Shetland again - NOT amateur radio

 

This is another spectacular photo from the Shetland Is by Richard Lewis that appeared on 365project.

Hype?

Lots of people are talking about the new Yaesu FTX-1F transceiver due "in early 2025". Very little is known about it yet (as far as I am aware) and some are describing it as an FT817/818 successor or a replacement to the ICOM IC705. 

At the right price ( I expect they are thinking hard about this) and with the right features it could be all of these, but it could "bomb". Expect prices to drop later.  Also, early products sometimes have software and hardware bugs that get corrected later.

The video below is similar to many. I expect this will be the same until we know more about it ..... and the all important price.

Sunspots - Thursday November 21st

 Solar flux is 163 and the SSN 113. A=8 and K=1.

Electric cars - NOT amateur radio

In the news today was the sacking of 4000 people from Ford because of disappointing sales of electric cars. In my view we will see a major shift to electric cars when:

• Range is much increased.
• There is a move away from LiIon batteries.
• Prices are far lower.

In my view we are not there yet. In a few years things could be totally different. I am surprised that research in battery technology is not enormous as whoever makes the breakthrough will capture the market.

Nobel prizes - NOT amateur radio

Behind this tree in the photo is Old School Lane on which the original Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge  is located. It was here that many Nobel prizes were won.

Getting colder - NOT amateur radio

These last few days it has got far colder here in the UK. In some parts there has been early snow.  Today we had our first frost of the season.

I  have no idea what the long-term weather is for this winter, My wife recently took the photo of these berries.

6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

 After leaving the QMX+ for 30 minutes it initialised. I  have no idea how long after initial switch on this happened. 

Anyway at about 0735z I went on 6m FT8 QRP with the QMX+.

UPDATE 0925z:   27 stations have spotted me so far today.

UPDATE 1222z:  Spotted by 95 stations. See map.

UPDATE 1613z: VO1SIX (3933km) in Canada has spotted me on QRP 6m FT8 today. In total, 102 stations have spotted my QRP 6m FT8  today.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

My 500mW 10m WSPR beacon was turned on about 0700z. My QMX+ failed to initialise again. I have left it for now to see what happens!

UPDATE 1615z:  46 stations have spotted my QRP 10m WSPR beacon. Furthermost is PU5ALE (10191km) in Brazil.

Sunspots- Wednesday November 20th

 Solar flux is 157 and the SSN 109. A=8 and K=3.

17m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

 Don't ask me when, but the QMX+ initialised. As it is quite late (so 10m and 6m are probably dead) I am on 17m QRP FT8 with about 3W.

UPDATE 2132z:   6 stations (3 in the USA) have spotted me. One station in Georgia, USA copied on RX.

UPDATE 2225z:  11 stations have spotted me.  Now QRT.