Solar flux is 139 and the SSN 97. A=17 and K=5.
15 Mar 2023
14 Mar 2023
10m QRP WSPR TX (Tuesday)
At about 2030z, I turned on my 10m 500mW TX beacon. Just spots by local G4KPX (14km).
70cm activity contest
On the second Tuesday of the month is the 70cm activity contest (UKAC). I can only run 2.5W to the 2m big-wheel omni antenna. Because of my voice, I cannot stay on long. This evening was hopeless and I only stopped on for about 20 minutes and worked just 1 station. I expect there will be many more on the 70cm FT8 activity contest, that I think is tomorrow.
Volunteer day - NOT amateur radio
Although our museum and windmill next door only open 2 days a week from Easter to late October, a team of volunteers comes up every Tuesday to carry out maintenance. Usually it is very quiet, but all changes on a Tuesday!
FT-710 and FT8
Thank you for all the suggestions.
I was going to do this yesterday (find out why the FT-710 does not work with FT8), but had no time. Today is make or break time: I shall check the firmware version, try at a lower speed that 38400 (probably 4800) and if all else fails give MLS a ring for help!
In the end, it has to be something daft and I shall say, "of course"!
UPDATE 1709z: It would appear my firmware on the FT-710 is not up to date. I am not sure if doing the reset to factory settings some weeks ago did this or whether these firmware updates post date the rig being shipped from the factory and MLS? Anyway, clearly I should make sure the firmware is fully up-to-date before I try to get FT8 working. The rig talks about CAT-3 settings and elsewhere CAT-1. This has left my small brain confused, HI.
481THz optical beacon tests
This popped up as a Facebook memory yesterday. It is some years since I last did optical tests over the horizon. In the near future, I want to re-assemble my optical gear and do some local tests before attempting some NLOS tests with Bernie G4HJW who is over the horizon about 9km away.
13 Mar 2023
OFCOM updates
A reminder that OFCOM updates the data it holds on licences etc. every week. See the OFCOM website for details.
12m FT8 yesterday
In the end, I went QRT on 12m FT8 RX only at about 2100z. In all, 921 stations were spotted. The band was still wide open when I went QRT.
Tilt switch DT project - NOT amateur radio
My grandson was very exited about this design and technology (DT) project at his school. It is a demo of a tilt switch.
These are widely used in "man down" alarms in wireless devices where you can trigger a remote alarm if a person falls to the ground. This has applications in safety critical situations such as police radios.
We might make an engineer of him yet! He is excited about such things, which is good.
Pixie transceivers
The Pixie is a classic low cost CW transceiver usually for 80m or 40m. It started life as the Micro80. Kits are available from China at ridiculously low prices, although some are better than others.
It uses the PA transistor as a mixer and often suffered from poor selectivity and AM breakthrough. It was let down by this poor RX. Over the years several versions have been created to help with these issues.
However, it does work and is capable of really get contacts.
The photos show a typical Pixie and my version of the Micro80.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/8040m-pixie-and-micro80-transceivers .
Sunspots - Monday March 13th 2023
Solar flux is 143 and the SSN 135. A=4 and K=0. It looks like the page I get my information from is back to normal. Yesterday morning it looked different.
12 Mar 2023
BBC email? - NOT amateur radio
I cannot find the BBC email to whom I should send my complaint. If you know it, please would you share it?
My complaint is that nearly every documentary seems to have loud and intrusive music that drowns out the speaker. Why? It is almost as if we have to have this music, but why is it so loud?
It would be good if this music was much quieter or even not there at all! The music is added, I suppose, to give dramatic effect.
The latest culprit is David Attenborough's "Wild Isles" on BBC1.
Please, do not treat us as stupid.
Yaesu FT-710 FT8 - last try!
Having tried most things, I shall give my FT-710AESS one more try on FT8.
So far, everything I have tried has failed. If it is something I am doing wrong, I have yet to find out what it is! All the drivers are installed, port selection is correct, port properties are correct, rig selection is correct, RTS is selected (as they say), but still CAT fails to work.
If this fails, the rig will have to go back. I really hope I can crack it. It should not be this hard. If the rig is working, I fail to see why this popular mode is so difficult.
If you have one of these rigs, please tell me your FT8 settings both on the transceiver and WSJT-X. I thought mine were all correct, but obviously not.
Yaesu FT77
Way back in the last century, I bought this radio. It came after the FT7 (which I loved) and had the WARC bands. I guess this would have been in the mid 1980s. I did not warm to the rig. As for the DX worked with it, I cannot remember. As I recall it had a noisy RX. Mind you, after the FT7 most receiver sounded noisy!
12m QRP FT8 (Sunday)
This is a band I rarely go on and as my QDX covers this and the antenna is still a good match, I am giving it a try. After about 5 minutes, I am being spotted by 10 stations (3 in the USA) and I have spotted 47 stations including the west coast of the USA.
UPDATE 1747z: Spotted by 140 stations and I have spotted 428 stations on 12m FT8 with the QDX. Now RX only. Power on 12m is about 3.9W.
 |
| Stations spotted on 12m FT8 with the QDX |
UPDATE 1929z: 739 stations spotted on 12m FT8 RX.
10FT8R receiver
At the moment 10m is in great shape with plenty of DX via F2 most days. We are also approaching the Es season in the northern hemisphere. My 10FT8R receiver (been on this blog before) makes a great, low cost, 10m FT8 RX. This is very inexpensive, yet works well.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10ft8r-rx
Thetford Priory - NOT amateur radio
This was destroyed by King Henry VIII hundreds of years ago. It upsets me when history is destroyed. Nobody has any right to destroy our past. We may not agree with the views when these things were created, but (please) do not destroy them. Had King Henry VIII has a son early on, history might have been so different.
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