Sunspots - Monday June 27th 2022

Solar flux is 102 and the SSN 33. A=22 and K=1.

Oscar 100 box

 This was seen at Friedrichshafen. I have no details about price or availability, but I cannot imagine it being low cost. 

Swaffham Prior - NOT amateur radio

This is the next village to us on the way to Cambridge.

It is unusual having two churches in the same churchyard. I think originally 2 parishes met here. 

Our grandson had hoped to ring the bells here, but they changed the day. 

10m Es

Since 0734z, my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon has been on. Already HB9TMC (905km) and IU1DZZ (973km) have spotted me. A promising start.

UPDATE 2041z: 47 unique station spots of my 500mW WSPR today.

8m experiment (Sunday)

After breakfast I hope to be on 8m QRP TX on 40.680 MHz USB dial FT8 QRP. It cannot be worse than yesterday when there were no spots at all! There are too few people monitoring on 8m, so it can be very hard going. 

UPDATE 0751z:  8m gear turned on at 0734z. I get the impression that those active on the band have proved what is possible by Es and are now turning their attention to 6m and 4m instead until the autumn. I shall try a bit longer.

UPDATE 0807z: Spots of my QRP by EA3ERE (1133km) and HC02 (1808km). Promising.

UPDATE 2016z: 6 spots of my QRP 8m FT8 today. With spots from 12 different countries, I am pretty pleased so far this Es season, although disappointed not to be copied further than the Canary Isles. I wonder if I might manage the USA on F2 later in the year?

Colourful garden - NOT amateur radio

This garden is opposite Ely Cathedral and usually is a riot of colour. 

Sunspots - Sunday June 26th 2022

Solar flux is 108 and the SSN 31.  A=16 and K=5.

ICOM IC-7300 transceiver

It is now several years since this SDR product was first launched.  It is very popular. It covers all of HF as well as 6m, and 4m in Europe. It has an auto ATU that will match 10:1 mismatches at the 50W setting. I have never owned one, but people speak highly of it.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/commercial-rigs/icom-ic-7300 .

RF engineer shortage - NOT amateur radio

What the situation is like in other countries I do not know, but in the UK it is acute. There are far fewer RF designers than there once were. When I started in RF design, most were radio amateurs with a total fascination for RF. 

In my professional life, I saw many CVs from aspiring RF engineers. Most were hopeless! Graduates that knew really very very little. At 73 years I have been offered 2 jobs this year already! They must be very desperate!

Personally, I feel that many have lost the "magic" of RF. This is where amateur radio "self training" could help. We need more good, intrinsically motivated RF designers in the UK. We must do everything in our power to encourage RF design in the future.

Trim time - NOT amateur radio

When we moved here in 2013 this border was pretty bare. Now it is in need of a trim!