The future of our hobby

Unless things change, I can see our hobby radically changing in the next 10 years. Most of us are old males.

Some time ago I posted this photo of my grandson in the back of my garage. It must have been earlier than 2013 as we moved QTH. He failed to get interested. He is 15 soon. 

Unless young people like him are attracted, our hobby will die 

The very last - NOT amateur radio

The last butcher in our village has closed after 150 years. The person who ran it retired and nobody wanted to take it on sadly.

We ate his last sausages yesterday with all the trimmings. Sad. 

Sunspots - Monday October 17th 2022

Solar flux is 119 and the SSN 59.  A=16 and K=1.

Heathkit HW family

An early Heathkit advert

As a teenager I always wanted a 2m HW30 kit. Goodness knows why, as by modern standards they were poor! 

Heathkit made a family of what became known as the Benton Harbor Lunchboxes. In many places they were the mainstay of VHF activity, way before FM, SSB and FT8.

They were valved and had a 5W AM TX and a super-regen RX. Most of the time this was fine for VHF at the time.

I cannot remember when they stopped being available, but I would guess mid 1970s.

At one time I had the manual, but never the rig.

The style I still like and in later years (before my stroke) fancied doing a modern equivalent for 10m with transistors and far smaller on a single PCB.

See http://www.radiomanual.info/schemi/Surplus_Radioamateur/Heathkit_HW-30_review_QST_2013.pdf

Autumn - NOT amateur radio

Autumn in Ontario, Canada

This photo of Ontario in autumn was posted by a friend on 365project recently. What amazing colours. 

10m QRP TX WSPR (Sunday)

As the 10m antenna is available I am again on 10m QRP (500mW) with the W5OLF beacon. The gear was turned on about 0850z. No spots of me yet today.  It was copied in Antarctica twice last week.

UPDATE 0905z: Already plenty of spots from the Canary Is.

UPDATE 1614z:  28 spots of me today on 10m QRP WSPR TX.

8m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

 My 8m FT8 gear was turned on at 0845z. It will be on most of the morning and afternoon.

UPDATE 1628z: 1 station as spotted me - EA3ERE (1153km) and I have spotted 1 - S50B (1220km).

UPDATE 1827z:  Still life on 8m. EI9KP (649km) and EA3ERE (1153km) spotted my 8m QRP FT8 today.

Bury St Edmunds Abbey - NOT amateur radio

Until King Henry VIII, this was one of the largest abbeys in England. Then it was dissolved by the King. Today, all that remains are the ruins.  Sacrilege.

Sunspots - Sunday October 16th 2022

Solar flux is 115 and the SSN 50.  A=18 and K=2.

Apple Day - NOT amateur radio

 

As mentioned before (I think!) our neighbour had an apple picking day last weekend as he has so many. 

I went with my wife and grandson.

It was a good, happy, day in glorious weather.

The resulting chutney was great and my wife has asked me to make more!

Simple 10m FT8 RX

These days, 10m is again in great shape. A very simple, but effective, FT8 receiver that does not tie up the main rig is my 10FT8R that appeared in RSGB RadCom last year. I built mine without a PCB, although a PCB would be ideal as a low cost club project.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10ft8r-rx .

Covid booster and flu vacs - NOT amateur radio

Just had my booster jab for Covid-19 (Pfizer bivalent) and Flu. Fine so far. 

Our local doctor's surgery combined with a few others to give them. One jab in each arm. Totally easy and painless.

OFCOM updates

As usual, OFCOM has updated the data it holds on us. See the OFCOM website for details. 

8m FT8 QRP TX (Saturday)

Later, I expect to be on 8m QRP FT8 TX again.

My 8m website has been updated with photos and information on my 8m station and results.   Most times I am on 40.680 MHz QRP FT8.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/8m-band .

UPDATE 1018z:  No spots.

UPDATE 1037z:   QRT at the moment. Back later.

UPDATE 1208z:  On 8m QRP FT8 TX. One spot of me by G0HVQ (181km) - odd distance.

UPDATE 1827z:   QRT.

10m QRP WSPR (Saturday)

My WSPR 500mW beacon was turned on before breakfast and synced at 0802z. Yesterday, 12 stations spotted me as the table shows. No spots yet today.

UPDATE 1039z:  Just the usual spots from the Canary Is so far today

UPDATE 1502z:  9 unique stations have spotted me today including several in the USA.

UPDATE 1623z:   12 stations have spotted me today on 10m FT8 QRP TX.

UPDATE 1832z:  Still 12 stations have spotted me today.

Predicting rain? - NOT amateur radio

One of my friends on 365project posted this photo of cows sitting down. An old wives tale says that sitting cows means rain is coming. A minute later it rained! 

Sub 9 kHz earth-mode

10 years ago I was active with experiments with earth-mode below 9 kHz. When I had to stop because of my stroke, 6km had been spanned. 

Sunspots - Saturday October 15th 2022

Solar flux is 121 and the SSN 51. A=18 and K=5.

Using up gluts - NOT amateur radio

We had lots of green tomatoes and cooking apples, so I decided to make some chutney. 

10m QRP WSPR TX

As the 10m antenna is free, I am again on 10m QRP (500mW) using my beacon. So far, at 1027z, the usual spots from the Canaries and a YO3.

UPDATE 1455z:  10 spots of my 500mW QRP 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1715z:  12 spots of me so far with the furthermost FR1GZ (9724km).