Frustration - NOT amateur radio

Several times in the last few days I have had to ring about house insurance. After about a minute of time wasting drivel I was asked to say in a few words what my call was about. 

Clearly they were using voice recognition or AI. Without fail my few words were not understood! When asked was I asking about car insurance "is that right?" I replied "no!!".

In the end I was put through to a human being.   I hate AI.  With a poor voice, I am on to a loser every time!!!

10m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

A few moments ago, I swapped to 10m FT8 instead of WSPR. I am running 2.5W. Both on TX and RX, spots received. Either the band has just woken up or most are now on FT8 rather than WSPR!

UPDATE 1405z:  5 stations have spotted me with the furthermost being 4X1UF (3513km). On RX, all over copied.

UPDATE 1704z:  8 spots of my QRP.

10m Es operation

As we approach the late spring and summer in the northern hemisphere we are entering the Es season. This usually means propagation out to about 1500km is possible on all modes, often with very strong signals. Es is good at any point of the solar cycle at this time of year.

Most days at this time of year 10m and the low VHF bands will open to somewhere. Not every day is good. Some days will be disappointing. Often antennas like CB whips work perfectly well. Usually a few watts is quite enough whatever the mode. 

The simplest antenna is just a low wire dipole, but my Homebase-10 may be useful. It is described on my website. It is essentially a wire halo. It could be scaled for other bands. It is low cost and makes a useful antenna for 10m.

8m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

For a change, I am on 8m WSPR in the WSPR window just above 40.680 MHz. Yesterday, my 2W 8m WSPR to a low dipole was copied in Germany and Portugal.

UPDATE 1207z:  No spots.

UPDATE 1848z:  About an hour ago, I went back on 8m WSPR. No spots.

70cm activity contest tonight

As this is the second Tuesday in the month, at 1900z tonight should be the 70cm UKAC activity contest organised by the RSGB. 

As I can only run 2.5W to a 2m big-wheel and my voice is poor, I usually stay on for much less than 1 hour. 

As I recall, activity last time was down with many preferring the FT8 activity contest that is usually on the Wednesday. Usually, the activity contest sees SSB activity higher than usual.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Tuesday)

Since about 0800z I have been on 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW beacon.

UPDATE 0842z:  No spots yet.

UPDATE 1208z:  No spots. Bad Es day?

UPDATE 1251z:   Still no spots, so probably swapping to 10m FT8.

The South Hams of Devon

From this picture you can see why I think the South Hams is the best place on Earth. 

V2000 vertical omni

On 6m, 2m (vertical) and 70cm (vertical) the V2000 is used. This photo was taken some years ago. On 6m with 1W CW the USA has been worked with this antenna. 

Sunspots - Tuesday May 9th 2023

Solar flux is 172 and the SSN 103.  A=16 and K=2.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Monday)

When on 8m, I keep forgetting that my 10m antenna is free and I can go on 10m 500mW WSPR TX with my beacon. 10m WSPR QRP TX was turned on at about 1530z.

UPDATE 1545z:  Widespread reports by Es of my 500mW 10m WSPR TX now being received. Some reports suggest just uWs would be sufficient! This suggests widespread reception by Es of unlicenced 8m ISM WSPR beacons.

UPDATE 1842z: 27 unique stations spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon in just a few hours. Es is definitely back. It is still on TX. Furthermost was TA4/G8SCU (3010km).