8 Aug 2021

10 years ago on 1.095kHz at 6km

Ten years ago I was on 1.095kHz earth-mode.

10m FT8 RX

Yesterday, in the early evening, I was on 10m FT8 RX. 36 stations were spotted including 1 South American. 

Sunspots - Sunday August 8th 2021

 Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 0. A=11 and K=2.

7 Aug 2021

10FT8R PCB

Jason Woodman M0NYW has been working on a PCB for the 10FT8R. I have still to check the layout, but it looks easy to make. If you can find a low cost source of 14.037MHz crystals then the inductor to pull the crystal is probably not needed. As soon as I have checked the layout I shall share it here. 

Visitor - NOT amateur radio

When watering the garden just now, this cricket appeared. 

Day off?

As there was a risk of storms today, I decided (for now at least) not to go on the air. At the moment, storms are still a long way away.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=0.00;ts=0; .

4m (70MHz)

It is some years since I have been on 4m. There are now far more countries on the band many within Es range. The last time I was on the band I used a homemade transverter.  This design was in GQRP SPRAT.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/homebrew/4m-transverter .

Sunspots - Saturday August 6th 2021

 Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 0.  A=7 and K=3.

How not to park! - NOT amateur radio


This car was parked here for at least 20 minutes. In the UK it is wrong to park on a double yellow line and on a pavement (sidewalk).

A pushchair or a wheelchair user has to go on the road.  As a result of my stroke nearly 8 year's ago, I feel nearly always giddy and this annoyed me greatly. 


6 Aug 2021

2m/70cm handhelds

Beofeng handhelds seem to be very popular and inexpensive, although the quality control seems poor: some are fine, whereas others seem "flaky".  

Although hardly ever used, I have Yaesu ( not Trio!! Thank you Keith) VX1 and VX2 dual band handhelds. These we considerably more expensive, but are very small and reliable. Many have found longer antennas are useful. I guess it depends what they are used for.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/vhfuhf-commercial-rigs/yaesu-vx2  .