Pear cake - NOT amateur radio

Our "harvest" this year has been pathetic and it would have been less costly to get the food from the local supermarket down the road!  

Nonetheless, nothing will be wasted. Take for example of the pear cake, made by my wife yesterday. 

EI1KNH/B 8m beacon last chance

I have been monitoring this Irish beacon for several days and with various modes. So far, I have had no luck. 

After today, I shall stop and try again with MSK144 in an MS shower. 

UPDATE 1815z:  Still nothing. Disappointing as G0RQQ, Keith, is able to get it in Lincoln. I am getting the distinct impression this is not going to work.

UPDATE 1943z:  Nothing. I shall go QRT soon on 8m FT8 RX on the beacon frequency. Failure!

Q900 all band, all mode ,transceiver

This version 3 Q900 transceiver from China looks like the FT817 replacement we never had. It is also much less expensive and is SDR based.  It is also much smaller than it looks.

Yaesu, you have had your chances, but never took them in the run up to solar peak 24 and now 25. Instead, Yaesu messes around with a 100W SDR radio that looks like the one they only recently introduced!! 

Yaesu, have you really lost the plot? 

We could all be forgiven for thinking this.  I used to like Yaesu radios. In recent years, I am really not so impressed.

Like all things from China my feeling is the quality control and support are still not proven. They will get there soon and this may be it.

Lower cost amateur radio products are coming and the big Japanese manufacturers are in for a large shock. The writing is on the wall. I give it a few years only. Certainly when we are in cycle 26 things will look very different indeed. Some of the companies we have known for decades will be gone and there will be new names.

Sunspots - Sunday September 18th 2022

Solar flux is 132 and the SSN 76.  A=5 and K=2.

Es season well and truly over

Although Es can occur at any time, the late spring and early summer are the best times. Often bands up 4m can bring DX to up to 1500km, sometimes more. Rarely, Es occurs at 2m.

Today, for example I saw no evidence of Es propagation on 10m WSPR. The only stations spotting me were probably via F2 propagation or local. The nature of Es is it is sporadic, so the bands can suddenly come alive, which is why FT8 especially can be so useful.

When DX is not around, bands like 10m and 6m can be seriously under-used. This is a pity as they make good bands for club nets and local chats. Antennas are small and local noise is often much better than 160m or 80m, where antennas can be big.

Summer visitors - NOT amateur radio

In the spring and summer, we get bird migrants from Africa. 

In recent years there have been far fewer swallows, although here, surprisingly, swift numbers are not too bad. Swifts mostly go in August to central Africa, whereas many swallows end up in South Africa. 

Most swallows go about now, although a very few may try to over-winter.  As our climate gets milder, some may succeed. It will be next spring before the swifts and swallows, hopefully, return. They have being doing this journey for thousands of years.

Bee-eaters

We are seeing some birds that would have been rare here 50 years ago like little egrets. Even bee-eaters have bred here this year. I have only seen these near the Mediterranean Sea.  

Over the winter we see birds from the far north, who think our climate is mild! Don't tell them otherwise! In this part of the UK we get swans from Iceland and Siberia over the winter.

Shadows - NOT amateur radio

Today is a lovely sunny day here. It feels much colder than a few weeks ago. Inside our church, there were long shadows, as the photo shows.

Amateur beacon on the moon?

 Amateur Radio Weekly reports that the Japanese hope to put a UHF beacon on the moon.

See https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/omotenashi/JHRCweb/jhrc.html .

If successfully deployed, this could be a good test for receivers. I am not sure what it will send or when the launch is planned.

23cm transverter

This was ordered this weekend. Hopefully it will arrive early November. Not sure what import duty or VAT is payable. I am sure someone will tell me!

10m QRP WSPR TX

The only spots of me today look like F2 and local, with no Es.  EA8BFK (2880km) and G4KPX (14km) have spotted my 500mW.

Ripening? - NOT amateur radio

This year our tomato plants have been a failure with very few turning red. The green ones are on the windowsill to ripen. If this fails it will be green tomato chutney!!!

Sunspots - Saturday September 17th 2022

 Solar flux is 131 and the SSN 64. A=4 and K=1.

