Yesterday evening on 10m FT8

Yesterday evening I swapped from 6m FT8 to 10m FT8 with about 4W to the tiny indoor loop antenna. Quite a few Es spots of me and many southern European stations spotted on RX as well as a QSO via Es

IC-705 on the ICOM Japan website

The ICOM Japan website has more on the IC-705. Under "Optional Accessories" it mentions an antenna tuner at a later date (see yesterday's post).

See https://www.icomjapan.com/lineup/products/IC-705_eur/

Sunspots - Monday August 10th 2020

Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 13. A=3 and K=1.

IC-705 auto ATU?

According to the IC-705 Facebook page, ICOM is working on an auto-ATU to match the IC-705. They hope to release it this year. This is a stand alone external unit covering 1.8 to 50MHz.

Inter S51 QSO on 8m

Apparently the first QSO between stations in Slovenia has taken place on 8m. I hope we can all join in on 8m in the near future.

Cavenham Heath - NOT amateur radio

Cavenham Heath is about 15 miles from here. It is a national nature reserve and a great place to see rare stone curlews. We saw 12 but they were about 400m away. The heather will be at its best in about 2 weeks. There were damselflies (see photo) everywhere.

Rye - NOT amateur radio

In 2012 we went to Rye in Sussex. It's a delightful place with old houses and cobbled streets. We were fitter then!

10m WSPR

Since just before lunch I have been on 10m WSPR TX with the 500mW TX beacon. As yet (1342z) no spots so far.

6m FT8

Just before lunch my 10W and V2000 sending and receiving 6m FT8 were turned on. It is now 1326z. So far, 2 stations have spotted me today and I have spotted 6.

UPDATE 1500z:  7 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 14.

Reach Village - NOT amateur radio

Reach, shown in the photo, is a sleepy village some 9 miles from Cambridge. We like walking around here. In Roman times it was an important port. It is at the northern end of a defensive earthwork.

Sunspots - Sunday August 9th 2020

Solar flux is 75 and the SSN 11. A=5 and K=0.

My antennas

For 6m, 2m and 70cm vertical I use a "white stick" vertical omni called the V2000. I have probably has this for at least 15 years! It is fed with low cost, CB, 50 ohm coax. On 70cm I could gain several dB if I replaced this with half decent coax. On 2m and 70cm SSB and FT8 I normally use the 2m big-wheel omni.

On the photo, the V2000 is on the left. The big-wheel is above my head and slightly right.

Not shown are the 10m loop (in the shack) and the earth-electrode "antenna" which gives me very good results on 630m WSPR. Norway is reached most nights despite the 10mW ERP on 630m.

Different PC

Since just before lunch I swapped the shack pc to a different one. It seems to be working fine on 10m FT8.

Perseids meteor shower

Many people like to make VHF contacts in meteor showers. Modes like FT4 and FT8 should be particularly effective I think. Signals are often strong, but short lived.

I see Southgate News has a link about this.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/august/perseid-meteor-alert.htm#.Xy570jfYq00

New blog editing interface - TOTALLY CRAP!!!! - NOT amateur radio

In the end I had to revert to the old interface to edit this blog as the new interface is unusable!

Like Bas yesterday, I have sent them my feedback. If you have a blogger.com blog please send them your feedback too. The more people the better.

The old interface is fine, whereas the new is painfully slow.

Our walk earlier - NOT amateur radio

The photo collage shows our walk earlier when it was still cool at about 0630z. This is one of our favourite walks.

Zebra? - NOT amateur radio

Earlier, we saw this horse in a field on our walk. It had a coat on with zebra stripes.   I think the owner must like zebras!

10m FT8

At about 0845z my 10m FT8 gear was turned on. As usual I was running about 4W to the tiny indoor loop antenna. So far, 10 stations spotted and 8 stations spotting me.

Stations that had received
me to 1145z on 10m FT8

UPDATE 1147z:  Already today I have been spotted by 28 stations despite the 4W and the indoor loop. On 10m FT8 RX 38stations have been received so  LWfar today. I am amazed how strongly some people are receiving me despite the low power and indoor loop.

UPDATE 1702z:  Amazingly, 67 stations have so far spotted my 4W 10m FT8 to the loop antenna. On 10m FT8 RX the best DX so far today is LW2DAF (11213km) in Argentina.

UPDATE 1950z:  Now QRT. 233 stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX and 75 stations spotted me on 10m FT8 TX today.

Sunspots - Saturday August 8th 2020

Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 14.  A=4 and K=2.

Sumac tree - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows next door's sumac tree against a blue sky.  Today was very hot.