24 Aug 2023
More crapapple jelly - NOT amateur radio
10m QRP WSPR TX ( Thursday)
My 500mW 10m WSPR TX beacon has been on for about 20 minutes. Spotted by 3 stations. 2 look like F2.
23 Aug 2023
Russian plane crash -- NOT amateur radio
It must be clear that Vladimir Putin would never harm his once hero, Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner group.
Crapapple jelly - NOT amateur radio
Yes you read correctly.
Yesterday I picked the crabapples on our tree. It looked a good crop. Following the recipe in BBC Good Food, I simmered them and dripped them through muslin overnight. The resulting juice was ....... pathetic. If I get just one very small jar I shall be amazed.
I am seeing if I can salvage something, although I am not holding my breath. Perhaps I should stick to radios?
Reach walk - NOT amateur radio
8m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)
My gear was turned on just after breakfast. At 1050z, only spotted by WESSEXSDR (266km). I assume this is aircraft reflection.
I am sure the many spots in the past by EI9KP (649km) must be by aircraft reflection. These appear random as there are many so many aircraft on this route.
UPDATE 1254z: No further 8m spots.
UPDATE 1820z: Just 2 G spots of my QRP. Aircraft scatter?
10m QRP WSPR (Wednesday)
The 500mW WSPR TX beacon was turned on just after breakfast. At 0932z, 3 stations spotted. Apart from a local, these look like F2.
UPDATE 1250z: 6 stations have spotted me, mostly via F2 I think.
22 Aug 2023
Crab apple jelly - NOT amateur radio
My plan is to make some crabapple jelly as my wife and I love it with pork chops.
More people on 10m WSPR?
This is definitely not scientific. My impression is that there are more people monitoring 10m WSPR than last year. This year it is not unusual to have spots from over 20 stations in a day. There were far fewer last year as I recall.
Electric cars - NOT amateur radio
Every day on social media I seem to get most ads about electric cars. I am interested, but feel we are not quite there yet. Prices are too high. Range is too short. Lithium is in short supply,. Charging away from home takes too long and there are too few charging points. Prices need to be halved, ranges doubled, and a technology that does not require slave labour is needed. 2027?
8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)
As 6m looked encouraging, I went on 8m FT8 QRP at about 0830z.
UPDATE 1040z: Quite a strong (for me!) spot by HC02 (1808km) in Portugal.
10m QRP WSPR TX (Tuesday)
It looks like G4KPX (14km) is monitoring as I have already been spotted with my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon. It is only now 0516z!
UPDATE 2011z: 19 stations have spotted me today.
6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)
Today, I am currently on 50.313 MHz vertical on FT8 with my 2.5W. Already 2 G spots of me shortly after 0500z. My antenna is the V2000 vertical omni.
8m between seasons
My experimental licence has been held since April 2022. So, I have experienced two Es seasons and F2 last autumn and winter. My 2.5W to a low dipole has been copied widely in Europe by Es and in the USA, Caribbean and Canada by F2.
On RX I have spotted S.Africans on several occasions. In the autumn it would be great to be copied in South Africa with my QRP FT8. Last summer was disappointing with fewer active TX stations than in 2022.
At the moment, we are between seasons. The big Es openings have all but ended and F2 has not really started. Better equipped stations are tapping in to TEP either directly or with F2 linking up with Es.
Overall, I am disappointed in 8m. I was hoping there would be far more activity by now, but if anything there are fewer stations active on TX. Where are the experimenters?
21 Aug 2023
Dahlias - NOT amateur radio
The area in front of the dahlias is grassed and this gets very churned up after wet weather.
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