Sunspots - Sunday June 5th 2022

 Solar flux is 101 and the SSN 75. A=4 and K=1.

Jubilee party - NOT amateur radio

We had a local party to celebrate 70 years of our queen on the UK throne. Of course, just as we were about to start, being the UK, it decided to rain. 

Luckily, we had the family room at the adjacent museum in case of rain. In the end we had food and drinks indoors and sat outside in the sunshine. It was a good, happy occasion.

ICOM SHF transceiver?

The EI7GL blog has quite a bit about this. 

Sadly, I cannot see this ever coming to market. Surely the big manufacturers are only really interested in making money. I can only see this selling in low numbers, hardly covering development costs.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2022/04/icom-shf-microwave-project-for-24-ghz.html .

10m WSPR TX beacon

Assuming that I remember, I shall be on 10m WSPR TX later with 500mW from the W5OLF beacon. I keep forgetting that when the 10m antenna is available I can use it to go on 10m WSPR TX. Yesterday was good with plenty of Es about. 

UPDATE 0757z:  Beacon turned on at 0753z.

UPDATE 2030z: 41 unique stations have spotted me today on 10m WSPR.

8m FT8 QRP TX

Later today I hope to be on 8m FT8 TX again with my FT817ND and low wire dipole on 40.680 MHz USB dial.  Yesterday was my best day yet on the band with my first spot outside Europe by EA8BFK (2881km) in the Canary Islands. 

UPDATE 0756z: TX turned on at 0753z.

UPDATE 1745z: My QRP 8m FT8 has been spotted by 2 stations in the Iberian peninsula and I have spotted 6 stations in 4 countries. When Es is good, it really is!!

Amateur radio stamps?

Back in the 1960s there were stamps issued in the USA with an amateur radio theme. This got me thinking - I wonder which other countries issued similar? Googling would probably tell me the answer, but perhaps you already know. 

It will never catch on

This photo appeared as a Facebook memory from several years ago. 

I have no idea where it originated. 

Sunspots - Saturday June 4th 2022

Solar flux is 101 and the SSN 52. A=4 and K=1.

SNOTEL - NOT amateur radio

 A lot of people on 8m in the USA are troubled by the SNOTEL system, that is an automated snow monitoring system, using random meteor scatter to send the data. Low VHF is ideal for this. I have not been troubled by similar 8m systems in Europe if they exist.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNOTEL .

ICOM IC-705

For about a year now, I have owned an IC-705. As I only ever run QRP, this was a good choice for me as it is multi-band and 10W. It is mostly used on VHF and UHF FM nets and SSB. Until recently I had not used it for FT8 as it picked up lots of noise from the PC when the USB cable was connected. I continued to use my FT817ND and SignaLink interface for FT8.

I was recommended a screened, choked, cable by Jason M0NYW, and this seems to have done the trick. I am being spotted from across the world on 10m FT8 using the IC-705 at 5W and on RX I am spotting plenty. Thank you Jason for the good suggestion. My FT817ND is now almost exclusively used for 8m FT8 TX now.

The IC-705 is still far too expensive. As I rarely buy gear, I looked at it as an investment. The only thing that disappoints is the lack of 4m, which all were expecting.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/commercial-rigs/icom-ic-705 .