Rally

The following rally is due this weekend. As ever, check first before travelling far.

Saturday September 17th - Angel of the North Radio Rally, Gateshead. Contact westona84@gmail.com 

Cornish 8m beacon

I gather the GB3MCB beacon cluster has got approval to add 8m and 5m beacons. I don't think these are active yet, but the 8m beacon will be interesting to monitor on PI4. I expect it will beam towards the USA. 

For me in East Anglia  the most likely propagation will be random MS or aircraft. I think tropo is unlikely.

10m QRP WSPR (Thursday)

The 10m WSPR QRP (500mW) beacon has been on for just over 1 hour. Furthermost (at 1238z) is FY5KE (7110km). The only other station spotting me is local G4KPX (14km).

8m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

Yesterday was wide open to the USA on 10m FT8, so I was hopeful of copying, or better still being copied, on 8m in the USA. No such luck! The only 8m station spotted was G9PUV on the south coast of England.

UPDATE 1134z:  8m QRP FT8 gear turned on at 1127z.

UPDATE 1234z: No spots.

UPDATE 1517z:  EI9KP (649km) has again spotted me and I have spotted him this afternoon on 8m FT8. I am still wondering what the propagation mechanism is - MS, aircraft? Es would seem unlikely at this distance and time of year. It seems too far for tropo.  EI9KP spots me far more often than others.  Interesting that EI9KP is about 7dB stronger at G9PUV/A than with me. Is this because Paul has a beam? Now 8m FT8 RX only.

That free PDF book

So far, all the feedback has been positive. 

Already, I have thought of things left out, so these will be included in an issue 2 later. 

Feel free to download the free book if you want. You can keep it as a soft copy or print out relevant pages.

See https://tinyurl.com/y56vjhd6

UPDATE 1306z:  Someone in the USA has very kindly made a donation. Thank you! As I have said before, I have absolutely no wish to make any money at all from this book. It is a labour of love. I shall give this to the local foodbank, but I really appreciate the kindness.

Sunspots - Thursday September 15th 2022

Solar flux is 144 and the SSN 57. A=9 and K=4.

10m QRP FT8

At 1352z I switched from 10m WSPR and 8m FT8 to 10m QRP FT8.  On 10m WSPR and 8m FT8 I have had no spots all day. 

23 spots of me on 10m FT8 QRP TX mostly in the USA. On 10m FT8 RX, 131 spots, mostly from the USA. 

The photo shows some of the stations, mainly in the USA, that  spotted me. Considering it is just a few watts, quite a few!

The death of the UK Queen and the new King - NOT amateur radio

Whether or not you are a royalist, the UK queen worked very hard as head of state. She was well respected across the world. 

My own view is that nobody deserves respect or wealth just because of who you were born. Much wealth is based on slavery. This is wrong.

In the case of the queen she has dedicated her whole life to the service of the UK. She has earned respect. I hope King Charles III can similarly earn our respect. 

He has a hard act to follow. Initial signs are good.

70cm FT8 contest this evening

If things are normal, this evening is the 70cm FT8 activity contest. Activity is usually high. 

Even with the V2000 vertical or 2m big-wheel omni I usually copy PA and EI and manage a few QSOs. Normal FT8 QSOs are fine. No special contest software. Even if you don't enter a score, this is a good chance to find activity.

If you think 70cm is quiet, you are in for a shock! 

See https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/contest_rules.pl?year=2022&contest=70cmsgmac. The RSGB contest starts at 1900z.

UPDATE 1958z:  I only stopped on for about 30 minutes, but despite 5W to the 2m omni big-wheel I was copied as far away as Devon. Had I been on longer I am pretty sure further would have been possible. 1 QSO was had and I was called by another but we did not complete. On RX, the furthermost was Cornwall and the Netherlands.

Last night's 70cm activity contest

Last night I was only on for 30 minutes. Conditions seemed a bit up, but after 30 minutes my voice had had enough. Also, I had probably worked all the stations that I was likely to with my 10W pep and 2m big-wheel omni antenna. In all, 5 stations were worked. The map shows the stations worked.