10m QRP WSPR (Sunday)

 My 500mW beacon was turned on about 0730z . 2 stations spotting me at 0822z .

UPDATE 1957z:  49 stations spotting me today. QRT.

1930s TX

 

Someone made a very close copy of this 1930s TX for 40m CW.

Sunspots - Sunday February 23rd

 Solar flux is 199 and the SSN 215. A=6 and K=1.

FT8

Some like it and some hate it. 

I agree that if you believe amateur radio is about 2-way chats, possibly with stations across the world, then FT8 is not for you.  Also, with FT8 people will not chance upon amateur radio as many of us did on AM years ago.

In my own case, I have little alternative as my voice is very poor these days!  FT8 works with very weak signals and only occupies about 50Hz whereas SSB takes about 2.3kHz. With FT8 exchanges are very basic.

I am "on the fence" over FT8. There is no way without FT8 nearly 900 stations would have copied my 5W on 10m  today. 

At the same time, I really believe modes like FT8 could lead to the end of amateur radio as we know it.

LORA DX

On Amateur Radio Weekly yesterday was a small yagi to extend the range of LORA systems. They were claiming a range of 40km, although I expect that was line-of-sight. LORA is a long range, licence free, data system using spread spread spectrum techniques.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LoRa .

Norwich - NOT amateur radio

 

Yesterday, I mentioned going to Norwich by train. It is a journey of about an hour. We love Norwich. The photo shows the arrival at the station in Norwich. It is about 1km walk to the splendid Norman cathedral.

Almost spring - NOT amateur radio

 

After what has seemed like a long, wet and dull winter, today felt more like spring. 

For the first time in months it felt mild outside so much so that I pruned my roses. Every year they grow well for a hard prune early in the year. Opinions vary about when and what to do, but I shall stick with what works.

We have had no snow, but several frosts. It is also wetter than I remember. I am sure we have not done with winter yet, but at least there is a hint of spring.

10m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

 At the moment I am on 10m QRP FT8 with 5W from the IC-705.

UPDATE  0958z:  So far, I have been spotted by 39 stations, despite only being on for a few minutes.

UPDATE 1030z: Spotted by 114 stations. On RX the furthermost is the Solomon Is H44MS (14814km) in the Pacific.

UPDATE 1803z:  774 stations have spotted my 10m 5W FT8  today. 1549 stations have been spotted today on 10m FT8.

Sunspots - Saturday February 22nd

Solar flux is 197 and the SSN 138. A=6 and K=0.

Norwich by train - NOT amateur radio

Today we went to Norwich by train. It’s about an hour by train. Norwich is a fine city with a good Norman cathedral.