UK political cartoon - NOT amateur radio

I think this first appeared in inews.co.uk. It made me chuckle. The candidates for the Conservative party leadership election and the UK Prime Minister job do not exactly fill me with excitement. We lack leaders of substance at the moment. 

90MHz or 90 MHz??

After nearly 40 years as a professional RF engineer you would think that I should know!! 

Should there be a space after the number before the kHz, MHz or GHz or not? Can either be used? I should try to use the correct format.

One thing is clear. Most engineers don't care! 

Sub 10 kHz amateur radio

This photo was a Facebook memory from 2011 and shows my earth-mode signal at 6km away. 

10m QRP WSPR TX

The 500mW W5OLF WSPR beacon was turned on at 0601z. 

UPDATE 1500z:  There seems less Es today. Is that why I am seeing FR1GZ (9724km)?

8m experiment (Sunday)

The FT8 QRP gear was turned on at 0601z on 40.680 MHz USB dial. 

UPDATE 1501z:  No spots all day on 8m FT8 here.  On again at 1530z.

UPDATE 1710z:  No 8m spots here all day. QRT soon. 

Sunspots - Sunday July 17th 2022

Solar flux is 176 and the SSN 153.  A=6 and K=1.

Raspberry Pi with wifi

One of the areas missing from my experiments is computers. When it come to Raspberry Pi devices I know nothing. 

Apparently a Raspberry Pi Pico is soon to be available for $6 that includes 802.11 wireless support. 

It won't be long before some enterprising amateur does a complete 2.4 GHz transceiver on a Pi board! 

Early blackberries - NOT amateur radio

The blackberries next-door seem to be ripening far earlier this year. 

Our grandchildren love picking them. 

10m WSPR QRP (Saturday)

As the PC, rig and antenna are free, I am on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW from the W5OLF beacon. So far today, just spotted in northern Spain. It is now 1000z. 

UPDATE 2040z:  9 unique stations have spotted my 10m QRP WSPR beacon today. Activity on FT8 is greater, but I am pleasantly surprised by the WSPR activity. On WSPR, most spots of me are by Es in Europe.

8m experiment (Saturday)

 Yet again I am on QRP 8m FT8 TX on 40.680 MHz USB dial. So far, spotted by EA3ERE (1153km). Nothing on RX.

UPDATE 1830z :  2 spots of my 8m QRP FT8 TX today (see map). Now QRT.