Thatcher's tag - NOT amateur radio

Thatchers often have trademarks which they leave on thatched roofs to show they did the work. 

Often these are pheasants, but this unusual one of a cat made of thatch was seen recently. 

The case for a small UK 8m amateur band

It is true to say that I am fuming by the attitude of OFCOM and the RSGB to a tiny 8m allocation. Let me explain. 

OFCOM seems dead against an amateur allocation and the RSGB appears to just accept this. Our hobby is meant to be about self-training. In my personal experience of RF development, without any doubt the best RF engineers were those who were intrinsically motivated  and "turned on" by RF. I have read countless CVs of electronics graduates who, frankly, were totally useless. I knew more at 16 than they did!! I learnt more from my RAE course than they did with a degree!

If we are really interested in future RF designers, we should be doing all we can to promote "self training".

These are my proposals:

• 40.680 - 40.685 MHz (5 kHz only). This is in the ISM band and widely used internationally
• Narrow digital only (e.g. WSPR, FT8, CW and no speech)
• By NoV only
• Strictly non-interference
• Power limited if need be.

Personally, I would happily lose 5 kHz from any band in trade. Such a narrow allocation with no speech is very unlikely to attract "more of the same" and foster the true purpose of our hobby.

OFCOM and RSGB, wake up!!

Sunspots - Monday June 20th 2022

 Solar flux is 144 and the SSN 120. A=12 and K=2.

10m QRP WSPR TX

My 10m 500mW WSPR beacon was turned on at 0810z. Yesterday I got 7 unique station spots all in Europe by what I assume is Es. No spots yet today.

UPDATE 1656z:  32 unique stations have spotted me. This looks like a mixture of Es and F2.

8m experiment (Sunday)

My 8m QRP gear was turned on 40.680 MHz USB dial FT8 (first) TX at 0810z.

UPDATE 1153z:  Spotted by 2 stations with 1 FT8 "QSO" with a station in Slovenia. As this is a simple exchange of reports and QTH, I am treating this as completely within the terms and spirit of my 8m licence. I want to know how my QRP signal in received in Slovenia. This is a perfect way.

UPDATE 1839z: Spotted 6 stations in 6  EU countries.

UPDATE 2138z: 7 stations have now spotted my QRP on 8m FT8.

Alstroemeria - NOT amateur radio

 

These are coming out in our garden. 

Sunspots - Sunday June 19th 2022

 Solar flux is 144 and the SSN 145. A=13 and K=2.

That book

 This week I was in Yorkshire for my wife's sibling reunion, so progress on the book was limited. My new deadline is June 27th when I hope to go to Devon to see my brother for the first time since 2019. My wife is still at home. 

So, the deadline is now June 27th before I leave. This time I am going by coach as the train may be unreliable. The book is coming on, but there was more work than I expected. In a way it is my legacy. I hope you have as much fun as I had. 

Sheffield Station - NOT amateur radio

This week we went by train to Barnsley for our annual sibling reunion changing at Sheffield. We have met on 19 occasions. 

Rybakov HF verticals

These are end-fed antennas for HF usually. Commercial versions are available. 

Some years ago I bought one from SRC in Wales. Although I believe this is no longer available, they all have one thing in common: the end of the antenna is a high impedance, so a transformer is needed to get the SWR into the range of auto ATUs found on modern rigs. Usually this is an UNUN built into the antenna.

In getting things together for my free PDF book, I realised this was absent from my website! This is now corrected. As mine had been unused in the back of the garage, I swapped mine for an active RX antenna that works well. The swap was with Jason M0NYW. 

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/x80_1 .