6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

My QRP 6m FT8 was turned on after breakfast.

UPDATE 0824z:  12 stations have spotted me. I think there is some Es.

UPDATE 0901z:  IS0AWZ (1598km) has spotted me. See map.

UPDATE 1521z: 24 Europeans plus one CN8 have spotted me so far today. See map.

Changing images on my blog - NOT amateur radio

Quite often I need to change an image on my blogspot blog. I find this very "hit and miss". Sometimes I can do it easily and other times I struggle.  I can't help thinking I am missing a trick and there must be a better way. 

Does anybody know a method that just works please?

6m super DX

As well as being spotted in Namibia 🇳🇦 yesterday with 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna a PY way down in Brazil 🇧🇷 (Sao Paulo) was spotted on 6m FT8 yesterday. See map.

Sunspots - Tuesday August 20th

 Solar flux is 239 and the SSN 213. A=10 and K=1.

FETer transceiver (2008)

This was another of my attempts to get something for nothing! 

It worked remarkably well, but I struggled with netting the RX onto the TX frequency so I was afraid of clobbering someone else. It was an adaption of a circuit for 40m by W2UW but made even simpler. It appeared in SPRAT some years ago. 

Some have duplicated it and achieved some remarkable DX.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/80m-feter-transceiver .

Crickey - 2008! I must be old  HI 😀

Over the horizon on 481THz (optical)

Before my 2013 stroke I enjoyed experimenting at optical frequencies and was amazed that I could decode my QRSS CW well over the horizon with no clouds in the sky. Sadly, my stroke put an end to this. The circuit diagram shows the beacon I used. As you can see it is simple.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/optical-nanowaves/over-the-horizon .

Winter in Brisbane, Australia - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday our son sent us this photo showing Brisbane in winter. Even in winter it was 30 deg C! 

The Internet

We all take instant global communications for granted. 

As an example yesterday we had a (free) video call from our son who is staying with his Australian in-laws in Brisbane. The quality was excellent. It was almost as if he was in the next room. 

It has not always been easy. I was surprised to read how extensive the telegraph network already was in the mid 1800s. Before that, news was very slow depending on boats, pigeons and dispatch riders. Just imagine life now without the internet. We have grown dependent on it in so many ways.

Just for chatting, we no longer need amateur radio.

Pathfinders - NOT amateur radio

I have just finished reading a book about the RAF Pathfinders. My dad was one in WW2. I had no idea how brave they were. On every mission they must have been terrified. No wonder my dad did not want to talk about his wartime that much.

My dad died in 1987. I think his wartime experiences haunted him. Overall, he was a peace loving man who enjoyed his quiet life. What a pity he died before I really understood. RIP dad.

The book by Will Iredale is available on Amazon and I expect it may be ordered by most bookshops.

Most wars serve no good.

6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My 2.5W FT8 has been on most of the morning.

UPDATE  1032z:  So far, spotted by 14 stations mostly in England. The spots in Southern Eire and Norway could be Es.

UPDATE 1336z: Spotted by 19 stations. 

UPDATE 1814z:   28 stations have spotted me today including V51MA (8460km) in Namibia.  6m TEP? See map.