10m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

 As my 10m antenna is available, I am on 10m QRP WSPR with 500mW.

UPDATE 1524z:   8 unique stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1804z:  9 unique stations have spotted me today.

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

At 1454z, my 2.5W 8m FT8 was turned on. Yet again, the antenna is just the low wire dipole. It is again on 40.680 MHz USB dial.

UPDATE  1508z:  Already spotted by Phil EI9KP (649km).

UPDATE 2150z:  In the end just the spot by EI9KP.  Now QRT.

UPDATE 2155z:  I am unsure how to proceed with experiments on 8m. I am prepared to spend £50 for an extension of my T&I permit, but object to having to pay for this. In my view, this should be a tiny amateur band available in the UK by NoV.  It would be really helpful to know just why OFCOM and the FCC are quite so anti this. It is not that they are neutral. They seem to be dead against this.  Personally, I think it is the military and the Official Secrets Act (or equivalent in the USA) that is preventing us being told the full truth. People are scared of prosecution.  If we were just told, "yes the military is blocking all applications" that alone would clear up this apparently stupid situation.  This year's tests have already shown that with Es and F2, great distances may be covered with just 2.5W and a low wire dipole. There is no doubt that a higher ERP certainly improves chances.

Bury St Edmunds - NOT amateur radio

This is a market town in Suffolk. The photo shows the market. Unlike Cambridge, it has lots of locals. We like Bury. 

Sunspots - Tuesday December 20th 2022

Solar flux is 152 and the SSN 132. A=11 and K=1.

Cambridge market - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows Cambridge market last week. There was snow on the ground. There are fewer stalls than there used to be, but it is still a good market.

That thaw - NOT amateur radio

Last week, it was unusually cold. We had snow on the ground for a week. These days, this is almost unheard of.

Nighttime temperatures were very low indeed and some parts of the UK remained below freezing all day. Last night the thaw came and there is no snow at all left. It just went. 

Temperatures today are much milder. Probably it is 10-20 degrees Celsius milder. It is wet and windy. I prefer the sun and snow, but not the temperatures that go with it!

10m QRP FT8 (Monday)

At the moment I am RX only on 10m FT8, 178 stations (at 1205z) so far spotted. 

Initially I was getting very few spots until I realised the coax plug was shorted. Now corrected, the SWR is again very low. This could account why yesterday there were so few reports of my 500mW WSPR TX.

By mid afternoon the band was filled with USA stations as the photo shows. 

UPDATE 1544z:   773 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX. Very briefly, I went on TX for just a very short period. 4 stations in the USA spotted me, but I went back to RX only.

UPDATE 1847z:   1084 stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX.

Shack - December 2013

Back in 2013 I had a stroke that put me in hospital for 3.5 months. Although I had to spent Christmas in hospital I came home for a brief visit a few days before and went in my shack for the first time since September.

Like the heating which failed due to the very cold weather last week (thankfully now fine) you don't realise how important things are until you can not have them. 

Sunspots - Monday December 19th 2022

Solar flux is 156 and the SSN 128.  A=4 and K=4.

8m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

As my 8m coax has been mended, I am again on 8m QRP FT8 with 2.5W on 40.680 MHz. 

UPDATE 2110z: No spots. Now QRT.

Sunrise - NOT amateur radio

Sunrise this morning

Today it is expected to get gradually milder. When I got up this morning there was a great sunrise. It is raining now at 1500z.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Sunday)

Today I have again been on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW from my little W5OLF beacon. Surprisingly just a single spot from YO3BN (2083km).  Odd, I usually see many more with the USA coming through by early afternoon,

UPDATE 2111z:   5 spots of me today on 10m 500mW WSPR (see table). QRT.

2m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

Much of the morning I was on 2m QRP FT8, 7 stations spotted my 2.5W to the big-wheel omni antenna and I spotted 35 stations on RX (see maps).

Stations spotted on 2m FT8 RX this morning

Stations spotting my 2.5W FT8 on 2m this morning

8m problem solved

It was the coax plug that was faulty, so issue now fixed. 

Sunspots - Sunday December 18th 2022

Solar flux is 155 and the SSN 139. A=2 and K=0. 

At home - NOT amateur radio

Just before Christmas we like to have an "at home" day when the neighbours can pop in for a drink and nibbles. Because of Covid this has not been possible since 2019. It was so nice to have them around again.

This was one of the reasons I did not get around to fixing my 8m antenna/coax issue today. Maybe tomorrow?

8m - military influence?

For some time now, there has been speculation about just why the FCC and OFCOM are so much against even a small amateur allocation at 8m. It is not as if they are neutral. The clear impression is they are dead against this.

One possibility is that the military are doing their best to keep the "riffraff" out. 

Even recent experimental licences in the USA have been turned down. It is almost as if the real reason for refusals is being hidden.

One possibility is that officials in OFCOM and the FCC have signed the Official Secrets Act or it equivalent and cannot reveal the full truth without fearing prosecution.

Logically, a tiny 8m band could help research. I am convinced we are not being told the whole truth. I suspect the 40.66-40.70 MHz ISM band is a real embarrassment.

I wonder if OFCOM will renew my 8m permit?

Extreme QRP?

In my emails today was the Elecraft Newsletter. 

One of the articles was about "extreme QRP". This looks interesting I thought, only find out it was about 1W. To my mind extreme QRP is microwatts, not watts. I would have been more impressed if this person had got spots with 100uW rather than 1W!!

From my own tests years ago, well below 1W can get spots.

I know of at least one person who has been spotted across the planet with 20mW on 30m.

Salcombe, Devon - NOT amateur radio

In the late 1960s, I worked as a barman in the Great Gates Hotel in Salcombe, Devon during my summer vacation from university.   This hotel was converted to flats many years ago. It had a great view, as you can see from the photo.

My future wife washed dishes. She reckons the person she worked with broke crockery worth more than she earned that summer!

Salcombe is where I was brought up as a child.

2m FT8 QRP (Saturday)

 Most of the day I have been on 2m QRP FT8.  

UPDATE 1741z: As PSKreporter seems not to be working at the moment, I am not sure where I have been spotted today.

UPDATE 2222: 59 stations spotted today including EA and SP. Not bad for an omni antenna.