Goodbye 8m

 Today, I took down my 8m dipole. This means I can no longer go on 8m TX. It marks the end of my campaign and experiments on the band. Everything I sought to find out has been completed and I refuse to pay £50 a year to continue. Instead I am QSYing to 6m and 10m.

It is a sad day, but life is too short to continuing my battle with the RSGB and OFCOM. In my view, their attitude is disgraceful.

10m QRP WSPR (Thursday)

My beacon was turned on at about 1037z.

UPDATE 1255z:  14 European stations spotting me.  Es I assume.

2m FT8

At 1037z I QSYed to 2m QRP FT8 using 5W and the big-wheel omni antenna. I am also on 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW beacon.

UPDATE 1333z: 26 spots of me on 2m FT8. Best DX is EI3KD (583km). It never fails to amaze me how far my 2m QRP FT8 gets!

No mow May - NOT amateur radio

One of our neighbours does not cut the middle of his lawn to encourage wild flowers to grow. 

It looks great: a mixture of kept, yet wild. The garden looks really good.

10m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

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

UPDATE 1028z:  46 Europeans spotting me.

UPDATE 1408z: Back on 5W 10m FT8.

UPDATE 1855z:  303 spots of me today. See map.

UPDATE 2112z:  325 stations have spotted me today. QRT soon.

Ferrite rods as TX antennas

Overnight I tried TXing at 3W on 30m WSPR with just a ferrite rod antenna fed via a Z-match ATU. 

Although I had plenty of RX spots I only saw one on TX from an HB9. Previous attempts on FT8 were unsuccessful with just a couple of RX spots and none on TX. 

The ferrite rod was configured as an E field vertical without any earths. I suspect the ATU was lossy, but it does show that even a ferrite rod just a few centimetres long does work on TX.

Triple diversity RXs

 

This array of AR88 receivers was a triple diversity receiving station in Canada. 

After WW2 a lot of AR88s came on the market as surplus. A lot were bought by radio amateurs.

Sunspots- Thursday May 22nd

 Solar flux is 119 and the SSN 88. A=13 and K=2.

Gaza - NOT amateur radio

My long-term desire has always been for everyone to live in peace, even though we may believe in different things, or nothing. We are all different, but all human beings. We are basically all the same.

Clearly what happened in Israel on October 7th 2023 was horrific. Nobody in their right mind would think otherwise. Israel has a right to defend itself from attack.

What I do not understand is Israel's response. Very many innocent people have been killed, maimed and made homeless. Their homes have been destroyed. Many are starving. Foreign journalists are unable enter Gaza to see for themselves.

What I cannot understand is how a people that suffered so much in WW2 can be so cruel to the people of Gaza. For every bomb and killing, more people will be recruited by Hamas! 

Surely the killing and starving of a people has to stop.

What is needed is everyone to change:  Hamas and the others in the region must recognise Israel. Israel must live in peace with it's neighbours.  Israel is fast becoming a hated state.

Many of my best friends are Jewish. To me this whole thing is senseless and ultimately fruitless.

Adsense crappery - NOT amateur radio

 As a blog owner I can see how many people are supposed to look at my blog every day. At breakfast time I was supposed to have had more visitors today already than some whole days last week!  

It seems a healthy dose of disbelief is needed when looking at these figures. 

Basically I do not believe them!