Scale - NOT amateur radio

For a very long time I have been puzzled by scale. One the one hand the universe seems immensely vast. On the other hand at the atomic scale things are immensely small. We experience things at our scale. 

What I wonder is this: does something link these two? Is the universe actually within us? Our brains cannot begin to comprehend, but our thinking about both the macro and micro scales has radically changed in 200 years.

In another 200 years people may look back at us in amazement.

Kindness - NOT amateur radio

We live right next door to our village windmill and museum. We heard today that a very kind man from the USA who was evacuated into our village from London in 1941 has just made a very generous donation to the museum. He is now 88 years old and he still thinks Burwell is the nicest place in the world despite having widely travelled in his lifetime. What's more, one of the museum founders remembers sitting next to him at school!

See https://burwellmuseum.org.uk/ .

Long ago - NOT amateur radio

 

This is how farming was long ago.

Geosynchronous Oscar 100 activity.

Every few weeks I give an update on activity levels on the narrowband transponder on this satelllite by looking at the web SDR at Goonhilly Downs in Cornwall, UK. Activity levels were low when I looked at 1100z today. Activity levels can change very quickly, but remains well below capacity. There is plenty of space.

15m FT8 RX

At the moment I am on 15m FT8 RX using the Wellgood active loop on the shack window. So far today, after about 35 minutes, 116 stations spotted with the furthermost ZS4JAN (9386km).

UPDATE 1623z:  518 stations spotted on 15m FT8 RX today. Furthermost is VK4DW (14466km),

UPDATE 1857:  530 stations spotted today. Now QRT.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Tuesday)

 At the moment I am on 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW W5OLF beacon. Two spots by local G4KPX (14km) only so far.

UPDATE 1120z: Plenty of spots from G4KPX, but nobody else yet.

Sunspots - Tuesday November 30th 2021

 Solar flux is 90 and the SSN 47. A=9 and K=0.

Cosy - NOT amateur radio

We like our bungalow to be cosy and inviting. It is not "posh", but we like it as it is. 

The photo shows the lounge. We draw the curtains at night.

QCX-mini 5W QRP

Sadly, this is probably beyond my fine motor skills to build these days, but this looks an excellent QRP transceiver. It is not (yet?) available above 17m, but with solar conditions improving, it would not surprise me to see kits for 15,12 and 10m shortly. It is also available built and tested.

I see it also supports beacon modes like WSPR. It is tiny.

They are also working on a tiny digital transceiver. I hope they make a 10m version. These days I mainly use FT8 and WSPR.

See https://www.qrp-labs.com/qcxmini.html .

UPDATE 1647z: Just received a reply to my query.  Hans is planning a version for the higher HF bands, but wants to catch up on the current version first! Parts supply is very difficult recently.

10m FT8 RX (Monday)

My gear has been on for about 40 minutes. At 1008z 67 stations had been spotted on RX with the furthermost ZS5TC (9604km). 

UPDATE 1301z:  166 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1626z:  Now QRT. 253 stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX.