New houses - NOT amateur radio

Like many places in the UK, we have new houses going up on spare land. This estate has appeared in the last year.

Guava? - NOT amateur radio

We saw this tree and fruit yesterday. I have never seen it before. Dr Google says it is a guava. It is about lemon sized and looks like a bumpy apple or pear. 

It obviously grew well in our (warming) climate, so maybe we'll see more in the future.

Sunspots - Saturday August 20th 2022

Solar flux is 104 and the SSN 74.   A=20 and K=3.

10m QRP FT8

For a change this morning I am on 10m FT8 QRP with the FT817ND. It is now 0921z and I have been on for about 30 minutes. So far, 5 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 13 stations. No QSOs yet.

UPDATE 1034z: 1 QSO.  80 stations spotted on RX and 7 stations have spotted me today on 10m QRP FT8.

UPDATE 1904z:  416 stations spotted in 4 continents spotted on 10m FT8 RX.

70cm QRP FT8

At about 1830z, I hope to try 70cm FT8 QRP on 432.174 MHz USB dial. It is very unlikely anyone will copy me or I shall copy anyone else. Still, it is worth a try.

UPDATE 1840z:  70cm FT8 QRP turned on. Apart from the first 2 transmissions with the 2m big-wheel, I am using the V2000 vertical omni. No spots. Am I surprised? No!

UPDATE 1935z:  No spots.

2m QRP FT8

My 2m FT8 system is just the FT817ND with my big-wheel omni antenna. Despite this, I have already been spotted on Anglesey by GW8IZR (337km). 

I think FT8 allows even QRP stations to access some sort of troposcatter on 2m. 

As mentioned earlier today, this is probably true on 70cm or 23cm although activity is far lower. It is a pity some beacons on these higher VHF and UHF bands don't have FT8 as part of their transmission cycles.

Mrs Mop? - NOT amateur radio

 

This is me brushing the kitchen floor earlier this week.

10m WSPR QRP TX (Friday)

It would seem most people are now using FT8 in preference to WSPR on 10m. Despite this, my 500mW QRP WSPR beacon was spotted by 15 stations yesterday. 

It is now 1021z and, as yet, no 10m WSPR spots have been received. I am on 10m QRP WSPR as the antenna is available and no PC is needed on WSPR.

8m experiment (Friday)

My QRP 8m FT8 on 40.680 MHz USB dial has already been spotted by 2 stations in Iberia. It is only 1015z. Still just using the FT817ND and a low wire dipole.

Where I came from in South Devon - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows where I came from in South Devon. This is the Kingsbridge Estuary. 

QRP 2m FT8

FT8 amazes me. 

DX spots seem possible with QRP and omni antennas at any time with this mode on 2m. If activity was higher, this would probably be true on 70cm and 23cm. My suspicion is this is troposcatter made possible by the ability of FT8 to work with incredibly weak signals. 

In my view, FT8 is a game changer. 

Sunspots - Friday August 19th 2022

 Solar flux is 117 and the SSN 83. A=26 and K=3.

FB memory - NOT amateur radio

This is now several years old. I have no idea where it originated. 

Quite true!! 

Rallies this weekend

The following rallies have been notified to me:

Sunday August 21st - Rugby Amateur Transmitting Society.  Contact rally@rugbyrats.co.uk .

Sunday August 21st  Red Rose Rally. Contact rally@wmrc.co.uk .

As always, check with organisers before going any distance.

Free PDF book reminder

This is just a reminder that my free PDF G3XBM Project Scrapbook is available if you want to download it. It is a brain dump mainly of the projects I have done over the years. My intention is to share the fun of low cost experimenting and building. I hope it triggers you to have a go yourself. 

I have no wish whatsoever to make any money. If I get any donations at all, they will go to the local foodbank.

I was hoping to link to issue 2, but for some reason the link still goes to issue 1! I am working on this. My idea was this link would always take you to the latest version. If you know why this does not work, please tell me. Maybe this is a "feature" of the tinyurl?

See https://tinyurl.com/y56vjhd6

10m QRP WSPR TX (Thursday)

Gear turned on at about 0836z (500mW TX beacon). No spots at 0848z.

UPDATE 1042z:  Still just the 3 spots earlier, which looked like a burst of Es.

UPDATE 1830z:  12 unique stations spotting me today on 10m WSPR.

Long-tailed tits - NOT amateur radio

These days these are one of the most common tits. Often they fly from tree to tree in flocks making a high pitched "song". As a child we saw lots of different tits. Nowadays there are fewer. This one was on the bird table. 

8m experiment (Thursday)

For the last few days people have been reporting my QRP 8m FT8 TX on 40.680 MHz USB dial. So, I shall be on again after breakfast. Es is less frequent, but still there most days. 

UPDATE 1046z:    Gear turned on at 0836z.  No spots.

UPDATE 1703z:    No spots all day.

Sunspots - Thursday August 18th 2022

Solar flux is 123 and the SSN 82.  A=31 and K=2.

10m FT8 QRP

As 8m QRP FT8 was not good, I have QSYed to 10m QRP FT8. Compared to 10m WSPR, it appears like a different band with lots of F2 DX from Africa on RX including 7Q7 and ZD7 (I do not think they are uploading to PSKreporter).

UPDATE 1538z:   Plenty of F2 DX on 10m FT8 RX. After a brief period on TX, I am now RX only (see map).

UPDATE  1612z:  39 stations spotted so far with quite a few in South America.