Not on tomorrow morning probably

As the UK Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms tomorrow morning it is unlikely I shall be on until after lunch.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/cb25 .

That's a pity - NOT amateur radio

If all the SPAM I get daily was true I would be very rich! 

Today, I had several placing life-changing amounts into my bank account. Sadly, not one of these is true. Guess I shall still have to draw my pension! Never mind.  😀

Autumn garden - NOT amateur radio

At the moment it is very mild, although things are expected to get far colder later in the week. There is a  hint of autumn with colours starting to change. In another month things will look much different.

10m FT8 RX (Tuesday)

My 10m FT8 RX gear was turned on at 0810z. No spots in the first 30 minutes.

UPDATE 1222z:  47 stations spotted so far on 10m FT8 RX with the furthermost PY5JO (9890km). South Americans just appearing. F2?

UPDATE 1853z:  202 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX. Several in South America with the furthermost VP8LP (12773km).  As there have been very few spots in the last 30 minutes, I suspect that is probably it for the day.

Lesotho - NOT amateur radio

11 years ago we had a holiday in South Africa and visited Lesotho. It was an eye opener.

8m NoV

As some know, I have applied to OFCOM (RSGB copied) for a time limited, 5W, digital only, permit to operate next March to October 2022 at 8m (40MHz).  I expect this will take some time, although I very much hope it is accepted as there are no 8m stations operational in the UK at this time as GB3RAL is looking for a new site. 

In my view there is a good justification for this NoV, especially when OFCOM can find a whole 2MHz for DTV experiments and I am probably after just 50Hz with QRP for part of 1 year. In my view. this would really contribute to radio propagation science.

I am awaiting their verdict....

4m transverter

This is band I have not tried for many years. Many years ago I got on the band with this homebrew transverter and a wire dipole. It was in GQRP SPRAT magazine, but I forget which one.

4m is increasingly popular on modern rigs as the band is now widely available in Europe. When I was first on the band in the late 1960s there were very few countries on.

This transverter may give you some ideas for a winter project. It is well capable of reaching many European countries by SSB in the Es season. I am sure it can be improved.

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

Oscar 100 activity

As regular readers of the blog know, every few weeks I take a peek at activity on the narrowband transponder of this geosynchronous satellite. When I as looked (mid afternoon on Monday in Europe) it was very quiet. If anything, I think there is less activity that a few months ago.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/.

10m FT8 RX yesterday

 In all, 236 stations were spotted yesterday on 10m FT8 RX. In the end a string of South Americans were spotted. Yesterday Jan was wondering if the Europeans were F2 backscatter. Indeed this is possible, although I would have expected more pure F2 stations from Ukraine, Russia, Lebanon and Israel if this was F2 backscatter. Mind you, I am no expert!

Cambridge eatery - NOT amateur radio

 

This is one of our favourite places to eat in Cambridge. It is on a street with plenty of places to eat. Just over the bridge is Magdelene College which houses the famous Pepys library.