The following rallies have been notified to me. If travelling far, it is always worth checking the information is correct before setting out.
Being far more wobbly these days, this will be far harder for me now.
All my 100mm gear is still in the shack, but it all needs putting together and testing.
Yesterday I had an email to say my PC had been repaired and checked and Asus was awaiting collection by the courier.
This was under warranty and was done very fast. I expect they just swapped the motherboard. They have contacted me at every stage. I hope it is OK now.
When it arrives back I must check it and see if FT8 works with the FT-710.
Currently I have 2 Windows PCs. Both run Windows 10 and were made by Asus. One I have had for years and is the main shack PC. The other failed under warranty and is currently being fixed.
Despite trying everything, I have still not got the FT-710 to work on FT8. I have downloaded the drivers, checked the settings are correct many, many times. This includes watching several YouTube videos. Until the other PC returns from repair, I cannot check the FT-710 with the other Windows PC.
Looking in Device Manager, all is there, but I cannot get CAT to work and there is no TX audio.
Of course, the FT-710 could be faulty, but I suspect the shack PC.
For a change, I am on 8m WSPR today. As the TX is on for longer periods, I am TXing at 1W instead for 20% if the time.
This afternoon, I shall have a go at getting FT8 working on the Yaesu FT-710AESS. It requires some drivers downloading first. There are several YouTube videos which should help.
There are several designs around. Important factors are dynamic range (they can be hit with some very strong signals) and positioning away from buildings to minimise noise pick-up.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/e-field-probe-efp .
One of the challenges in amateur radio is how simple can you make a rig that really communicates? Some years ago I designed and built this unit for 80m CW that appeared in GQRP SPRAT. It is one of the simplest transceivers you can make. It really works!
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/80m-feter-transceiver .
How do they makes profits?
For many years I was a Christian. These days I am perhaps better described as agnostic. I am not sure what I believe.
Christianity seems too small for me in a world of many faiths. Then you have the probable existence of trillions of planets in the universe. There are probably billions of planets in our galaxy alone and billions of galaxies!!
My view currently is that all religions are hints towards the truth. Christianity seems too parochial these days. I cannot believe that all the religions in the world other than Christianity are wrong.
My own view is that we are all capable of evil given the right triggers. We would rather this was not true, but history proves us wrong. Just shortly before I was born, millions were put to death in gas chambers by the people of a civilised country. I can imagine us being just as evil had circumstances been different.
Throughout history, religions of all sorts have been the trigger for evil against fellow men.
In many ways I envy people with strong religious beliefs, but to me, this is not enough.
I am a strong believer of the existence of good and evil. There is clearly evil in the world, but often (always?) this has its roots in evil done to the perpetrator. It is my firm belief that there is far more good in the world than evil. Sadly, good deeds are rarely newsworthy.
All we can hope is we leave this world having worked for some good within it.
