The rear lawn is still green, but starting to turn brown. It usually recovers in the autumn with dew and rain.
20 Jun 2022
Back lawn in June - NOT amateur radio
The rear lawn is still green, but starting to turn brown. It usually recovers in the autumn with dew and rain.
8m experiment (Monday)
Just EI9KP (649km) spotting me today. Certainly here, I am seeing no evidence of Es propagation from mainland Europe. The same is true of 10m. As I am spotted by EI9KP on 8m FT8 frequently, I am wondering if this really is Es?
Loose ends - NOT amateur radio
At the moment, I seem to be busy with loose ends.
Last week, we had my wife's 19th sibling reunion. Rather than take it in turns at our homes we went back to stay in an hotel in Barnsley, where they all grew up. It was a very successful get-together, but my wife said it was her last time in Barnsley. She also says she will never go to Devon again. I am compiling my legacy book of projects.
It looks like we are preparing for the worst! Any one of us could be dead tomorrow. On the other hand, we could live for many years. We just don't know.
The moral seems to be to live, and enjoy, every day as your last.
Thatcher's tag - NOT amateur radio
Often these are pheasants, but this unusual one of a cat made of thatch was seen recently.
The case for a small UK 8m amateur band
It is true to say that I am fuming by the attitude of OFCOM and the RSGB to a tiny 8m allocation. Let me explain.
OFCOM seems dead against an amateur allocation and the RSGB appears to just accept this. Our hobby is meant to be about self-training. In my personal experience of RF development, without any doubt the best RF engineers were those who were intrinsically motivated and "turned on" by RF. I have read countless CVs of electronics graduates who, frankly, were totally useless. I knew more at 16 than they did!! I learnt more from my RAE course than they did with a degree!
If we are really interested in future RF designers, we should be doing all we can to promote "self training".
These are my proposals:
- 40.680 - 40.685 MHz (5 kHz only). This is in the ISM band and widely used internationally
- Narrow digital only (e.g. WSPR, FT8, CW and no speech)
- By NoV only
- Strictly non-interference
- Power limited if need be.
OFCOM and RSGB, wake up!!
19 Jun 2022
10m QRP WSPR TX
My 10m 500mW WSPR beacon was turned on at 0810z. Yesterday I got 7 unique station spots all in Europe by what I assume is Es. No spots yet today.
UPDATE 1656z: 32 unique stations have spotted me. This looks like a mixture of Es and F2.
8m experiment (Sunday)
My 8m QRP gear was turned on 40.680 MHz USB dial FT8 (first) TX at 0810z.
UPDATE 1153z: Spotted by 2 stations with 1 FT8 "QSO" with a station in Slovenia. As this is a simple exchange of reports and QTH, I am treating this as completely within the terms and spirit of my 8m licence. I want to know how my QRP signal in received in Slovenia. This is a perfect way.
UPDATE 1839z: Spotted 6 stations in 6 EU countries.
18 Jun 2022
That book
This week I was in Yorkshire for my wife's sibling reunion, so progress on the book was limited. My new deadline is June 27th when I hope to go to Devon to see my brother for the first time since 2019. My wife is still at home.
So, the deadline is now June 27th before I leave. This time I am going by coach as the train may be unreliable. The book is coming on, but there was more work than I expected. In a way it is my legacy. I hope you have as much fun as I had.
Sheffield Station - NOT amateur radio
This week we went by train to Barnsley for our annual sibling reunion changing at Sheffield. We have met on 19 occasions.
Rybakov HF verticals
Some years ago I bought one from SRC in Wales. Although I believe this is no longer available, they all have one thing in common: the end of the antenna is a high impedance, so a transformer is needed to get the SWR into the range of auto ATUs found on modern rigs. Usually this is an UNUN built into the antenna.
In getting things together for my free PDF book, I realised this was absent from my website! This is now corrected. As mine had been unused in the back of the garage, I swapped mine for an active RX antenna that works well. The swap was with Jason M0NYW.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/x80_1 .
8m experiment (Saturday)
As usual, I am on 40.680 MHz USB dial QRP FT8. Already spotted very strongly by EA3ERE (1153km) in northern Spain.
My usual pattern is to be on for about one hour. let the rig thoroughly cool and then come on again afterwards. It would seem Es allows modest QRP stations, like mine, to enjoy the fun.
It is now about 0931z.
UPDATE 1230: Still just EA3ERE spotting me and nobody spotted here. Now QRT as the rig cools.
Sporadic-E (Es)
We are currently at the peak of the Es season in the northern hemisphere. Yesterday 14 stations spotted me on 10m WSPR TX. All these look like they were by Es. My reports on 8m FT8 also look like Es. By the end of the summer the Es season will be over.
The Es season usually lasts from April to August. The peak months are May, June and July. However Es can occur at any time. There is usually a much smaller peak just after Christmas.
17 Jun 2022
Normality - NOT amateur radio
Every June a local village holds a Gilbert and Sullivan performance in a barn. With Covid-19, this was not possible, so this was the first production since 2019. It was great to return to normal. They did "The Mikado".
Young birds - NOT amateur radio
This is the season for nests and young birds. Yet again, we have some house sparrows nesting in our roof (they were there last year too) and we have dunnocks, robins, blackbirds, pigeons, collared doves and goldfinches nesting in our hedges or very nearby. There are probably others as well. This young thrush (I think) was being fed on our back lawn.
8m experiment (Friday)
Later this morning, I expect to be on 8m QRP FT8 TX on 40.680 MHz USB dial (first).
UPDATE 1016z : No spots given or received.
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