Autumn colours - NOT amateur radio

All the seasons have a beauty all of their own with the brown leaves of autumn especially lovely as at Anglesey Abbey earlier today. 

8m ISM band for all?

At the moment, I am trying to drum up local support (near JO02DG) for some very low power WSPR tests in the 8m ISM band.  

Following a recent email from OFCOM, it is my view that anybody in the UK may use the 8m ISM band without a licence for beacons as long as they meet IR 2030. This allows 10mW ERP.   At first sight, this seems very low, but with WSPR this could well be spotted across Europe from the UK.

These local tests could indicate what might be possible.

Of course, I would much prefer a tiny, digital only, amateur allocation at 8m.

UPDATE 1228z:  Interestingly, the majority of my 10m WSPR spots today would have been possible at 10mW ERP assuming the local noise floor permitted.

UPDATE 1630z:  Several locals have offered help with my upcoming 8m WSPR tests. The tests should take place very soon, probably next week. 

UPDATE 1636z:  Of course access to the ISM bands does not have to be just 8m: here in the UK as long as long as IR 2030 is met many ISM bands could be used for beacons legally without a licence is my interpretation. ISM rules vary with countries and I am not a legal expert, so you will have to check yourself.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

At the moment I am on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW from my W5OLF beacon. So far, spots from the Canary Is, although I have not been on very long.

UPDATE  1543z: 10 unique stations have spotted my QRP 10m WSPR.

Oscar 100

This Qatar satellite has been in geosynchronous orbit for several years now. It has never really caught on. When I monitored last night (European evening) at 1955z there were just a few stations active on the narrowband transponder. It feels people (a very few) enjoy the challenge of getting active on the satellite, then lose interest.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ .

DMR

Last evening, I went on DMR briefly. As I have no DMR gear, I used my Android network radio with an app called Droidstar. With this, access to the worldwide DMR network is possible.

My only reason for going on was to briefly go on the local CDARC net to give my apologies for tonight's FM net.

DMR is OK to have on in the background, but does not exactly "turn me on". It is OK for skeds, nets, and worldwide chats with a handheld, but is not really my "thing".

My network radio is an Inrico T320. It is ideal as a DMR handheld.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/other-amateur-radio/network-radio.

Sunspots - Wednesday November 16th 2022

Solar flux is 134 and the SSN 69.  A=2 and K=0. 

630m (472 kHz) WSPR RX

 For the first time this season I am on 630m (472 kHz) WSPR RX. 

As my son managed to cut my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground whilst gardening and being "helpful", I am having to use the coax up to my 2m big-wheel with a ferrite rod ATU, much as in this photo of 10 years ago shows.

The noise level is S8 on the FT817ND's meter.

UPDATE 2118z:  unique stations spotted with the furthermost GM4SJB (692km). 

SAQ transmission Wednesday

M0NYW VLF converter

I am told by Jason M0NYW that there is a special transmission of the historic VLF alternator transmitter SAQ on 17.2 kHz CW. This is a good chance to test your VLF system. This TX is about 100 years old! Jason has made an excellent job of his VLF converter (see photo).

See https://alexander.n.se/en/saq-scheduled-to-air-on-november-16th-2022/ .

Local shop in the village - NOT amateur radio

 

This was our local shop a few days ago with my wife in the yellow jacket.

Late afternoon sky - NOT amateur radio

 

This was the sky on Sunday afternoon in our village. Today has been mostly showery - very November.

WSPR.rocks website

Up until now I have always used WSPR.net to see where my 10m WSPR beacon is reaching. Today I looked at the wspr.rocks website for the first time. It looks pretty good.

See http://wspr.rocks/ . 

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

Been on 40.680 MHz QRP FT8  for about 2 hours TXing in the first period, but no spots.

UPDATE 1430z:  Although nobody has spotted me today on 8m FT8, I see ZS6OB (9099km) has again been spotted by me on 8m FT8 RX. As this is just with a low wire dipole, this is pleasing.

UPDATE 1743z:  Yet again, my 8m FT8 QRP has been spotted by EI9KP (649km).  The propagation mechanism remains a total mystery as I only have 5W and a low wire dipole. It is too far for tropo and too near for Es. Aircraft reflection is a possibility. My report was not bad.

10m WSPR QRP (500mW) TX (Tuesday)

On 10m QRP WSPR TX with the W5OLF beacon. 3 unique stations spotting me so far today. 

UPDATE 1420z:  Spotted by 9 unique stations (see map).

Sunspots - Tuesday November 15th 2022

Solar flux is 142 and the SSN 77. A=4 and K=1.

Remembrance Sunday - NOT amateur radio

Usually we do not go to our local remembrance church service. I have inherent dislike of glorifying the military. 

This service was very different. People were asked to stand when a villager who lost his/her life in war was named. In the end, a huge number of people were standing. 

This re-enforces that most wars are pointless. I hope the world wakes up that wars rarely solve issues. There are exceptions when we are fighting evil. Even in these cases, we need to understand the reasons these tyrants  (e.g. Hitler and Putin) had or have these views. Usually jaw jaw is far better than war, war.

2m 5W QRP FT8

It has been foggy all day, so on my return from Cambridge, I have gone on 2m QRP (5W) FT8. So far (at 1835z) stations have been spotted in 3 countries. I have been spotted by 13 stations across England so far.

UPDATE 2140z:   16 spots of me in 4 countries, with the furthermost F6EGD (472km),

8m ISM experiment

Despite asking for some local support for my 8m ISM WSPR experiments at 10mW ERP, I have so far heard ......nothing. 

All I was asking for was to monitor 8m WSPR at my usual power and then later at 10mW ERP, which is the limit set by OFCOM to operate on 40.66-40.70 in the UK without a licence as long as IR2030 is met.

Without help locally, I cannot proceed.

One possibility is to arrange skeds at full power and then at 10mW ERP.

It is my view that 10mW ERP WSPR will be copied locally. Even this low power could well be copied around Europe on WSPR when Es is good.

It is my view that we have to prove OFCOM and the RSGB wrong. A small amateur band at 8m would be good for self-training and research.

The hobby should be about self training. I am so far disappointed that nobody has yet come forward to help. Most do not have 8m antennas, so I am expecting a variety of antennas to be used. At most, this would be a few hours monitoring WSPR. 

If successful many more people could use 8m.

UPDATE 1832z:   Offers of local 8m RX help so far?  Nobody. I am very disappointed.

Sunspots - Monday November 14th 2022

Solar flux is 137 and the SSN 74.  A=7 and K=2. 

XBM80-2 QRP transceiver

Today, I had an email from somebody in the Netherlands about this transceiver.  He was getting no audio. Recently someone told me that crystal earpieces do not like DC. If this is correct, I suggest a capacitor is added between the collector of the audio transistor and the crystal earpiece. A 0.1uF or greater should be suitable. I also suggested that the audio transistor must not be in saturation. If need be, the bias can be altered to put the collector of the audio stage to mid-rail.

As I always say, do not be afraid to experiment.  If the circuit works better with different values then change them! With something this simple you could always start again, HI.

Nowt as queer as folk - NOT amateur radio

There is an old Yorkshire phrase "nowt as queer as folk".  It means people are odd. 

A few days ago, I put a photo of a rack of shoes on display at one of the big shops in Cambridge on 365 project as a gap filler. Much to my surprise, it was on the popular page! 

As they say in Yorkshire, "there's nowt as queer as folk".