13 Feb 2022
10FT8R 10m FT8 RX
Once again 10m is good. On FT8 RX most days, most continents can be received on simple low wire antennas.
When 10m is like this, it is quite useful to have a RX that does not tie up the "big rig". One such simple RX is the 10FT8R, which I designed and made about a year ago. It was in RSGB RadCom and is on my website where a clearer schematic may be found. The crystal needed was low cost. If a 14.037MHz crystal can be found then the inductor is series with the crystal can be removed and the connection just shorted.
Despite its low cost and simplicity, it works really well. For "one offs" simple dead big construction is fine. As a club project a PCB would be useful.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10ft8r-rx
12 Feb 2022
King's Lynn - NOT amateur radio
The photo shows the Custom House and the statue of George Vancouver.
South African 8m beacon widely copied in Europe
The South African 8m beacon ZS6WAB on 40.675MHz CW had been widely copied in Europe in recent days. The propagation mode is unclear.
If these 8m beacons all used FT8 and were within a few kilohertz, monitoring would be so much easier as all could be monitored 24/7 with a single setting of PSKreporter.
Optical experiments
In view of my earlier post, it is probably a good idea to point you to my pages on optical communications. I have not been able to do much in recent years because of my stroke, but there is nothing stopping others!
This is an area where the gear is easy, results can far exceed expectations and anyone can join in. As far as I know, no licence is needed.
All the gear uses low cost parts and can be assembled and tested in the back of the garage. Even test gear can be very simple and low cost. This really is great fun.
Some like to experiment with speech over very long distances. My "thing" was over the horizon. I was totally surprised that even when there was no sign at all of a signal, it could clearly be seen on a PC. The distance records for "over the horizon" are amazing. I think these used "cloud bounce", where signals are reflected off the base of clouds. In my case there were no clouds, so this was by refection off dust in the air I think.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/optical-nanowaves/over-the-horizon .
Travel rules relaxing - NOT amateur radio
Covid-19 is not over, but for most it is like a heavy cold now.
Fewer people are hospitalised or die with the Omicron variants. As a consequence travel rules have been relaxed in many places.
The economic consequences of restrictions are such that it is becoming better to treat it a bit like a bad cold: If you feel rough, don't travel or go to work or school. I think this is the right decision in England.
In the UK those asked to stay off work or school are causing harm to society. Of course, if you are unwell you try not to spread it to others like colds and flu. There is no longer any sense in imposing restrictions on the whole society. We have to take responsibility for ourselves.
In the UK the vast major majority of people have built up immunity through vaccines or prior exposure to a corona virus like a cold or even Omicron. Most will be exposed to Omicron. Only some will get ill and even fewer will end up in hospital. Interestingly, most who end up very ill are unvaccinated.
Get vaccinated for your sake as well as others!
160m FT8 RX last evening
There would probably have been USA stations later, but I went QRT.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
