15m FT8 RX

As 10m FT8 RX was disappointing, I QSYed down to 15m, which was filled with North Americans on FT8 RX. 

As an experiment, I swapped the coax to my big-wheel for the Wellgood active loop. If anything, the Wellgood loop is better, so I have left it connected.

Already 51 stations spotted, most on the tiny indoor Wellgood active loop antenna.

UPDATE 1620z:  122 unique stations spotted, most on the Wellgood active loop antenna. I have now used the Wellgood active loop from 630m to 21m. Perhaps I should try it on a new band this evening?

Sunset, Salcombe, Devon - NOT amateur radio

This photo was on a Facebook group earlier today. It shows the sun going down last night in Salcombe, where I was brought up as a child.

Amazing run - NOT amateur radio

Kevin Sinfield has successfully completed his amazing run of 101 miles in 24 hours, raising over £1M for motor neurone disease (MND) research. This is a truly horrible condition and his teammate at Leeds Rhinos rugby team was diagnosed with this a few years ago.

As someone who finds just walking a few miles really hard, I am totally impressed. Well done.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/59366038 .

472kHz WSPR RX with the Wellgood active loop

My Wellgood loop is tiny and no attempt has yet been made to optimise the size, position or orientation of the loop, which is just attached to the shack window with Blutak. 

Last night, 4 unique stations were spotted on 472kHz WSPR RX.  My impression is this is a few dBs down on the coax to my big wheel. Now, this could be activity, conditions, orientation, local noise, position etc. .

On 1840kHz (160m) FT8 it works well and is every bit as good.

10m FT8 QRP (Tuesday)

After a very brief period on QRP TX (2.5W), I am now RX only. The gear was turned on about 0830z. It is now 0836z and, so far, no spots given or received. It is a bit early.

UPDATE 1428z: 123 stations spotted on RX.  A brief period just now with me on QRP TX resulted in no spots!

Sunspots - Tuesday November 23rd 2021

Solar flux is 78 and the SSN 22 (again).  A=9 and K=2.

472kHz WSPR RX with the Wellgood Loop active antenna

As an experiment I am on 472kHz WSPR RX using the Wellgood Loop. It will be interesting to see how this compares with the coax up to the big-wheel.

Home - NOT amateur radio

Even though I have lived away from the area for far longer than I lived there, I still think of the South Hams in Devon as "home".  I am sure lots will have changed. This photo shows people enjoying the sea near Salcombe, Devon, UK. 

ICOM IC-703

This is the radio that preceded the IC-705. I sold mine many years ago to a friend in Cambridge and regret it. If you are after a basic HF/6m 10W radio, then you would be hard pressed to do better. It is the same size as the IC-706 range, but hard to find these days. One advantage is the auto-ATU, which matched my long wire on all bands from 80m to 10m. It would probably have done 6m too!

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/commercial-rigs/icom-ic-703 .

Tomatoes - NOT amateur radio

My home grown tomatoes were successful this year and I shall definitely grow more next year.  The position was in the sun, but sheltered. 

The same place will be used next year.

We have dark cold nights until then!