East Anglian skies - NOT amateur radio

We get some great skies in East Anglia, but it is flatter than many parts of the UK. We still have hills, but they tend not to be as high as in some parts. This photo was meant to be of a windmill and 2 churches in Swaffham Prior across a cornfield, but they were hardly noticeable dots, so I concentrated on the sky instead!

Sunspots - Friday July 29th 2022

 Solar flux is 93 and the SSN 50. A=7 and K=1.

Rally Sunday

 The following rally is due to take place on Sunday. Check with organisers before going any distance.

Sunday July 31st - Wiltshire radio and Car Boot Sale, Kington Langley, SN15 5NJ. Contact rally@chippenhamradio.club .

10m FT8 QRP (Thursday)

Now, I am on 10m FT8. In addition to the hundreds of stations spotted on RX, my QRP TX has been spotted by 26 stations. Most of these look like Es propagation. Some QSOs have taken place.

UPDATE 1600z:  Most stations on RX are European with nothing (yet) from South America. All my QSOs have been European.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Thursday)

A brief session with my 500mW WSPR beacon resulted in Es spots of me from across Europe. It is now 1352z and I have QSYed to 10m FT8. 

8m experiment (Thursday)

 Before lunch, I was on 40.680 MHz USB dial QRP FT8. No spots given or received.

10m FT8

My plan for today is to go on 10m FT8 QRP shortly and 10m WSPR TX later and 8m QRP FT8 TX later. 

Ely Cathedral - NOT amateur radio

Like Chartres in France, Ely can be seen from miles away. The octagon tower was erected centuries ago to replace the one that collapsed. 

Tiredness and exhaustion - NOT amateur radio

What is the difference? When you are tired a good sleep usually makes things better. With exhaustion you still feel totally drained even after a good sleep. 

VHF Communications Magazine

Back in the 1970s, I think I subscribed to this A5 sized quarterly magazine. It was the English language version of the German magazine UKT Berichte.

It was very good, containing lots of circuit ideas for those keen on VHF, UHF and microwaves. It inspired several of my designs at the time including a 2m-70cm transverter using a varicap diode as a tripler and mixer. It was very simple, but got me active on 70cm. In those days people were mainly crystal controlled and "tuning low to high" for replies. In those days G8s in the UK (no morse test licencees) were not allowed on 2m, so activity was quite good on 70cm.

Although I think it is now longer published, back issues may be obtained.

See http://www.vhfcomm.co.