500uW (0.5mW) 10m QRPP WSPR

At 1017z, no spots. 

UPDATE 1700z:  No spots all day.

Scenes around Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

 

My wife took the photos in this collage last week. At least one place  should be familiar!

630m QRP WSPR overnight

 

18 stations have spotted my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR in the last 12 hours.

Sunspots - Sunday January 21st

 Solar flux is 166 and the SSN 144.  A=6 and K=2.

Sunday plans

My intention is to continue my tests with 500uW (0.5mW) 10m WSPR, but I may go on 6m FT8 rather than 8m FT8.  6m has the advantage of more people monitoring, both in the UK and Europe. If things look very promising, I might try 8m FT8 in the afternoon.

Changing world order - NOT amateur radio

Most of us have grown up in a world dominated by western democracies. We have been told countless times that this fair and just: it is the right way for people to follow.

However, things are changing. Increasingly, developing countries are looking towards China and Russia. Many of their ways appear bizarre to those of us in the west.

We have to admit that western democracies are not perfect. Under capitalism the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The gap gets ever bigger.

The world was once in the thrall of the USA. This is no longer the case.

In the end, things will (I hope) sort themselves out.  Capitalism is not perfect and neither is communism or extreme right wing politics.

630m QRP WSPR (Saturday)

 My 10mW ERP was turned on at 1700z. 4 spots on the first transmission.

UPDATE  1807z:  9 stations have spotted me.

CEPT 8m amateur allocation?

Before I start, there are no plans for this. 

However, the band is now available to radio amateurs in at least 2 CEPT countries and in many CEPT nations some are experimenting on 8m with special permits. 

From figures provided to me by an amateur in Belgium, radio amateurs would produce less interference than ISM users between 40.66-40.70MHz.  It would be great if CEPT allowed radio amateurs access to the band.

These are my proposals for an 8m amateur band:

• 40.675-40.685 MHz (just 10 kHz wide in total, in the ISM band. A minimum would be 40.680-40.683 MHz)
• Secondary
• Only available by application (NoV or equivalent)
• 5W maximum
• Narrow digital only (modes like FT8, WSPR and CW), no phone
• Strictly no interference
• Only available to full licencees

My assumption is CEPT is more likely to be receptive if we ask for the minimum.

Almost all the activity on 8m is propagation research. Such a small CEPT amateur allocation could really advance radio propagation science.

Please approach your national society and licencing authority for an 8m amateur band.

See https://www.itu.int/dms_pubrec/itu-r/rec/sm/R-REC-SM.1056-1-200704-I!!PDF-E.pdf .

8m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

As my 8m dipole is showing a high VSWR, my 2.5W 8m FT8 is connected instead to my loop on the shack windowsill on which the match is good. 

UPDATE 1847z: No spots all day. 

Connect the antenna! (Saturday)

For the first few hours today, my 500uW 10m WSPR beacon had no antenna connected. When running QRPP it helps to have an antenna!! Doh!

My 0.5mW beacon has been on (with an antenna! 😄) since about 1230z.

UPDATE 1900z: No spots all day.