Still no luck here with the EI1KNH 8m beacon

Although Keith in Lincoln has been successful, I have still not decoded the beacon. We are at similar distances from the beacon, I think. It would seem my low horizontal dipole is not as effective as Keith's long wire. I note that the beacon has a vertical dipole whereas mine is horizontal. With scatter and MS this probably does not matter, but with WSPR and tropo it could make all the difference. I shall keep trying!! 

I must check the screen during a WSPR slot to see if it is there at all. It sends WSPR every 20 minutes.  If I can detect it at all, I might briefly try my other antennas just in case these are better in that direction and with  vertical polarisation.

Otherwise, it is MSK144 in a meteor shower.

UPDATE 0936z:  In the last WSPR slots absolutely nothing on the screen with the 8m dipole or 10m end fed antennas. 

UPDATE 1410z: In view of Paul's (G9PUV) comments that he has never spotted WSPR from this beacon, I have switched back to 8m FT8 RX. You never know! It will be monitored all weekend.

Yaesu FT-710 MLS price

Puzzled. 

MLS has just announced the price of the new 100W SDR transceiver, that seems to have a very similar spec to the FTDX-10. It seems the price is lower than the FTDX-10 and the rig a little smaller. What I cannot understand is why Yaesu has done this.

Was the FTDX-10 not quite right? Where is a proper FT817 replacement? It still seems to me that Yaesu is in a muddle and trying to find its way.

See https://www.hamradio.co.uk/top-deals/ft-710 .

EI1KNH/B Irish 8m beacon on 40.013 MHz WSPR

Tim, the beacon keeper, has recommended I try 8m WSPR RX. 

The WSPR sessions are several times an hour and WSPR works with very weak signals. I am on 8m WSPR now, but a bit uncertain about the 2 minute cycles. This may only work with tropo and certainly not work with MS or aircraft.  I may try from now and over the weekend. 

The beacon is only active from 0600-2400, but I am not sure if this is local time or GMT. With tropo, I would have suspected my best chance would be early in the morning?

If this fails (I have low expectations) I may try MSK144 in an MS shower.

8m MSK144 RX

After a period on 40.680 MHz FT8 QRP TX, I have switched to 40.013 MHz MSK144 RX hoping to spot the Irish beacon EI1KNH/B. My best chance (I think) is early morning.

8m QRP FT8 TX (Friday)

All being well, I hope to be on 8m QRP FT8 TX on 40.680 MHz at about 0900z. If the other Irish 8m beacon has FT8, I may try for that overnight.

UPDATE 1020z:   8m FT8 TX gear turned on at 0907z. No spots.

10m QRP WSPR (Friday)

As the 10m antenna should be available, I hope to be on 10m WSPR with my 500mW W5OLF WSPR beacon at 0900z.

UPDATE 0918z:  Gear was on overnight. Just 1 spot from local G3KPX (14km) this morning.

UPDATE 1233z:  8 spots of me today so far. Some appear to be F2 and some might be Es.

23cm portable

As a comment on an earlier post made clear, the 23cm transverter I was thinking if is made in Bulgaria and not the Ukraine, so may still be available. 

I have sent an email about price and delivery to the UK. If promising, I may get one ready for next year, assuming it is still available!

See https://www.sg-lab.com/TR1300/tr1300.html .

UPDATE 1256z:  Just got this email. I think I am going to get one.

"The price of 23cm band transverter V3 is 156 Euro.
The price for shipping is 8 Euro by BG Post .
Payment can be made by Paypal (our account is : info@sg-lab.com ) or by bank transfer.
Now lead time for 23 cm units is 2-3 weeks"

UPDATE 1422z:  I shall place an order. All being well, I shall try some local 23cm SSB tests when the transverter arrives and I have a suitable antenna. Next year, I shall try some 23cm activity sessions from a local highspot. Yes, there are a few in East Anglia!!

No luck on 8m with EI1KNH/B

Overnight I was trying to receive this 8m beacon on 40.013 MHz FT8 using WSJT-X. I was expecting to get the odd MS ping, but nothing. 

I was surprised making me wonder if it is active and using FT8? Anyone know please? I was using the information on QRZ.com.