International conflicts - NOT amateur radio

On the whole, I prefer a quiet life. 

In many of the conflicts in the world, the West is shown as the good, whereas "the axis of evil" is shown as the bad. The truth is more nuanced. 

Often we support regimes that are corrupt and evil. Time and again, we get involved only when our (often dubious) vested self interests are threatened.  Russia was able walk into Crimea in 2014 with most of us in the West barely noticing.

What I think I am saying is this. We can only act as the world's policemen if we are morally right. Where this is in doubt, we often do more harm than good.

We like to think we get an honest, unbiased view of world affairs. I somehow doubt this.

Yesterday - NOT amateur radio

On Tuesdays, we go to a lunchtime university concert in Cambridge. This is free with a retiring collection. This involves a walk through the grounds of King's College, and we grab a bite to eat for lunch beforehand. We travel in to Cambridge by (free) bus. It is usually a very enjoyable day.

630m 10mW ERP WSPR overnight

 

In the last 24 hours, 14 stations have spotted my 630m 10mW ERP WSPR.

10m 10mW ERP WSPR (Jan 31st)

 Once again, I am trying 10m WSPR at 10mW ERP.  Already, after a few transmissions, spotted by 3 stations although these would not have spotted me on 500uW.

UPDATE 1524z:  12 stations have spotted me so far when I was running 10mW ERP. Most of these were via F2 including some in the USA.

Sunspots- Tuesday January 31st

 Solar flux is 135 and the SSN 53. A=8 and K=2.

630m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

 My 10mW ERP 630m WSPR from the earth-electrode "antenna" was turned on at 2220z.

UPDATE 2225z: 2 stations have spotted me so far.

NanoVNA and TinySA

These amazing pieces of test gear bring some otherwise very expensive test equipment within the reach of radio amateurs. Years ago, these would have been out of my price range. I now have both.

By King's - NOT amateur radio

At the end of January there are few punts on the River Cam. These Canada Geese have the river almost to themselves.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

My 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground was left on overnight. In the end, 21 stations spotted me.

10mW ERP on 10m WSPR

After breakfast, my priority is to make a 17dB attenuator so I can try WSPR at 10mW ERP on 10m today. This is to simulate this power in the Es season in the 8m ISM band without a licence. I have the coax, but have to find the resistors.

UPDATE 0930z:  Attenuator made and added right next to FT817ND on 500mW setting, so WSPR power now very close to 10mW ERP.  WSPR TX set to 50% TX. Already spotted by 2 stations on first TX burst!

UPDATE 1640z:  My FT817ND  is on the lowest (500mW) setting. Also, I have a 17dB pad within about 10cm of the FT817ND, so the output is about 10mW. With about 1dB coax loss the ERP is about 10mW or less. Despite this, I have been spotted by 14 unique stations. This is to simulate 10mW ERP on 8m, which is the legal 8m ISM legal limit in the UK without a licence. It is my view that anyone in the UK may legally beacon on the 8m ISM band as long as IR2030 is met.

UPDATE 2236z:   Using the FT817ND, I was 50% of the time on RX today. Despite the 17dB pad in the antenna line at the rig end I still spotted 99 stations!! The furthermost was PY2FXE (9593km).