Sunspots - Saturday July 16th 2022

Solar flux is 171 and the SSN 141.  A=5 and K=2.

UK fuel prices - NOT amateur radio

Since the start of the Ukraine war ("special operation"? Who is he kidding?) wholesale oil prices have dropped back about 20% to close to $100 a barrel. Whilst exchange rates have got worse, the price at the pumps has hardly changed. It is still hovering close to £2.00 a litre for diesel.

It would be good if UK fuel prices dropped a bit too, as fast as they go up. I know oil company profits vary widely, but big profits right now seem immoral.

10m QRP FT8 TX

As 8m wasn't looking very promising here this afternoon, I have QSYed to 10m FT8. My QRP TX signal has been widely copied in Europe and on RX I am copying the stations shown on the map.  

Restored Constable - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows a Constable painting at Anglesey Abbey. It has been cleaned so that details hitherto hidden are visible. It hangs in the very cosy library there. 

8m experiment (Monday)

Today I returned to 8m FT8 QRP TX on 40.680 MHz USB dial. This resulted in my first report from Denmark. 

UPDATE 1543z:  Now QSYed to 10m FT8.

When I could build and experiment

The photo was taken in 2012 at the back of the garage in our old house and shows me breadboarding my 472 kHz transverter. I cannot do this these days. 

Sunspots - Friday July 15th 2022

 Solar flux is 169 and the SSN 133. A=4 and K=2.

Burgh Island - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows the view looking towards Burgh Island in Devon. 

10m simple sideband transceiver.

Before my stroke got in the way, I had every intention of making a simple transceiver for 10m sideband. 

Originally, I was thinking of a DSB rig, but these days a better bet might be a phasing SSB.  A synthesiser chip and low cost micro-controller might allow full band coverage and other bands with minor changes.

In my mind, this was to have been a small, single PCB design, much like a small Heathkit Lunchbox. It would make a neat and low cost club project. 

Sadly, although I had some ideas, much of the design remains to be done. In the next few years 10m will be very good. Antennas for 10m are small and fit in most gardens. Even CB verticals and wire dipoles work well.

If you are in a position to finish this, I would be very pleased.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10m-simple-sideband .

Cornish poppies - NOT amateur radio

This photo was posted on Facebook a few days ago. It deserves sharing.  It show a poppy field in Cornwall with the sea behind. 

Some people in Cornwall are fiercely independent wanting it to be a separate country called Kernow. The Cornish language is being revived.