Lundy - NOT amateur radio

Lundy is a small island in the Bristol Channel. As a young teenager I was totally fascinated by it. It is a granite plateau famous for its puffins. 

Rallies at the weekend

 The following have been notified to me. It is always advisable to check details before travelling.

• Sunday August 4th - BATC Convention, Coventry,CV3 4FR. No contact given.
• Sunday August 4th - British Vintage Wireless Society (BVWS) swapmeet. Members only. Punnetts Town (where is this?). No postcode given and nobody to contact.
• Sunday August 4th - Kings Lynn ARC, King Lynn, PE30 4EL. See www.klarc.co.uk .

Solar cycle progression

In July, we have had some very high numbers. I suspect the smoothed solar peak of cycle 25 will now be far later in this year than once thought. 

What is interesting is the formation of new spots that declined in July 2024.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

8m Q65 120E experiment

Trevor G0KTN is again experimenting with 8m Q65. This time he is trying Q65 120E. As yet, I have yet to spot him. Ours is a difficult path. I shall keep monitoring today.

UPDATE 1613z:   No copy at all sadly.

Sleepy Reach - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday, we did a very early walk around this nearby village before it got too hot. There are no shops but it was an important port in Roman times and has had a fair since the 1200s.  Today, it feels like a sleepy backwater.

Oscar 100 geosynchronous - narrowband transponder activity

 In a word?   Dire.

Every few weeks I try to give a very unscientific appraisal of activity through the narrowband transponder on this geosynchronous satellite. I do this by looking at the web SDR at Goonhilly in Cornwall, UK. It is a while since I did an update.  This time it was a mid afternoon, mid-week, in Europe.

Whilst I admit that some have enjoyed the challenge of building or assembling microwave kit to create a ground station, the level of activity has fallen well below that I was expecting.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ .

I have said before, I suspect the lack of commercial ready made gear has put off "appliance operators" who prefer to spend their money on shiny boxes from Japan.

In my view this tells us a lot about the state of amateur radio.  Most have become "black box" operators, who probably have no idea about the technology of the box they are using. Quite probably the vast majority of operators today have never, ever, done any experimentation. More than ever I can see the day coming when amateur radio ceases to exist.

Sunspots - August 1st

 Solar flux is 235 and the SSN 271. A=17 and K=4.

8m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

My 2.5W 8m FT8 is again on 40.680 MHz USB dial. No spots.

UPDATE 1525z: 9A4ZM (1289km) spotted on 8m  FT8, but nobody has spotted me! 😞

UPDATE 1726z:   Spotted by OE3FVU (1189km).

Sixbox

There is not much call for AM on 6m these days. That is a pity as designs can be simple and effective. This was my Sixbox that appeared in GQRP SPRAT magazine some years ago, I think. I say think as I cannot remember!

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/homebrew/sixbox.

Ready for harvest - NOT amateur radio

 

This field of corn, seen on our pre-breakfast walk, looks ready to harvest.