8m FT8 QRP (Sunday)

As I am home again, I am again on 8m FT8 QRP with the FT817ND and low wire dipole. No spots.

UPDATE 1207z: EI9KP (649km) has again spotted me. I wonder if this is aircraft reflection?

10m QRP WSPR TX (Sunday)

Now that I am back home, I am on 10m WSPR with my beacon and 500mW. 

UPDATE 1353z:  No spots of me all day.

UPDATE 1535z: Just a spot by FY5KE (7110km). This looks like F2.

UPDATE 2025z:  Seems like all the spots are now by F2 with the furthermost FR1GZ (9724km).

Sunspots - Sunday September 11th 2022

Solar flux is 136 and the SSN 122. A=12 and K=2.

Cambridge Club - virtually

For the last few days I have been in Amsterdam. 

The Cambridge radio club (CDARC) held its first face-to-face meeting since the pandemic began (a builder's evening). As an experiment they ran a hybrid meeting with people attending in person as well as others by Zoom. 

I attended the whole thing from Amsterdam on my phone! The hybrid meeting was, in my opinion, a great success.

10m WSPR and 8m FT8 TX

 After a few days away, I hope to be on again tomorrow. Normal service should resume on Sunday.

Stamps and seals - NOT amateur radio

In the centre of Amsterdam is a shop selling stamps and seals. I have never seen such a shop before. 

160m FT8

 Many people think they can't go on 160m as they need huge antennas and extensive ground systems and/or their noise is very high. Using just QRP and my earth-electrode antenna in the ground on FT8, both North and South America have been widely copied on RX and I have worked all over Europe on TX . As FT8 needs only 50 Hz bandwidth provided by the free software, it works well with very weak signals much weaker than SSB or CW. If you have local noise then you can try FT8. 

UK Prime Ministers - NOT amateur radio

This will mean more to people in the UK than elsewhere in the world. It made me chuckle. 

Sunspots - Saturday September 10th 2022

Solar flux is 126 and the SSN 72. A=13 and K=3.

The Chinese are coming?

Several UK dealers have been advertising the new Chinese SDR portable (the Xiegu G106) that in many ways looks like a much better radio than the FT818 and far less expensive.

My main objection in the past to Chinese amateur radio products has been quality control and consistency. Maybe this is the first of a new breed? 

This radio is HF only, but look at the price!!