Funny how 500mW seems high power after recent 50mW and 10mW tests!! On 10m WSPR TX with 500mW again today. No spots yet.
24 Nov 2022
23 Nov 2022
UK general strike? - NOT amateur radio
There is little doubt that the UK is in a mess. Inflation is much higher than target, jobs remain unfilled and energy costs are high. The gap between rich and poor is now greater.
In my view, we are heading for a general strike. This would be the first since 1926. I have no idea what the outcome would be.
There is little doubt that most will be poorer. Compared with some countries, we are a wealthy nation even now.
The answers remain unknown. Clearly, we do not want to stoke inflation, yet people need to be able to buy food and heat their homes. The gap between rich and poor needs to be narrowed.
My own view?
- Individuals who have plenty of money should pay via taxes.
- We need to pay workers who really contribute more money and "hangers on" less.
- We should allow more EU citizens in if there is no way of filling vacancies in the short term.
- Rejoin the EU customs union.
- A national government for a period.
50mW 10m WSPR tests
At the moment, I am on 10m WSPR TX with 50mW. Indications from the Canary Isles are that I could be at least 10dB weaker (5mW) and still be copied.
Sadly WSPRnet still shows my power at 500mW as I have no way of changing this with my W5OLF beacon. I am actually using this with a 10dB pad right on the output.
8m local WSPR tests at ISM powers in the UK - results!
My local tests to see if 10mW ERP 8m beacons could be useful have concluded. The results are on my 8m web page.
The conclusion is that 10mW ERP really is useful.
My own reading indicates that anyone in the UK may without a licence operate 40.66-40.70 at 10mW ERP as long as they meet the technical requirements and IR 2030.
Now, I am no legal expert, so you have to make sure of your legality.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/8m-band.
The universe and time - NOT amateur radio
On Mondays, I have been attending lectures in Cambridge on cosmology. This is part of my University of the Third Age course. It is very hard, quite the hardest course I have ever attended
Now, one thing is clear. We really know so very little. Yes, the theories hang together pretty well, but there is so much we do not understand. Take, for example, dark matter. Apparently this has to exist for the universe we know to exist. Sadly, we haven't a clue what dark matter is!
Also, time. We experience this as linear flowing from the past into the future. Some think time itself is an illusion created by man. Some think there are an infinite number of universes.
All we can be sure about is that whatever we believe today will be wrong or, at best, incomplete.
Despite all that I have learnt, I am left with a feeling that some time in the next 100 years a new theory will emerge that we will find hard to fathom at first, yet will soon help to comprehend some of what we do not understand.
It is hard to think about what we don't know about. Early in the last century, the Internet was impossible to conceive. What will the next 100 years bring?
22 Nov 2022
Cambridge Raspberry Pi shop - NOT amateur radio
10m 500mW WSPR TX (Tuesday)
Again, I am on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW QRP from the W5OLF beacon. So far, just the usual spots from the Canary Is.
UPDATE 1223z: Still just spots of my QRP from the Canary Isles. 66 spots of me so far today.
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