15m QRP FT8 with the QDX (Thursday)

Stations spotting my QRP FT8 on 15m today

As 10m FT8 is so poor, I have QSYed to 15m. So far, I have been spotted by 14 stations with the furthermost WA4MIT (7015km) and I have spotted 21 stations.

UPDATE 1643z: 45 stations spotted and I have been spotted by 41 stations.

Adder snakes - NOT amateur radio

At 74 years old, I just realised I have never once seen an adder snake in the wild! 

I believe they bask in the sun, but they cannot be that common. They are most often seen on heathlands and woodlands. They are the only venomous snake in the UK. They are also known as vipers.  Their venom is rarely harmful to humans although medical treatment is advised. The photo is attributed to Benny Trapp on Wikipedia.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipera_berus .

See https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/reptiles/adder .

Ely yesterday - NOT amateur radio

This was Ely yesterday by the River Great Ouse.  Ely is a nice place with a cathedral on the hill and an attractive waterfront. The railway station seems always to be busy.

Rally at the weekend

The following has been notified to me. As this is an automatic email, it is advisable to check it is on and the information is correct.

Sunday April 30th - Ripon Radio Rally, Ripon, HG4 2PT. Contact  https://www.g4sjm.co.uk/contact-us .

Low key? - NOT amateur radio

On Saturday week, our new King Charles III is crowned. At the moment things feel very muted. For example, John Lewis in Cambridge, a major department store nationally, has nothing for the coronation, that I could see, on display. I guess they are worried about excess stock on their hands in hard times. This small display was at the back of a pub in Ely yesterday.

It is a very long time since Queen Elizabeth II was crowned and this was shortly after WW2 when there was a national support for the monarchy. These days, many younger people are not in favour of a monarchy and do not like wealth and privilege just because people inherited it. The problem is who would be president? 

Personally, I think (just) I am in favour of a symbolic monarchy as long as it is considerably slimmed down.

Worked all Cambridge(shire)

The Cambridge club (CDARC) is launching a scheme like a mini WAB scheme called "Worked all Cambridge (or is it Cambridgeshire?)". The object is to work stations in all the Ordnance Survey 10km squares in the county. For example, I am in TL56 square. I think it runs for a year, but as I do not have details yet, I have no idea how many squares there are. I can imagine some in the Fens are quite hard. What a fun scheme for a club.

10m FT8 QRP with the QDX (Thursday)

Shortly, I intend to try 10m QRP FT8 with the tiny QDX transceiver.

UPDATE 1110z:  80 reports of my QRP 10m FT8 TX. Now RX only.  Panic at first when my SWR bridge showed no power and a high SWR. It turned out it was the lead to the SWR bridge, not the QDX!  Stations across the planet spotted on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE  1248z:  220 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1319z: Briefly on 10m QRP FT8 TX with 13 stations spotting me in the last.15 minutes.  Now back on 10m FT8 RX only with 261 stations spotted so far today.

UPDATE 1544z:  376 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX. 106 stations have spotted my QRP 10m FT8  today. I am operating as a beacon and not really after QSOs.

Sunspots - Thursday April 27th 2023

 Solar flux is 137 and the SSN 81. A=15 and K=3.

8m WSPR for anyone, without a licence

Correspondence with OFCOM in the UK has convinced me that anyone may TX with a WSPR, FT8 or QRSS beacon in the ISM segment of 40.66 - 40.70 MHz without the need for any licence as long as the technical requirements and IR2030 are met. In the UK this means 10mW ERP. 

This is NOT the Amateur Radio Service.

Today, on 10m WSPR many stations (with a quiet noise floor) would have copied me with 5mW ERP, so I am convinced that at 8m, such signals could be widely copied. In Australia we know that 5mW of 8m WSPR has spanned 5000km.

What I am advocating is stations check the ISM rules in their country and set up a network of 8m WSPR beacons. If possible, randomise frequencies to avoid interference and stick within the WSPR window 40.680 MHz + DF 1400-1600 Hz. This will give us all maximum chances of being copied on 8m.

In the UK, callsigns for ISM beacons are optional, but I suggest something that WSPRnet can report and QTH locators are essential. This is an experiment and the more people taking part the better.

The Es season has arrived

Judging by the results on 10m WSPR, the Es season has arrived. I must give 8m another go and 4m. As the season gets underway we can expect widespread openings from the UK to Europe and similar distances in North America. On 8m, the main issue will be too few people monitoring.