10m WSPR QRP (500mW) TX (Tuesday)

On 10m QRP WSPR TX with the W5OLF beacon. 3 unique stations spotting me so far today. 

UPDATE 1420z:  Spotted by 9 unique stations (see map).

Sunspots - Tuesday November 15th 2022

Solar flux is 142 and the SSN 77. A=4 and K=1.

Remembrance Sunday - NOT amateur radio

Usually we do not go to our local remembrance church service. I have inherent dislike of glorifying the military. 

This service was very different. People were asked to stand when a villager who lost his/her life in war was named. In the end, a huge number of people were standing. 

This re-enforces that most wars are pointless. I hope the world wakes up that wars rarely solve issues. There are exceptions when we are fighting evil. Even in these cases, we need to understand the reasons these tyrants  (e.g. Hitler and Putin) had or have these views. Usually jaw jaw is far better than war, war.

2m 5W QRP FT8

It has been foggy all day, so on my return from Cambridge, I have gone on 2m QRP (5W) FT8. So far (at 1835z) stations have been spotted in 3 countries. I have been spotted by 13 stations across England so far.

UPDATE 2140z:   16 spots of me in 4 countries, with the furthermost F6EGD (472km),

8m ISM experiment

Despite asking for some local support for my 8m ISM WSPR experiments at 10mW ERP, I have so far heard ......nothing. 

All I was asking for was to monitor 8m WSPR at my usual power and then later at 10mW ERP, which is the limit set by OFCOM to operate on 40.66-40.70 in the UK without a licence as long as IR2030 is met.

Without help locally, I cannot proceed.

One possibility is to arrange skeds at full power and then at 10mW ERP.

It is my view that 10mW ERP WSPR will be copied locally. Even this low power could well be copied around Europe on WSPR when Es is good.

It is my view that we have to prove OFCOM and the RSGB wrong. A small amateur band at 8m would be good for self-training and research.

The hobby should be about self training. I am so far disappointed that nobody has yet come forward to help. Most do not have 8m antennas, so I am expecting a variety of antennas to be used. At most, this would be a few hours monitoring WSPR. 

If successful many more people could use 8m.

UPDATE 1832z:   Offers of local 8m RX help so far?  Nobody. I am very disappointed.

Sunspots - Monday November 14th 2022

Solar flux is 137 and the SSN 74.  A=7 and K=2. 

XBM80-2 QRP transceiver

Today, I had an email from somebody in the Netherlands about this transceiver.  He was getting no audio. Recently someone told me that crystal earpieces do not like DC. If this is correct, I suggest a capacitor is added between the collector of the audio transistor and the crystal earpiece. A 0.1uF or greater should be suitable. I also suggested that the audio transistor must not be in saturation. If need be, the bias can be altered to put the collector of the audio stage to mid-rail.

As I always say, do not be afraid to experiment.  If the circuit works better with different values then change them! With something this simple you could always start again, HI.

Nowt as queer as folk - NOT amateur radio

There is an old Yorkshire phrase "nowt as queer as folk".  It means people are odd. 

A few days ago, I put a photo of a rack of shoes on display at one of the big shops in Cambridge on 365 project as a gap filler. Much to my surprise, it was on the popular page! 

As they say in Yorkshire, "there's nowt as queer as folk".

Optical experiments

One of my Facebook memories today was an ARRL publication of 2019 called "The Proceedings of Microwave Update 2019" in which I appeared on page 25 with an optical receiver that someone else had used. 

My optical tests were great fun. They all happened before my 2013 stroke. I can recommend optical experiments to anyone, as all the gear for use and testing was homemade easily in the back of the garage (literally).

If that darn stroke had no got in the way, I should probably still be doing optical tests today!

Grandson growing up - NOT amateur radio

It seems just a blink of an eye since our elder grandson was born. The same again and he will probably be married with children, we hope! 

We will probably be pushing up daisies!