Maudlin thoughts - NOT amateur radio

My brother will be 80 in December. He seems to be going to several funerals of late. I guess we are now at an age when many of our friends and relatives get serious illnesses or die. 

I wonder if our brains modify to accept this as the norm? 

It is interesting how we now talk about illnesses more as we age. There are several friends and relatives who are now in the "firing line". In the past we assumed we would all go on forever. Now we think of our finality.

Once we went to a New Year's Eve party. The host said, "you are not allowed to talk about illnesses". What a good idea!

UPDATE 1433z:  We just heard that one of my wife's best friends has died.  Not unexpected, but so sad for those left behind.

Monday plans

Later, I hope to go on 10m 500mW WSPR and 8m QRP FT8. 

In all, stations in 3 countries spotted my 2.5W 8m FT8 yesterday, which was better than I expected.

Sixbox 6m transceiver

This dates back many years and is not recommended when 6m is "open" as it has been recently. 

On the other hand, it makes a nice homebrew project and an ideal natterbox across town. 

As I always say, use it as a starting point for your own ideas. For example, add a loudspeaker amplifier, or increase the RF power. Most of my designs are starting points and could usually be improved. Do not be afraid to experiment as this is where a lot of the fun is.

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

Inside the windmill - NOT amateur radio

The outside of the windmill next door has featured many times on this blog. 

The inside (as far as I recall) has never been on, until now. This is inside the windmill.

Fitzball’s house - NOT amateur radio

 Edward Fitzball was a famous lyricist in the 1800s . He lived in this cottage in our village (Burwell).

Sunspots - Monday September 30th

 Solar flux is 197 and SSN 154. A=16 and K=2.

War and peace - NOT amateur radio

 One thing I am certain about - wars rarely settle things, often resulting in long-term distrust and hatred. 

In the Middle East this is true at the moment. For many years Israel has had people opposed to the very state of Israel. At the same time Israel has opposed the existence of the people of Palestine. There is much bitterness.

Surely, the only long-term solution, no matter the past history, is peaceful co-existence.  Everyone on the planet has a right to peace.

8m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My 2.5W 8m FT8 has been on since breakfast. So far, nobody has spotted me, but ZR1ADI (9777km) spotted on 8m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1022z:  My QRP 8m FT8 spotted by G4OGI (123km).

UPDATE 1805z: 3 stations have spotted me on 8m today. See map. Now QRT.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Sunday)

 My stand-alone 10m WSPR TX has been on since breakfast. 

UPDATE  1751z:  31 stations have spotted me today.  See table. QRT shortly.

Valve QRP

This was several years ago at the QTH of G6ALB. Andrew did the building of this valve Sputnik TX and I did the operating. After about 10 minutes a CQ call on 15m resulted in a contact with a station in the USA. Present were G4NUA (SK), G6ALB and G3XBM (me). What fun we all had!