6m FT8 (Tuesday)

Since about 0900z I have been on 6m FT8 with the V2000 vertical omni antenna. After a very brief period on TX with 2.5W, I am now on RX only.  

UPDATE 0940z:  One spot on TX by G0PQO (50km) and 2 Gs only on RX.

10m WSPR TX beacon (Tuesday)

Since just before 0900z, I have been on 10m WSPR TX using 500mW from the W5OLF beacon. So far only local spots by G4KPX (14km), but at least I know it is working! 

UPDATE 1029z:  Still just spots by local G4KPX.

Bell ringing - NOT amateur radio

Our elder grandson is 14 years old and mad on church bells and bell ringing. Here he is bell ringing at a church near his home. 

He has a YouTube channel called Ringer Luke.

Sunspots - Tuesday January 11th 2022

Solar flux is 102 and the SSN 38.  A=6 and K=2.

3cm (10GHz)

This is an amateur band I have not really tried. 

Back in the 1970s, I made a Gunn diode oscillator and got a few feet. 

Some take it very seriously and run big dishes and high power. Some have used the band for EME QSOs. Others have played with it with wideband FM using Gunnplexers and similar oscillators. 

These days the equivalent to these are HB100 Doppler radar modules available for just over a pound.  I have not seen wideband FM transceivers built around these, but I am sure they exist. Some have even used these with a dish for ATV and achieved some astounding ranges.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/homebrew/10ghz.

Three good things (Monday) - NOT amateur radio

1.  My wife's apple cake.

2.  Cosy in our home on a dull January day.

3.   Our grandson hopes to ring tower bells in London this evening.

Scale - NOT amateur radio

The universe is supposed to be about 14 billion years old. There may be multiple universes. Human beings have been around for perhaps just 50,000 years. A human lifetime is about 80 years. There are perhaps 10^25 planets in the universe - a huge, huge number! There are perhaps 7 billion people on Earth today.

It is hard to get one's head around these numbers. On the one hand we seem insignificantly small and irrelevant. On the other hand it doesn't feel that way.

10m WSPR TX beacon (Monday)

As the 10m antenna was free, I went 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon by W5OLF. 

UPDATE 0908z:  Plenty of spots by local G4KPX (14km), but no DX yet. I have been on for about 25 minutes.

UPDATE 1630z: 5 unique stations have spotted me today so far with the furthermost FY5KE (7110km). 

UPDATE 1945z:   QRT.

6m FT8 (Monday)

After breakfast I hope to be on 6m FT8 using 2.5W and the V2000 vertical omni antenna. There is an outside chance of some winter Es. 

UPDATE 0912z:  No spots yet. I have been on since 0844z.

UPDATE 1535z:   10 stations spotted so far today, mostly Gs.

UPDATE 1945z:   QRT.

VLF beacon TX

This was the beacon TX I built for earth-mode tests at 8-9kHz. It can send either CW or QRSS at about 5W. It is some years since it has been used. A range of 6km was the best I achieved by utilities assisted earth-mode. 

I don't think it has ever been used at this QTH and we moved here in 2013! My stroke rather stopped field work sadly.  I would like to do more, but fear this will not be possible. I am sure much further would be achievable. 

Interesting that earth-electrodes of sufficient size combined with plenty of power have been used in radiated sub-10kHz tests.