Peterborough fruit and vegetables - NOT amateur radio

Last Thursday we visited Peterborough. The photo shows the fruit and vegetables on a stall outside a shop.

Oscar 100 geosynchronous

Usually I give an update on this satellite by looking at activity levels on the narrowband transponder using the web SDR at Goonhilly in Cornwall, UK. The last time I looked was on Sunday afternoon in Europe when I would have expected activity to be at its best. 

Sadly, there were few stations active. I can well believe people like assembling a ground station, then lose interest. As I have said before, with more black boxes, activity might have been higher. Personally I prefer experimentation. Sadly my poor fine motor skills prevent me making a ground station these days. In the past I would have done so.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ .

Sunspots- Monday July 8th

 Solar flux is 171 and the SSN 119. A=8 and K=2..

The changing nature of amateur radio

This is perhaps because I am older now, but my perspective on amateur radio has changed. This weekend in the UK is VHF NFD. I went on 70cm SSB briefly yesterday afternoon to work a local and have not been on since. At one time I would have been really keen.

Operating SSB and FM no longer give me great pleasure and chasing DX on all bands has lost its thrall. Much operation has moved to FT8 and fewer people use amateur radio for chatting.

Many are plagued with high local noise levels. Up to now, this has not been a real problem here. although I am aware of noise levels as high as 70cm getting worse.

Overall, I am more interested in seeing where my QRP signal reaches and far less interested in 2-way contacts.

10m FT8 (Sunday)

Stations spotted on
10m FT8 RX today

Until I fix the issues with 10m FT8 on the QMX+ I am using my FT817ND. So far, my 2.5W has been spotted by 13 stations mostly in Europe and I have spotted 33 stations here including quite a few in South America (see map).

We have friends staying, so I cannot pay attention to my QMX+ at the moment. After they have gone I shall see what I can do.

UPDATE  1417z:  Spotted by LU1DX (11410km).

European Es (Sunday)

The Es season in Europe seems to be continuing. Peak months are May, June and July.  With FT8 and WSPR, I expect quite a few spots though August and beyond.

See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ .

Bowringsleigh - NOT amateur radio

The weekend before last my brother in Devon had his church fete in the grounds of this fine house shown in the photo. It is called Bowringsleigh House. As you can see the weather was perfect.

QMX+ fixes

Thank you for all the help to overcome the few issues I had with my QMX+ transceiver. This is a great radio and I am well pleased with it. 

I have still to try the fixes recommended for it, but this should make a great radio even better!

My recommendations for future software/firmware updates are:

• Digital RX audio level adjustable with the volume control knob.
• Increase the default digital RX audio levels on higher bands.
• RF power output adjustable in the menu (power output shown on display as adjusted).
• WSPR level (especially in beacon mode) defaults to a safe level to protect the PA devices.
• Add SSB!
• Make the audio sound card(s) in the QMX+ always be recognised by a Windows PC.
• Make 8m (40.680 MHz) a selectable band.

I am aware that not all may be possible, but these are the things that come to mind. There must be others too.

Sunspots - Sunday July 7th

 Solar flux is 166 and the SSN 132. A=3 and K=2.

Peterborough Cathedral - NOT amateur radio

 

The photo collage shows Peterborough Cathedral on Thursday.