10m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

This afternoon, I am on 10m QRP FT8. It is now 1250z and I have spotted 37 stations across the planet and my 2.5W has been spotted by 1 station.

UPDATE 1414z: 21 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 166.

How do they do it?

Steve G1KQH has pointed me to this link for a 40m Pixie CW transceiver kit for just £1.36 plus shipping. How do they do it and make a profit?

See https://a.aliexpress.com/_EITEaHH. 

630m WSPR TX

In the end I located my antenna current meter but it was broken and soldering the toroid on again was very hard. Still not on TX. 

I have ordered some more 50 ohm patch leads and more PL259 to BNC adaptors.

Fault finding (despite the difficulty) continues. I hope to be on 630m WSPR TX by the weekend.

Sunspots - Tuesday September 26th 2023

Solar flux is 170 and the SSN 164. A=23 and K=4. Sunspot count still good. 

Fixing my 630m transverter

My very old transverter used a 28.060 MHz local oscillator. I obviously went to 3.2 MHz in my newer design to reduce start-up drift. 

My antenna current meter is still missing. It is somewhere in the shack, probably in a drawer somewhere.

My first step is to see if I can detect my 3.2 MHz oscillator on the newer transverter.

By some means, I want to be on 630m WSPR TX this evening!

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Monday)

My QRP beacon has been on since about 0814z. Just local G4KPX(14km) has copied me this morning so far.  HF conditions appear a bit disturbed?

UPDATE 1006z: Since 0910z, I have been spotted in the Canary Is.. I remain amazed at how strong these F2 signals can be at times. I have received -4dB S/N at times despite running just 500mW.

Repair Cafe - NOT amateur radio

Every month our village holds a repair cafe where they try to repair things that otherwise would be scrapped. I was expecting it to be quiet, but it was busy. They also serve tea and cakes. What a good idea. Repairs are free, but they appreciate donations.

Plans for Monday

 My current plan is to go on 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW beacon and fix my 630m transverter so I can TX on 630m this evening. 

Well that is the plan!

630m WSPR yesterday

Sunday evening 6 stations were spotted as the chart shows.

I must get back on TX soon! Thinking about my transverter, I guess the first thing to try is see if I can receive the 3.2 MHz oscillator on another RX. If this is not going, it would give me a very good clue where to start looking. My problem these days is it is like fault finding in a brain fog! Somewhere I have my very old transverter which I used on 500 kHz years ago.

2012 back of the garage

In the old house most of my building was in the back of the garage as this photo from 2012 shows.