Rembrandt's Night Watch - NOT amateur radio

Today we went to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to see the famous Night Watch by Rembrandt. We first saw this priceless painting many years ago when my younger son commented that the colouring in was not very good! He was very young at the time! 

10m WISPY WSPR TX

It is hard to think that I first made this TX 10 years ago. It was copied across the world. I still have it somewhere. 

Upcoming rallies

The following rallies are due to take place this Sunday. As always, please check with the organisers before travelling any distance.

Sunday September 11th - Caistor Lifeboat Radio Rally. N3O 5DJ. Contact m1bfi@outlook.com.

Sunday September 11th - Ripon Radio Rally CANCELLED. 

Silly Jack - NOT amateur radio

This photo shows a tower in Amsterdam that was built in the 1500s. 

The clock tower was added about 100 years later. Its time keeping was terrible, hence the name. 

Pye PF8 on 70cm

These are hard to find these days. 

Some were put on to 70cm. 

They were 500mW transceivers with internal antennas. At the time they were novel and quite different from the usual PMR radio. 

There is a page about them on my main G3XBM website. 

Sunspots - Thursday September 8th 2022

Solar flux is 126 and the SSN 73. A=14 and K=3.

Delft for lunch - NOT amateur radio

 

Delft (famous for its plates) is about an hour from Amsterdam on the train. We had lunch there. Nice place. 

Amsterdam canals - NOT amateur radio

Amsterdam is a beautiful city with lots of canals and old buildings. It is a city of contrasts!! 

Sunspots - Wednesday September 7th 2022

Solar flux is 126 and the SSN 56. A=20 and K=2.

Hair once - NOT amateur radio

This photo shows my student union card in 1967 when I still had hair!! 

I looked young and innocent back then. 😁

6m

Outside of the Es season, the 6m band is sadly underused. This is a pity as it can be used for local chats.

One suitable rig is my Sixbox transceiver described on my main website and in my free PDF book.

Norway? - NOT amateur radio

This photo was on 365project a few days ago. I think it was northern Norway. 

V2000 vertical omni antenna

When operating on 6m (any mode) and for FM on 2m and 70cm I use the V2000 vertical omni antenna shown here. 

The 2m halo is now not there  and may be replaced with a 4m halo. 

Sunspots - Tuesday September 6th 2022

Solar flux is 130 and the SSN 79. A=32 and K=4.

What is this?

This dates from 2011 and I have not a clue what this is. There is an SBL mixer and it looks like some sort of direct conversion RX, but I have no idea what it is! I obviously was breadboarding something. I guess I could trace the circuit. 

2015 shack

This photo was taken in 2015 and shows the shack as it was then. 

10m WSPR QRP TX (Monday)

In the end, there was a quite good 10m Es opening on 10m yesterday. 

Following the comment by Bas, I have changed the image format. I hope it is readable. 

Sunspots - Monday September 5th 2022

Solar flux is 128 and the SSN 62. A=64 and K=5.

News of W5OLF - Jay?

Some weeks ago, I sent Jay (Wilson) W5OLF an email and got no reply, which is unusual. Has anybody any news please? He has been a great help to me and others.

10m WSPR QRP TX (Sunday)

As I am on 6m FT8, the 10m antenna is free, so I am on 10m WSPR TX with the 500mW W5OLF beacon. It is now about 1553z and I have been on for an hour. No spots of me.

UPDATE 1729z:  Still no spots. Basically rubbish.