Bus ride - NOT amateur radio

Every Wednesday I go to and from Cambridge by bus. The ride is free with my bus pass and I can just relax and watch the world go by. It is as quick as by car. One of the villages we go through is Swaffham Prior which has 2 churches and 2 windmills!!

The photo shows the 2 churches through the bus window. 

Birkitts, Lincoln

This photo of Birkitts shop in Lincoln was taken 2 years ago. I have no idea if it is still there. At one time all sorts of parts were sold. I think the owner died a few years ago. 

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

At the moment, I am on 10m WSPR with my 500mW TX beacon. It is now 0900z. The beacon is tiny. I sync time using my atomic clock in the shack.  Thank you (you know who you are!). No PC is needed at all.

UPDATE 0920z:  Already spots by local G4KPX (14km) and EA8/DF4UE (2876km). I think the Canary Is is single hop F2 propagation. This station gets me most mornings.

UPDATE 1522z:  No further stations spotting me. I was expecting some USA spots by now.

Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

Every Wednesday, I go into Cambridge on the bus for my University of the 3rd Age lecture. It is all too easy to take it for granted, but it has some very fine buildings that people cross the world to see. One of these is King's College Chapel shown in the photo. 

Sunspots - Wednesday March 15th 2023

Solar flux is 139 and the SSN 97. A=17 and K=5.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Tuesday)

 At about 2030z, I turned on my 10m 500mW TX beacon. Just spots by local G4KPX (14km).

70cm activity contest

On the second Tuesday of the month is the 70cm activity contest (UKAC). I can only run 2.5W to the 2m big-wheel omni antenna. Because of my voice, I cannot stay on long. This evening was hopeless and I only stopped on for about 20 minutes and worked just 1 station. I expect there will be many more on the 70cm FT8 activity contest, that I think is tomorrow.

DX soundbites - last year

You may be interested in hearing these DX soundbites from 2022.

See http://hamgallery.com/dx2022/ .

Volunteer day - NOT amateur radio

Although our museum and windmill next door only open 2 days a week from Easter to late October, a team of volunteers comes up every Tuesday to carry out maintenance. Usually it is very quiet, but all changes on a Tuesday!

FT-710 and FT8

Thank you for all the suggestions. 

I was going to do this yesterday (find out why the FT-710 does not work with FT8), but had no time. Today is make or break time: I shall check the firmware version, try at a lower speed that 38400 (probably 4800) and if all else fails give MLS a ring for help! 

In the end, it has to be something daft and I shall say, "of course"!

UPDATE 1709z:  It would appear my firmware on the FT-710 is not up to date. I am not sure if doing the reset to factory settings some weeks ago did this or whether these firmware updates post date the rig being shipped from the factory and MLS? Anyway, clearly I should make sure the firmware is fully up-to-date before I try to get FT8 working. The rig talks about CAT-3 settings and elsewhere CAT-1. This has left my small brain confused, HI.