Start them young

This photo may have been on a few months ago. I post in several places and forget! 

It shows one of our grandsons building a radio. He loved it and was good at soldering very quickly. I had forgotten the thrill of hearing stations on something you had built.

10m Tenbox

With 10m again becoming a good DX band, it does not seem right talking about a simple cross-town natterer for 10m!  Mind you 10m is often a daylight DX band and there are plenty of times when it is dark when the band is totally unused.

Derivatives of this simple radio might make an ideal 10m cross-town natterer. Just above 29MHz would be an ideal spot with plenty of space and very low chances of causing anyone else problems. This receiver has heard USA AM stations with just a base loaded whip on the car, although I would not recommend it for serious DX work.

In my mind I see a rig a bit like a tiny Heathkit Twoer (remember these?) with a tunable RX and crystal controlled TX. On a suitable PCB it could make a nice club project. Improvements would include an AF amplifier to drive a loudspeaker and maybe a very simple linear to bring the power up to a few watts of RF.

I cannot imagine the rig costing much more than £10-20. Put it another way, how many cups of coffee or beers will that be?

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10m-am-tenbox .

40m FT8 overnight

Gradually yesterday I went to lower bands ending up on 40m FT8.  In all cases I was using the Wellgood active antenna on the shack window.

In all, 389 stations spotted on 40m FT8 RX with the furthermost YC9FZ (12452km) on Java.

Sunspots - Tuesday December 7th 2021

Solar flux is 80 and the SSN 14.  A=7 and K=1. 

40m FT8 RX (Monday)

Since 1844z, I have been on 40m FT8 RX using the Wellgood active loop. At 1931z, 12 stations had been spotted.

UPDATE 2158z:  62 stations spotted on 40m FT8 RX this evening.

Before our bungalow was built - NOT amateur radio

This photo was taken well before our house was built. Our home (today) is in front of the windmill (see top right). When this photo was taken it was fields. It would be so good to take a peek at what our village was like at several points in the last few thousand years.

More Mildenhall - NOT amateur radio

 

Yesterday, I put a photo of the river at Mildenhall. Here is another.  It shows the swans and ducks swimming towards us hoping to be fed.

17m FT8 RX (Monday)

It is now 1410z and I have been on 17m FT8 RX with the Wellgood active loop for about 30 minutes. So far today, 112 stations spotted (see map).

UPDATE 1447z: 169 stations spotted so far today on 17m FT8 RX. Plenty from the USA.

UPDATE 1651z:  278 stations spotted this afternoon on 17m FT8 RX with the furthermost PY3DXM (10518km).

160m FT8 RX overnight

Overnight I was on 160m FT8 RX using the tiny Wellgood active loop on the shack window. In all, 306 stations spotted in the last day .

15m FT8 RX (Monday)

For about 30 minutes I have been on 15m FT8 RX using the Wellgood active loop. At 1000z 62 stations have been spotted.

UPDATE 1305z:   327 stations spotted. Furthermost is LW2EDM (11776km).