was hand-drawn. I used Neosid toroids as these were at hand, although I am sure Amidon ones would be suitable with turns adjusted.

Values are on my webpage. As with all my designs, please use this as a starting point for your own ideas and do not be afraid to change things if this makes the design better! The SBL1 mixer can certainly be replaced by similar double balanced mixers or a homebrew version.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/15m-qrp-cw-pipit .

IC202 and similar

After the Liner-2 made 2m SSB popular in the early 1970s, the IC202 was introduced by ICOM. This had less power, but was cleaner. It had a wide coverage VXO, but it behaved like a VFO. 

To this day, the IC202 and its successors are used to drive transverters. In the past I had the IC202 (2m) and the IC402 (70cm).  There were later S versions with a number of improvements. These were nice simple rigs with no frills. They had no memories or sythesisers.

I used my 2m IC202 with a homemade transverter on 10m. With 1W pep SSB and a low wire dipole the world was worked.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/vhfuhf-commercial-rigs/icom-ic-202 .

Where I come from - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows where I come from in South Devon. We had some land hereabouts in 1427!! 

Sunspots - Friday July 30th 2021

 Solar flux is 76 and the SSN 0. A=8 and K=1

Es - keep monitoring

We appear to have the best of the Es season behind us in the northern hemisphere. However, Es can occur at any time, so it is worth monitoring 10m FT8 and WSPR if you can. With lots of people active, it would not surprise if we see some Es propagation on 10m most days. Of course F2 openings will become more frequent as cycle 25 gathers pace.

With the grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

 

This photo shows us with all the grandchildren yesterday in our back garden.

10m WSPR TX (500mW)

For the last few hours I have been on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW. So far, just 3 spots from Germany. Yesterday, there were several spots by FY5KE (7110km) in South America. Maybe later?

UPDATE 1335z:  Spots by 12 different stations on 10m WSPR TX so far today, many multiple times.

UPDATE 2035z:  16 different stations have spotted my beacon  so far today. The furthermost was again FY5KE (7110km).

6m FT8 (Thursday)

After a very brief period on TX with 2.5W and the V2000 vertical omni I am on 6m FT8 RX only. It is now 1058z and just 6 G stations spotted. No Es evident here yet. 

UPDATE 1444z:  42 stations spotted so far with the furthermost K4PI (6802km) in Georgia, USA.