80m FETer transceiver

Years ago I was inspired by a circuit for a 40m transceiver by W2UW who is now a SK. My challenge was to see if I could make an 80m version with even fewer parts. 

This is a complete transceiver using just a single FET and very few components. It is detailed on my website.

10m 500mW WSPR TX

My tiny stand alone W5OLF 10m WSPR beacon has been on since just after breakfast. So far (at 1100z) 11 unique stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1438z:  26 spots of me. See table. Usually I look on WSPRnet for spots. I am not sure how PSKreporter works but it seems to miss many WSPR spots.

6m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

Stations spotting
my 2.5W 6m FT8

My 6m 2.5W FT8 has been on most of the morning. 51 stations have spotted me. 

It looks as busy as in the peak Es season! All my spots are in Europe.

UPDATE 1458z: 89 stations have spotted me. See map.

Malta - NOT amateur radio

This was Malta last week. The photo makes it look lush. Actually mostly dry and barren.

Sunspots - Saturday September 14th

 Solar flux is 186 and the SSN 127. A=37 and K=4.

Eco-Worthy batteries

MLS is doing a promotion  of /P gear including the IC705, no doubt expecting many IC705s to be traded for the new Yaesu field portable transceiver next year.

One of their items is the Eco-Worthy 30A, 12V lithium battery pack for use with the IC705 out portable. I was about to blog how expensive this was. Then I checked on Amazon and the battery was £99.99 to which you have to add the charger. Overall, not a bad price from MLS with the charger if you really need a 30A battery. However, there are lower capacity batteries and chargers available from other suppliers for far less.

UPDATE 0827z Sunday:  Steve G1KQH says the same capacity battery may be bought elsewhere for far less. Shop around?

Memories - NOT amateur radio

Something just occurred to me. We assume time passes from the past to the future. and that we remember things in the past.  Altogether I can recall about 200 things from before the age of 5 as can my wife.  Many cannot.

What if this is all an illusion?  Perhaps every time we wake we think we have lived in the past but our brains have a finite memory that is in the here and now and not in the past? What I am wondering is time really there at all? We think we have a past, present and future, but this could all be an illusion.

In the world of quantum mechanics we have come to realise that things are stranger than we think. There is so much we do not know.

All we can do is keep an open mind and realise our brainpower is very limited. I wonder what our memory capacity has been estimated as? I imagine it must be well in the TB region and probably much much bigger.

UPDATE 1230z:  Googled it!  Estimated as 2.5 million Gigabytes. Huge! I wonder what the biggest super-computers in the world have by way of memory. As memory increases I wonder what will be possible in 20 years' time.

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

My 2.5W FT8 to the omni V2000 antenna just spotted by 9 English stations so far with 3 English stations spotted on RX.

UPDATE 1225z: 20 stations have spotted me on 6m QRP FT8 today. See map for stations spotting me.

UPDATE 2045z:  QRT.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Friday)

 o far just EA8BFK (2880km) spotting my beacon. I am pretty sure this is F2 propagation. I

UPDATE 0845z:  Interesting that even with the disturbed HF conditions my QRP WSPR beacon still makes it to the Canary Isles. Still just spots by EA8BFK. There is 9dB S/N difference between my best and worst report. I am not sure if this is QSB or local noise. 

UPDATE 1105z:  Now 2 stations spotting me (EA8 and YO). Pretty sure this is F2.

UPDATE 2019z:   4 stations spotted me today. See table.

UPDATE 2028z:  QRT.

Sunset last night - NOT amateur radio

This was the sunset last night taken through the windscreen of a moving car.