Christmas cheer? - NOT amateur radio

At this time of year, things are meant to be cheerful, but I have already had 2 pieces of sad news today. Everything always seems more poignant at this time of year.  This seems to always happen. Usually I am quite pleased when Christmas and New Year are over and things get back to normality.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

At the moment, I am on 10m WSPR TX (500mW) with the WSPR beacon. No spots yet.

UPDATE 1204z:  Just EA8BFK (2880km) spotting me.

Stations spotting me today om 10m QRP WSPR

UPDATE 1852z:   Just 4 unique stations have spotted me today. Nothing from the USA today, assuming things were working.

8m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

 Yet again, my 2.5W 8m FT8 to the dipole is on air. As usual, I am on 40.680 MHz.

UPDATE 1333z:  No spots today.

UPDATE 1845z: Just G9PUV (158km) on the south coast of the UK spotted on 8m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 2053z:  Just tried some 8m WSPR tests.  Martin (G8JNJ) was monitoring on his web SDR, but sadly no spots.

2m operation

In the last 40 years, activity on 2m has changed a great deal. When G8 stations were first permitted on 2m in the UK, the band was quite busy on FM and SSB. 

Since then, people rarely come on just for a chat. These days people can chat, with video, to anyone in the world for free without a licence, on the Internet on a PC, tablet or smartphone.  Instead, many people appear on the amateur bands  just for contests or when conditions are good. There is a lot more use of digital modes like FT8 which needs very little spectrum. FT8 is ideal for squares hunting, but not for chatting.

If we are totally honest, we do not need the spectrum we have on 2m and 70cm most of the time.  For FT8, 100 kHz would be more than enough. Even 3 kHz is enough most of the time. When there is a lift on, we may need more, but 2 MHz at 2m seems very generous. At 70cm, this is even more so, and here we have even more spectrum available to the Amateur Radio Service. Of course, this cannot be discussed with OFCOM or the FCC in case they reduce our allocations. I know the priority is to hang on to the allocations we have.

Personally, I would be in favour of more VHF/UHF bands, but slightly narrower, possibly with a lower power limit.  This would encourage research and self training. Many bands could be secondary allocations.  Would anyone really is miss 5 kHz off every VHF/UHF band? Be honest!

Without doubt I will be pushing up daisies long before then! 

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/2m-operation .

Shortest day - NOT amateur radio

Today is the shortest day in the northern hemisphere. After today things slowly get lighter for longer. It gets darker in the morning for a while. It is the end of January before things really become noticable.

Sunspots - Wednesday December 21st 2022

Solar flux is 139 and the SSN 119.  A=13 and K=1.

Christmas cheer - NOT amateur radio

 

These musicians were in the marketplace in Cambridge earlier today. They were trying to bring a little Christmas cheer to shoppers.

Grand Arcade, Cambridge earlier - NOT amateur radio

This was the Grand Arcade in Cambridge earlier today. 

10m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

 As my 10m antenna is available, I am on 10m QRP WSPR with 500mW.

UPDATE 1524z:   8 unique stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1804z:  9 unique stations have spotted me today.

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

At 1454z, my 2.5W 8m FT8 was turned on. Yet again, the antenna is just the low wire dipole. It is again on 40.680 MHz USB dial.

UPDATE  1508z:  Already spotted by Phil EI9KP (649km).

UPDATE 2150z:  In the end just the spot by EI9KP.  Now QRT.

UPDATE 2155z:  I am unsure how to proceed with experiments on 8m. I am prepared to spend £50 for an extension of my T&I permit, but object to having to pay for this. In my view, this should be a tiny amateur band available in the UK by NoV.  It would be really helpful to know just why OFCOM and the FCC are quite so anti this. It is not that they are neutral. They seem to be dead against this.  Personally, I think it is the military and the Official Secrets Act (or equivalent in the USA) that is preventing us being told the full truth. People are scared of prosecution.  If we were just told, "yes the military is blocking all applications" that alone would clear up this apparently stupid situation.  This year's tests have already shown that with Es and F2, great distances may be covered with just 2.5W and a low wire dipole. There is no doubt that a higher ERP certainly improves chances.