Sunspots - Tuesday October 10th 2023

Solar flux is 166 and the SSN 129. A=8 and K=2.

Kingfisher - NOT amateur radio

It is some years since I last saw a kingfisher. Usually you just see them skimming low over the water or on a branch overlooking a stream. 

The blue appears iridescent. They are spectacular. Photos rarely capture how magnificent they are.

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/kingfisher .

WSPRnet still faulty?

This morning, WSPRnet still reports an error, so I went on WSPR Rocks instead. I do not know what the problem is.

10m 500mW WSPR TX

My beacon has been on all morning. Local G4KPX (14km) and J41PAN the special station in Greece spotted me early on. There seems to be quite respectable European 10m propagation at the moment. This could be Es.

UPDATE 1715z: The map shows where my 10m QRP WSPR TX was spotted today.

8m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My 8m 2.5W FT8 has been on for about an hour this morning. So far just local G4WSZ (12km) spotting me. As usual, I am on 40.680 MHz, DF about 1950 Hz, TX first.

UPDATE 1142z:  Spotted by LX5JX (468km) tropo or aircraft?

UPDATE 1442z:  Today, I had my first transatlantic spot (F2 I assume) this autumn on 8m QRP FT8 with a spot by WW1L (4976km).

Sentimentalist - NOT amateur radio

At the moment, I am reading a book about swifts in which it says these have been around since the Eocene era i.e. about 50 million years. It is hard to grasp. This means these birds were flying high in the sky before humans came on the scene. I find this quite humbling.  I guess other migratory birds like swallows and martins go back a very long time too.

Most swifts, swallows and martins have now embarked on their long journeys south. I also keep an eye out for the first to come back each spring, probably as they have done for millions of years before me.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

Overnight, I left my 630m QRP WSPR gear running. 

LA3EQ (769km) and OH1LSQ (1733km) both spotted me. The station in Finland has now spotted me on 3 days running despite my low ERP and Jan in Norway seems to get me consistently. 

Other, closer, stations also spotted me. Although I was hoping to spot some new stations overnight, I was not successful.

VLF upconverter

Many people want to take a peek at what is on VLF. The problem is that many receivers do not tune that low. One answer is an upconverter so that VLF is translated to a frequency covered by a conventional receiver. 

For amateur VLF signals, this is extremely unlikely to be useful as VLF amateur signals need great frequency accuracy, extremely narrow bandwidths and long integration periods measured in hours or days. 

For VLF utility stations this upconverter will be useful.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vlf/vlf-converter

Sunspots - Monday, October 9th 2023

Solar flux is 157 and the SSN 149.  A=7 and K=2. 

Crystal Set DXing

Many of us "cut our teeth" by making crystal sets on medium wave to receive a local station. As you know, crystal sets require no power. All you need is a sensitive headset or earpiece as all the power comes from the transmitter.

What is less well known is that a short wave crystal set can be made and great fun had.  This is totally different from conventional SWLing. Signals have to be mV, not uV. It is possible to hear amateur and utility signals as well as broadcast stations. Sadly, there are fewer English language broadcasts to be heard.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/crystal-set-dxing