Very clever people

Somehow I missed this on Amateur Radio Weekly. It describes how someone hacked a Casio wristwatch to act as a transceiver on 70cm and 33cm. 

As I said, there are some very clever people. I would not know where to start!

Mid winter Es

Don’t ask me why as I don’t know the answer, but there’s a small Es peak in the northern hemisphere around now so it is worth keeping an eye on 6m . I suppose this could link up with F2 propagation further south to result in some spectacular DX on 6m.

Sunspots - Sunday December 29th

 Solar flux is 260 and the SSN 213.  A=4 and K=1.

Stiff competition

Since the Yaesu FT817 was introduced almost a quarter of a century ago, a lot has changed. There was serious competition e.g. the ICOM IC-705, many Chinese radios, plus the offerings by QRP labs, HF signals and Elecraft,  There are others.

At one time Yaesu had a captive market. This is far from the case today. There are still loyal Yaesu fans around, but the new FTX-1F will have to be very good and keenly priced for volumes to be high.

I was puzzled when ICOM introduced their microwave transceiver as I could not see many being sold.

No, the amateur radio market is changing and fierce. Many will fall by the wayside in the next 10 years.

Simple WSPR beacon

At  the end of the year Amateur Radio Weekly shows the most popular clicks of the year. 

One of these was a simple WSPR beacon.

Shetland sunset - NOT amateur radio

This was posted on 365project recently by a friend who lives in the Shetland Islands. It shows the ferry arriving on a calm sea.

10m QRP WSPR (Saturday)

 

My 500mW beacon has been on since about 1020z.  At 1053z, spotted by 4 Europeans. See table.

UPDATE 1130z:  Just spots by 6 Scandinavian stations.

UPDATE  1415z: The map from WSPRrocks by Phil VK7JJ shows where my 10m 500mW WSPR has been spotted today.

UPDATE 2040z:  QRT. 21 stations have spotted me.

6m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

 My QMX+ was turned on at about 1020z. So far (at 1032z) just  9 English stations spotting me.

UPDATE 1129z:   So far just 15 English and Welsh stations have spotted my 6m QRP FT8.

UPDATE 1404z:  23 stations have spotted me including 2 in France. 

UPDATE 2051z:   QRT. spotted by 25 stations today. See map.

Sunspots - Saturday December 28th

 Solar flux is 259 and the SSN 233. A=4 and K=1.

10m 500mW WSPR (Friday)

My QRP 10m, WSPR beacon has been on since about 1036z, but no spots of me yet.

UPDATE 2125z:  30 stations have spotted me. Now QRT.