FT-710 and FT8

This afternoon, I shall have a go at getting FT8 working on the Yaesu FT-710AESS.  It requires some drivers downloading first. There are several YouTube videos which should help.

Anglesey Abbey earlier - NOT amateur radio

 This was the mill and leat at Anglesey Abbey this morning.

Good looking fellow? - NOT amateur radio

This photo shows me when I was young. Not much change on the top!! I have been bald since my early 20s. It did not last long! 

E-field probes (EFP)

These are very small RX antennas that can be very effective at VLF, LF and MF.  As you move HF, they get less effective. The main issue is that at lower frequencies external noise dominates.  

There are several designs around. Important factors are dynamic range (they can be hit with some very strong signals) and positioning away from buildings to minimise noise pick-up.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/e-field-probe-efp .

80m FETer transceiver

One of the challenges in amateur radio is how simple can you make a rig that really communicates? Some years ago I designed and built this unit for 80m CW that appeared in GQRP SPRAT. It is one of the simplest transceivers you can make. It really works!

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/80m-feter-transceiver .

Sunspots - Tuesday March 7th 2023

 Solar flux is 188 and the SSN 173. A=15 and K=3.

446 radios - NOT amateur radio

It amazes me that these are so inexpensive!  I have seen them as low as £22.99 for 2 on Amazon!! There are probably units that are even less expensive.

How do they makes profits?

See https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0967M841N

Too small - NOT amateur radio

For many years I was a Christian.  These days I am perhaps better described as agnostic.  I am not sure what I believe.

Christianity seems too small for me in a world of many faiths. Then you have the probable existence of trillions of planets in the universe. There are probably billions of planets in our galaxy alone and billions of galaxies!!

My view currently is that all religions are hints towards the truth. Christianity seems too parochial these days. I cannot believe that all the religions in the world other than Christianity are wrong.

My own view is that we are all capable of evil given the right triggers. We would rather this was not true, but history proves us wrong. Just shortly before I was born, millions were put to death in gas chambers by the people of a civilised country. I can imagine us being just as evil had circumstances been different.

Throughout history, religions of all sorts have been the trigger for evil against fellow men.

In many ways I envy people with strong religious beliefs, but to me, this is not enough. 

I am a strong believer of the existence of good and evil. There is clearly evil in the world, but often (always?) this has its roots in evil done to the perpetrator. It is my firm belief that there is far more good in the world than evil. Sadly, good deeds are rarely newsworthy.

All we can hope is we leave this world having worked for some good within it.

10m QRP WSPR (Monday)

As Monday morning is housework time here, I might put my WSPR 500mW W5OLF beacon on for a while.

UPDATE 1310z: 10 stations have spotted me today.

Upcoming optical tests on 481 THz

It is years since I did optical experiments. My current plan is to do some local tests with QRSS bouncing off buildings. If these are successful, I want to try an "over the horizon" test with G4HJW. 

My first task will be to install Spectran 2 software as this will be needed to decode QRSS and to check the signal margins.