Sunspots - Monday February 19th

 Solar flux is 157 and the SSN 84. A=6 and K=1.

630m QRP WSPR (Sunday)

My 630m 10mW ERP WSPR from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground has been on since 1930z. So far, spotted by 11 stations (see table). Furthermost is EI0CF (602km).

UPDATE  2036z: In the last 2 weeks 50 stations have spotted me.

Yaesu: multi-band, multi-mode, portables - gone?

Just now, I took another look at the Yaesu, Japan website. The FT818 has gone and is no longer shown. Many have been waiting for years and years for a decent successor to the FT817. It never came.

There can be several reasons:

• Yaesu is of the view there is too little profit as the competition is now high.
• They are working on a successor.
• They are thinking (...zzz), but have not decided what to do.

In my view, there is a market gagging for a decent product. Yaesu has the skills to make a good product. They have shown this with the FT710. 

We are on the downward slope (probably) of the solar cycle. This really is their last chance.

Yaesu - wake up!!

10m QRPP WSPR (Sunday)

Yes, I know - don't say it!! Yet again I am trying 500uW (0.5mW) 10m WSPR.  Conditions are probably not good enough.

UPDATE 2030z:  No spots all day. I tried!

6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

This morning, I am on QRP 6m FT8 with 2.5W and the V2000 vertical omni antenna. One QSO with G0PQO (90km).

UPDATE 1132z:   9 English stations have spotted me this morning.

UPDATE 1444z:   13 English stations have spotted me. No DX noticed here today.

Best QRP 630m WSPR session

 

39 stations spotted me including Norway and Finland.

Sunspots - Sunday February 18th

 Solar flux is 170 and the SSN 100.  A=4 and K=2.

SpectrumView app -137kHz QRSS3?

Many years ago I downloaded this free app on my Apple Touch. I see it is available for the iPhone too, so I have downloaded it. It is a spectrum analyser for audio frequencies and you can record up to about 150 seconds of audio on a spectrogram depending on the settings. 

I was thinking of trying this on QRSS3 with my 137kHz beacon locally. It would take the audio from the FT817 and produce an audio spectrogram. I am not quite sure how I shall do this yet.

 

The app is created by Oxford Wave Research Ltd. It is a most useful app and highly rated. I last used an earlier version in 2013, so I have to re-learn it and see any changes made. 

I was quite surprised to still find it, wondering if the company had long gone. The app is still free.

See the Apple app store for details.

It is not available as an Android app as far as I can tell.

Weekend treat - NOT amateur radio

At the weekends, I have a cooked breakfast as shown in the photo.

10m QRPP WSPR (Saturday)

 My 500uW (0.5mW) WSPR beacon is on again, but no spots this morning.

UPDATE 1815z:   No spots all day.