SDR issues

About a week ago I bought an Neoelec SDR (highly rated) from Amazon. For various reasons, I have not been able to set this up.

It seems incredibly difficult to install the driver. In my view, the instructions were useless. I have now installed the driver, but it no longer recognises the SignaLink USB, so I cannot, at present, operate FT8. I am sure the solutions are relatively easy, but I was expecting this to be dead easy.

Although I have installed the recommended SDR software I have still not got it working.

It is all not helped by having brain fog as a result of my 2013 stroke. It is like wading through treacle and I cannot think clearly.

8m QRP FT8

 Much of the day, I have been on 40.680 MHz FT8 with 2.5W to a dipole. No spots. QRT.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

 

Stations spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR today

This morning I am again on 10m (500mW) TX. At 1210z,  6 stations have spotted me.

8m winter Es

 

This report came yesterday from Borut S50B in Slovenia. Signals were obviously just on the edge, but it shows even 2.5W to a low dipole is enough for winter Es on 8m FT8.

Sunspots - Wednesday January 4th 2023

 Solar flux is 149 and the SSN 89. A=6 and K=4.

2m activity contest this evening

Not sure about you, but I am all mixed up over the days of the week! I thought yesterday was Tuesday.  

Tonight is the first 2m activity contest organised by the RSGB. I usually stay on for less than an hour and enter the low power section with my ICOM IC-705 and big-wheel omni antenna.

See https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/contest_rules.pl?contest=2mukac .

Chromebook - NOT amateur radio

This is being written on my Asus Chromebook. It has been owned and used for over 3 years. It still has a good battery life, boots up in seconds and does most things I ever need. 

When I first got it, I wondered if I was going to make a big mistake. Instead, it has been brilliant and I have no regrets at all.

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

Since just before lunch, I have been on 40.680 MHz FT8 with my 2.5W to the dipole. 

UPDATE 1804z:   No spots on TX or RX today. QRT soon.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Tuesday)

 Since just before lunch, I have been on 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW beacon. So far just local spots.

8m T&I permit

OFCOM has informed me that my T&I permit (and all similar) are not renewable, but I am free to apply for a new one. 

My current permit expires in early April. As there seems little prospect of even a very tiny 8m amateur band, I guess I have little alternative but to pay £50 to do experiments that should be free. 

Perhaps I should ask for 10kW from 1 kHz to 300 GHz, all modes, to show how utterly stupid this is. 

Remember, no callsigns or locations are needed!  How totally stupid!  I could cause horrendous interference to vital services and be totally untraceable!!

Fungus - NOT amateur radio

This was seen on our walk on New Year's Day. This was in a wood planted to celebrate the millennium. It is now a mature wood. 

Sunspots - Tuesday January 3rd 2023

Solar flux is 146 and the SSN 94. A=8 and K=0.

Bell ringing videos - NOT amateur radio

My elder grandson is mad on bell ringing He as rung in over 80 towers now in London and East Anglia. He has a YouTube channel with some recordings of tower bells. He recently changed the channel name to StedmanTriples783.

Reach walk - NOT amateur radio

It was very muddy under foot. There has been a fair here since the 1200s. It is a very sleepy village.

8m QRP FT8 (Monday)

I have been most of the morning on 8m 2.5W FT8, but no spots as of 1425z.

UPDATE 1425z:  Now 8m FT8 RX only.

10m QRP WSPR (Monday)

Been on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW most of the morning. Spotted by 7 unique stations at 1655z today.

Parsonage Farm - NOT amateur radio

We went for a walk around the village yesterday. This field is a picture with cow parsley in the spring although you would not know at this time of year. 

Sunspots - Monday January 2nd 2023

Solar flux is 153 and the SSN 94. A=14 and K=1. 

Oscar 100 geosynchronous

Activity on the narrowband
transponder of Oscar 100
on New Year's Day afternoon

Well, on a European Sunday, New Year's Day when many are on leave, you would have expected this satellite to be as busy as ever. In fact there was hardly anyone on at 1525z! In my view, this is a pity. It is unlikely we will get a second chance of a piggy back ride.   People have voted with their feet and do not like repeaters in the sky.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ .

WSPR rocks

It is not clear to me how services other than WSPRnet get their WSPR spots. In the past I have always used WSPRnet to see where I am being spotted, but another site that looks (at least) as good is WSPRrocks.  It would appear you can chose different time periods that makes it better than WSPRnet. I have no idea (yet) what spotQ means!