Sunspots - Thursday August 25th 2022

Solar flux is 108 and the SSN 46. A=3 and K=1.

ICOM announces SHF transceiver at Tokyo Hamfest

This is the IC-905. I am extremely sceptical.  I cannot see them selling that many or making a profit. Maybe it is a lost leader, really they are aiming to make a profit on something similar in the commercial market. 

It seems unlikely to be available much before late 2023 and at what price? The price has to be very keen or they risk a total flop.

If I was ICOM, I really would not bother. Mind you, I am not ICOM!

Nice concept, but in this tough world will it make them any money?

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

My 500mW W5OLF beacon was turned on at 0859z. No spots yet at 1017z.

UPDATE 1103z: Just spotted by HC02 (1808km) in southern Portugal.

8m experiment (Wednesday)

Later, I hope to be on 8m TX on 40.680 MHz USB dial FT8 QRP again. Still getting DX spots even with my low ERP in the last few days. 

UPDATE 1152z:  Gear turned on at 0859z. No spots. I have the feeling there will be none today, although I am ever hopeful!

UPDATE 1520z:  EI9KP (649km) has spotted me on 8m QRP FT8.

472 kHz transverter under construction

This was 10 years ago!! I was building my 472 kHz transverter. 

Silent keys (SK)

This is the term used in amateur radio circles for people who have, sadly, died. It must date from the very early days when most people used Morse and Morse keys. The phrase may be over 100 years old.

In the last year or so, two of the people locally that I chatted with every week have become SK. The one thing they had in common was their zest for life. 

Both enjoyed finding new things right up until they died. Both are missed, but their vitality lives on. 

RIP Ted G4NUA and Ian G3KKD. Ted was keen on PCs and WSPR, and Ian was experimenting with DATV. Ian liked all things ATV. Even to the end he was building 5.6 GHz ATV kit.

Yaesu up to date?

As I was considering purchasing the Yaesu FTDX-10, I thought I would look at the Yaesu Japan site for more data. I was invited to do a download. Imagine my horror when I was looking at a 2011 (yes 2011) catalogue!! Does not exactly fill you with confidence. Perhaps this explains why we have seen no decent FT817 replacement.  

Hello, hello - anyone there??

At this rate I expect a spark TX and coherer RX soon - latest Yaesu technology. My fear is that if I buy an FTDX-10, will Yaesu still be around in 5 years time? I really hope so, but I have my doubts, seriously.

5m recording by G5UM

Many years ago Jack Hum G5UM gave a talk to the Cambridge radio club (CDARC). In the talk he mentioned he had made a recording in the late 1940s of the last hours on 5m in the UK. I am not sure if this was a disk, wire recorder or tape, probably a disk.

I am wondering if copies of this historic recording still exist? At the time I think G5UM lived in London.

Many will remember Jack as the columnist of the "Four Metres and Down" column in RadCom.

Sunspots - Wednesday August 24th 2022

 Solar flux is 101 and the SSN 52. A=4 and K=1.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Tuesday)

Unsurprisingly, many have now moved over to 10m FT8. 

This is not as good as WSPR on weak signals but WSPR takes about 8 times longer to send a message, although it only needs about 6 Hz bandwidth whereas FT8 needs about 50 Hz. I enjoy both modes. 

My little stand-alone 500mW W5OLF beacon does not need a PC at all.

What has surprised me this summer is how many are still using WSPR. Even with my 500mW QRP WSPR on 10m, I usually get several unique stations spotting me. FT8 allows very basic QSOs.

UPDATE 1405z:  Already today my 10m QRP WSPR has been spotted by 4 unique stations.