UK politics - NOT amateur radio

The assumption is that the Labour party will win the next General Election and that the ruling Conservative party will be ousted. At the moment Labour enjoys a commanding lead.

In my view (often wrong!!) is it will be much closer in the end. Labour could even lose. It would not surprise me if the outcome is a hung parliament. Some years ago we all assumed the Labour party of Neil Kinnock would win. It did not.

12 months is a very long time in politics. The political landscape could rapidly change.

The leader of the Labour party, Sir Keir Starmer, seems an honest man, but lacking in charisma. Maybe the UK public is looking for a man with integrity? What is really needed is an honest leader, with integrity and charisma. These are qualities that seem in short supply, not only in the UK.

QDX reviews

The place to look for reviews of amateur gear is eham.net. I was quite surprised to see that the QRP labs QDX, which is a tiny 5W digital transceiver was only 4.2 out of 5. In my estimation, it is a 5 out of 5. It is truly tiny and if FT8 or WSPR are your "thing", you really need nothing else. I must write a review.

Some people have had trouble with PAs blowing. In my case I have 5 3A diodes to drop the voltage and always use it with an antenna with a low SWR.  I can see a problem with auto-ATUs which may present a bad match during tuning.

A 6m, 8m and 10m version would be good.

See https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=15155 .

UPDATE 0615z Monday:  Review written. 

Suffolk - NOT amateur radio

The Suffolk countryside is gentle and rolling.   It may lack some of the hills and coastlines of some counties, but I like it.

"Life's a bitch and then you die" - NOT amateur radio

Not sure where this phrase originated. It must be good to have a strong faith.

Recently my cousin died of jaw cancer having lost his only daughter in the last year. His wife was so upset that she told nobody of the funeral and there were only 3 people there (her sister, niece and herself). She must feel so alone and bereft. 

Nothing I can say will be able to make things better. Talk of a loving God and life everlasting seem hollow.

6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

It is now 1105z and I have been on for about an hour.  So far, my 2.5W to the V2000 vertical omni has been spotted by  26 stations.

UPDATE 1340z: 29 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 28 stations with the furthermost EA8DBM (3016km). The Es would seem to be in the direction of Iberia (Spain and Portugal).

UPDATE 1600z: My signal has been spotted by 30 stations and I have spotted 33 here on RX.

European Es yesterday

Much of yesterday I was on 6m FT8. There was plenty of Es from all parts of the continent. 

The peak months are May, June and July, although Es can occur at any time of the year. 

With FT8, I suspect we will find out that many more openings occur than we were expecting.  Only a 15 second TX burst is needed for the station to appear on PSKreporter. Also FT8 works with signals weaker  than CW, so much weaker signals can be decoded. This alone is a good reason to stick with 6m outside the Es season.

Radio archive

Apparently the digital archive of all things radio has now archived 75000 items.

See https://blog.archive.org/2023/05/03/dlarc-75000/

Sunspots - Sunday July 16th 2023

 Solar flux is 179 and the SSN 96. A=8 and K=0.

Super DX on VHF and above

About now, JA and other Far East stations are worked from Western Europe on 6m. This is linked to noctilucent clouds that form at this time of year. It is pretty regular. 

Indications suggest the path could work on higher frequencies too. I have not been checking 6m FT8 until yesterday.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/super-dx

Lightning risks

At the moment in the UK, the lightning seems to be in Wales and the north of England according to the lightning map. Of course, things can change quite quickly. If the risk increases, everything gets disconnected.