Robin - NOT amateur radio

The English Robin is one of the most common birds in an English garden. The American Robin is a different bird in the thrush family. 

The English Robin can be very tame.  If you are digging in the garden, expect to be joined by a visitor!

Housework - NOT amateur radio

In our house we do the housework jointly on a Monday. After this (mid morning) we enjoy a cup of coffee together.

European Es

In the last few days, I have found this site extremely useful. In a few seconds, I can get a "snapshot" picture of Es conditions in Europe. It gives me a good idea of what bands may prove useful. Of course, Es can change very quickly so this is not perfect, but it is a useful guide.

See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ .

10m QRP FT8 with the QDX (Monday)

My tiny QDX was turned on at 0622z i.e. quite early. No spots yet. 

UPDATE 0816z:  7 spots of me from Eastern Europe and I have spotted 4 stations. No DX yet.

Stations spotting me today

UPDATE 1028z:  33 stations have spotted my QRP and 26 have been spotted here. All Europeans. I assume most are Es.

UPDATE 1200z: 52 stations have spotted me and 51 stations have been spotted here. Iberia now coming through.

UPDATE 1431z:  I have been spotted by 65 stations and I have spotted 67. All were in Europe. Still no real DX today.

Sunspots - Monday May 22nd 2023

 Solar flux is 163 and the SSN 140. A=28 and K=3.

Growing up - NOT amateur radio

 

One of our sons and grandsons earlier in our back garden.

6m super DX

Several stations in Europe have worked VK8AW on 6m. This is amazing. 

I am not sure of the propagation mechanism. TEP might be involved for some of the path. This sort of DX has been worked on several days. 

8m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

As the previous post explained, I had no intention of going on 8m today! Then I saw 10m was open to Iberia, so QSYed to 8m FT8.  At 1040z, no spots.

UPDATE 1055z:  Spotted on 8m by HC02 (1808km) in southern Portugal. Hugh has been pretty dedicated - thank you Hugh.

10m QRP WSPR (Sunday)

Originally, I was going to be on 10m QRP FT8 all day. Then I noticed Es on 10m to Iberia, so I QSYed to 8m QRP FT8 and 10m QRP WSPR with my 500mW beacon. Several spots from Portugal of me on 10m WSPR  plus a local.

UPDATE 1103z:  Still just the 2 stations spotting me. It will be interesting to see if the Es moves and I get spots from others. Certainly to Portugal the Es seems a bit poorer now although this could just be QSB.

UPDATE 1108z: Now being spotted in Luxembourg by LX1DQ (504km).

More on that Belgian 8m amateur band

Details are still very sketchy, but I see John has put a bit about this on his excellent blog. We can only hope this allocation is the first of many.  There is a real case of a small amateur allocation here to encourage real research.

Personally, I would happily give up 5 kHz of any band for 5 kHz at 8m. Really, I cannot see the harm in any country allocating a small bit in the ISM band 40.66-40.70 MHz to amateurs on a secondary basis. Oh sorry, this requires brains and thinking!!  😁

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/ .

Runner beans - NOT amateur radio

These are a good choice for gardens as they are (generally) easy to grow, have attractive flowers, and you eat them! I have grown them for the last few years in an otherwise wasted corner of the garden. It gets sun in the mornings.

See https://www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables/runner-beans/grow-your-own .

Sunflowers - NOT amateur radio

These are fun to grow.  A few days ago I put 12 seeds in a propagator. They germinated very fast and want potting on, before going outside. They can grow very tall. The birds love the seeds at the end.

See  https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/helianthus/growing-guide. 

10m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

 At the moment I am on 10m FT8 with the tiny QDX transceiver running under 5W. It has been on since about 0830z. It is now 0837z and, so far, 3 stations spotted and 1 has spotted me, all in Spain, presumably via Es.

UPDATE 1551z: After a period on 8m FT8, I have returned to 10m FT8. Conditions seem poor with just one spot of me from Israel. I think the Es has, for now here, subsided.

UPDATE 1624z: How to spot a pirate!! P86JL in North Korea at an incredible strength and at totally the wrong time! If he is genuine, I am a Chinaman. 19 spots of my 5W 10m FT8 today, with 10 recently.

UPDATE 1730z:  Plenty (100) stations spotted on RX and 28 (mostly Es) spots of me on TX today. I have ignored the station supposed to be in North Korea assuming this to be a pirate from somewhere in Europe. I still feel conditions are disturbed on 10m.

UPDATE 1755z:  It looks like Es is good again towards Iberia. 52 stations have spotted my 5W QRP FT8 on 10m in the last day.

UPDATE 2110z: VO1HP (3744km) has spotted me. 58 spots of my 10m FT8 QRP in the last day.

Stations spotting my
10m QRP FT8 recently

UPDATE 2128z:   QRT.

Sunspots - Sunday May 21st 2023

 Solar flux is 170 and the SSN 138. A=35 and K=2.

10m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

Stations spotted on
10m FT8 this evening

Apart from Hugh HC02 (1808km) who has spotted me on 8m FT8 and WSPR, no other stations have spotted me on 8m. 

Instead, I  QSYed to 10m QRP FT8 using the tiny QDX rig. 3 QSOs made in about 10 minutes. Most distant station spotted was CX5ABM (11133km).

UPDATE 2000z: QRT.

8m activity this Es season

A feeling shared with another on 8m is there are fewer people on 8m this Es season than last. This is a great pity, especially with Belgium about to release an amateur band at 8m.

However, it looks like many of the "old gang" have already been worked (or FT8 reports exchanged) with them. This being the case, I think this Es season I shall concentrate on 4m and 10m FT8 instead, unless conditions suggest I should get on 8m.

With some exceptional distances being worked on 6m, there is little else I shall learn this Es season on 8m, and I think radio science will not be advanced much on 8m unless there are many more stations active. I was hoping we would see lots of stations operating on 8m TX under ISM rules. This does not appear to be the case sadly.

Great Powers in the 21st Century - NOT amateur radio

There is little doubt that China is already growing into a great world power. The USA sees this growing dominance as a threat.

In my view, there is room for both. Already, Europe and the USA buys lots of goods from China. If the supply of semiconductors from Taiwan was disrupted, the whole world would suffer.

Behind all conflicts is insecurity.  

Russia feels (illogically) threatened by the west. China feels threatened by the USA. The USA feels threatened by China.

Why can't we get along in peace? We all need to invest heavily in alternatives to fossil fuels and not waste our money on blowing each other up!

Lunch - NOT amateur radio

 

As my wife was out with old school friends, I had a pizza for lunch. I added some ham and mushrooms.

8m QRP WSPR (Saturday)

 For a change, I am on 8m QRP WSPR. I am on 40.680 MHz (DF about 1550 Hz, Tx 20% of the time) running 2W. 

UPDATE 1305z:  Just one spot by HC02 in Portugal.  Back on 8m QRP FT8 again now.

8m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

 My gear was turned on at about 0800z. I am on 40.680 MHz FT8 (DF about 1950 Hz, TX first). With strong Es already in Europe, I am hopeful.

UPDATE 0930z: No spots of me.

UPDATE 1304z:  After a period on WSPR, I am back on FT8.