13 Jul 2022

8m experiment (Wednesday)

 At the moment I am on 8m FT8 QRP TX on 40.680 MHz USB dial using the old PC. Interesting that the power has not dropped suggesting the audio from the usual PC may have been dropping over time? No spots. 

UPDATE 0851z:  No spots. May QSY to 10m FT8 soon.

Sunspots - Wednesday July 13th 2022

Solar flux is 165 and the SSN 117. A=18 and K=2. 

12 Jul 2022

Perugia, Italy

 

My son and grandson are visiting friends in Italy. Here they are enjoying a rather small water melon!

Perugia is near Assisi.

8m QRP FT8 TX

 At the moment (2028z) I am on 40.680 MHz FT8 TX with the "old" Windows PC. So far, no spots.

PC not fixed

My issue seems to be no Internet connection. I have tried most things I know about, but so far no luck. I shall try again tomorrow. 

UPDATE 2020z: I am currently on 8m FT8 QRP TX with the "old" Windows PC. So far, no spots.

Little things please little minds - NOT amateur radio


This cartoon that appeared on Facebook today must be very old, but it amused me! The USA has had 2 presidents since. 

Minimalist transceiver


This has been on before, although I make no apologies. It was inspired by a 40m design by W2UW (now a SK). My main issue was netting the receiver, although you may have a way of doing this. The rig must still be around somewhere - probably in the loft.  As I recall, it needs just 14 parts including a single FET.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/80m-feter-transceiver .

Dad's seats - NOT amateur radio


My dad died in 1987 after working for the water board in South Devon for a very long time. Before that he was a plumber and before that a Pathfinder in Lancasters in WW2. he rarely spoke of his war. I think he hated it.

Sunspots - Tuesday July 12th 2022

 Solar flux is 161 and the SSN 134. A=12 and K=3.

11 Jul 2022

Fuel prices in the UK - NOT amateur radio

In the last few months wholesale UK fuel prices have dropped back quite a bit. OK, the US dollar exchange rate has got worse and oil is bought in dollars.

Now, I am no expert, but it seems when prices rise that oil companies are keen to put up prices, but are less keen to put prices down when they pay less wholesale. 

It is interesting that they are very keen to avoid that £2 a litre figure with the diesel price widely at £199.9 a litre.

It would be rather nice if garages dropped their prices/profits when they can.