St Ives (Cambridgeshire) - NOT amateur radio

This is a delightful town we visited last Friday on the guided bus from Cambridge. The photo shows the view from the bridge in the centre of the town.

8m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

 Once again my 2.5W and a dipole is on 40.680 MHz FT8. So far, just local G4WSZ (12km) spotting me.

UPDATE 1220z: 3 spots of my 8m QRP FT8 today (2 on PSKr). I see G9PUV has been spotted in S.Africa.

UPDATE 1527z:  4 English stations have spotted me today, 3 on PSKr and 1 emailed a screenshot.  No DX.

UPDATE 1723z:  ZR1ADI (9777km) in S.Africa spotted on 8m FT8. This is the furthermost this autumn.

10m QRPP WSPR TX (Sunday)

Following the experiment yesterday with my beacon PA turned OFF, I am again on 10m WSPR with microwatts (even though the beacon is preprogrammed to say 0.5W). No spots!

UPDATE 0850z:  EA8BFK (2880km) has spotted my microwatts! 

UPDATE 1504z:  EA8BFK has spotted my 10m WSPR microwatts 3 times today.

OFCOM publications

OFCOM regularly updates the figures it keeps on things like licences. They also announce details of new publications. See the OFCOM website for details.

Sunspots - Sunday October 1st 2023

 Solar flux is 159 and the SSN 106.  A=10 and K=2.

630m (472 kHz) WSPR RX

As per previous recent evenings, I have QSYed to 630m WSPR RX using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. So far, just G1GKN (54km) spotted.

Seen yesterday - NOT amateur radio

 

This great crested grebe pair was seen at St Ives yesterday. There were lots of birds.

Politically neutral? - NOT amateur radio

Politically, I have always been what they call "a floating voter".  This means I have no idea who I shall vote for in a local or a General Election. 

I was amused to read in The Knowledge today of some view of the UK Labour Party leader, who expressed a view that the UK is gradually losing its status in the world. I think this is true and in the 21st century it is more likely we will see China and India on the rise.

It was strange to see Keir Starmer suggest last week that the UK is “drifting off the international stage”, says Dominic Lawson in the Daily Mail. Has he forgotten about the AUKUS deal, signed earlier this year, uniting the UK, US and Australia in a pact to use nuclear-powered submarines as a counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific? Or the new UK-Japan Hiroshima Accord, which includes plans to collaborate on a next-generation fighter jet? Or indeed that Britain has become the first European member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement? The Labour leader has always been “intensely Eurocentric”, so he’s probably thinking about the EU. But even the Europeans acknowledge that, as the German magazine Internationale Politik Quarterly puts it, “Britain is Back”. Why can’t Starmer see it too? 

8m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

 My 2.5W to the dipole was turned on about 0825z. I am hoping to spot some Belgian stations. Once again I am on 40.680 MHz DF about 1950 Hz TXing in the first period.

UPDATE 0852z:  8m spots by local G4WSZ (12km). Running QRP, I am grateful for all spots.

UPDATE 1545z: 3 stations have spotted my QRP 8m FT8 today including Rik ON7YD (336km).

10m QRP WSPR TX (Saturday)

My 500mW 10m WSPR beacon was turned on at 0824z.  Already F2 spots from the Canary  Is.. Earlier spots were with the PA off, so would only be low microwatts. If genuine, these are remarkable.  I might try again with the PA off!

UPDATE 0845z: I have turned OFF my beacon PA, to see if there are any spots! An interesting experiment.

UPDATE 0941z:  Already one spot from the Canary Is. with the PA off!!  My beacon still says 0.5W (preprogrammed) but my actual power must be just microwatts. At some point I must find out what it really is. EA8BFK's report (-24dB S/N) suggests microwatts. Amazing.

UPDATE 1552z: Quite a few spots from 2 stations in the Canary Is. despite my beacon PA being OFF!!   As I said before, although my beacon is preprogrammed to say 0.5W, the actual power transmitted must be microwatts.