Roger G3XBM's (Mainly) Amateur Radio Blog

4 Jul 2022

OFCOM measures to protect radio astronomy

OFCOM has announced some measures to protect radio astronomy. See the OFCOM website for details.

8m experiment (Monday)

At 1027z, my 8m QRP FT8 was turned on using 40.680 MHz USB dial. My rig is a modified FT817ND and a low wire dipole.

UPDATE 1046z: No spots today.

UPDATE 1227z: Still no spots. Currently off whilst rig cools.

UPDATE 1505z : HC02 (1808km) has spotted me. 1 G spotted here.

Portable HF

This photo was taken, I believe, in the 1990s. I was operating HF portable from my mother's garden. As I recall it was with my 2m VHF Mizuho portable and 10m QRP transverter.

481 THz beacon TX

Looking through old photos yesterday, I came across this photo of my optical beacon. I still have it, but it has not been used for a while.

Sunspots - Monday July 4th 2022

Solar flux is 102 and the SSN 42. A=8 and K=3.

3 Jul 2022

Dartmouth Devon - NOT amateur radio

On Friday I did a tour of the South Hams of Devon by bus. One of the places I went to was Dartmouth shown in the photo. It was a good place to just watch the world go by.

And to think, with my old age bus pass, all this travel was free.

10m QRP WSPR TX

It is now 0935z. Although I have been on TX for about 20 minutes with my 500mW W5OLF beacon, no spots. I guess Es is a bit more "hit and miss" now that the season is ending.

UPDATE 1110z: So there is life! Spots by HB9TMC (905km) has spotted me, but only twice.

UPDATE 1344z: GM0UDL (659km) also spotting me. I have noticed before that more northerly stations appear more commonly later in the Es season.

On my return from Devon, I am now on 40.680 MHz USB dial QRP FT8 TX. It is now 0931z and, so far, no spots. Apart from when the rig is cooling, I hope to be on 8m FT8 TX again today after a few days break.

UPDATE 1112z: Still nobody spotting me today and nobody else spotted. Currently off whilst the rig cools.

UPDATE 1342z: Back on TX again. Still no spots.

UPDATE 1725z: Just a single spot by HC02 (1808km). To be honest, I was surprised to get even this.

UPDATE 1807z: 9A2Y (1567km) and I exchanged reports and location earlier by 8m FT8. What a surprise when no other spots (apart from HB9 and GM) of me seen all day on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1837z: S51DI (1288km) spotted on 8m FT8 RX.

VHF NFD

This is one of the major contests. It is on over the weekend. It used to be in September years ago, but it was changed. Often portable stations put on a big effort with high power and big antennas. On my return from Devon I went on, briefly, this morning, but quickly went QRT as my voice was finding it hard work!