QSYed to QRP 8m FT8 (Tuesday)

10m FT8 was too easy, so I have QSYed to 8m QRP FT8 hoping to catch some F2 propagation. I QSYed at 1423z to 40.680 MHz first period TX.

UPDATE 1818z:  No spots.  There seem to be a lot of people monitoring 8m today (see map).

UPDATE 2043z:  No spots. QRT.

10m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

This afternoon, I am on 10m QRP FT8. It is now 1250z and I have spotted 37 stations across the planet and my 2.5W has been spotted by 1 station.

UPDATE 1414z: 21 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 166.

How do they do it?

Steve G1KQH has pointed me to this link for a 40m Pixie CW transceiver kit for just £1.36 plus shipping. How do they do it and make a profit?

See https://a.aliexpress.com/_EITEaHH. 

630m WSPR TX

In the end I located my antenna current meter but it was broken and soldering the toroid on again was very hard. Still not on TX. 

I have ordered some more 50 ohm patch leads and more PL259 to BNC adaptors.

Fault finding (despite the difficulty) continues. I hope to be on 630m WSPR TX by the weekend.

Sunspots - Tuesday September 26th 2023

Solar flux is 170 and the SSN 164. A=23 and K=4. Sunspot count still good. 

Fixing my 630m transverter

My very old transverter used a 28.060 MHz local oscillator. I obviously went to 3.2 MHz in my newer design to reduce start-up drift. 

My antenna current meter is still missing. It is somewhere in the shack, probably in a drawer somewhere.

My first step is to see if I can detect my 3.2 MHz oscillator on the newer transverter.

By some means, I want to be on 630m WSPR TX this evening!

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Monday)

My QRP beacon has been on since about 0814z. Just local G4KPX(14km) has copied me this morning so far.  HF conditions appear a bit disturbed?

UPDATE 1006z: Since 0910z, I have been spotted in the Canary Is.. I remain amazed at how strong these F2 signals can be at times. I have received -4dB S/N at times despite running just 500mW.

Repair Cafe - NOT amateur radio

Every month our village holds a repair cafe where they try to repair things that otherwise would be scrapped. I was expecting it to be quiet, but it was busy. They also serve tea and cakes. What a good idea. Repairs are free, but they appreciate donations.

Plans for Monday

 My current plan is to go on 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW beacon and fix my 630m transverter so I can TX on 630m this evening. 

Well that is the plan!

630m WSPR yesterday

Sunday evening 6 stations were spotted as the chart shows.

I must get back on TX soon! Thinking about my transverter, I guess the first thing to try is see if I can receive the 3.2 MHz oscillator on another RX. If this is not going, it would give me a very good clue where to start looking. My problem these days is it is like fault finding in a brain fog! Somewhere I have my very old transverter which I used on 500 kHz years ago.

2012 back of the garage

In the old house most of my building was in the back of the garage as this photo from 2012 shows. 

Sunspots - Monday September 25th 2023

Solar flux is 174 and the SSN 172. A=21 and K=5.

630m WSPR RX

 At about 1845z I QSYed to 630m (472kHz) WSPR RX. So far just G1GKN (54km) spotted.

I have found my old transverter, but not the current meter yet. I hope to mend the transverter this week.

UPDATE 1932z:  DC0DX (467km) spotted.

UPDATE 1946z: SM6NOC (1056km) spotted.

QSYed to QRP 8m FT8

Even though my chances are small, I have QSYed to 40.680 MHz FT8. At this time of year Es openings are possible, but rare. Aircraft reflection is possible, as I suppose are random MS and tropo. I live in hope! F2 is unlikely at this time of year with my low power.

UPDATE 1829z:  No spots. I see there are 3 stations in Belgium on. I hope I can get spotted by one or spot them.

UPDATE 1833z:  QRT soon on 8m after a hopeless day!

CQWW contests

Today is the CQWW RTTY contest. The SSB contest (the biggest in the world) is at the end of October and the CW contest at the end of November. 

As my voice is poor, I do not get the same pleasure I used to get in the SSB contest. Also, I frequently forget!  

Even if you are not a great contest fan (I am not!), it is a great opportunity to work some more countries. Exchange is, I think, report and CQ zone if you are outside of the USA. For example, if in the UK, 5914. Of course, there is no need to submit a contest entry. I have never submitted an entry to CQWW.

HF MUF

Recently, I was made aware of this website. As the MUF is creeping up, it is worth a regular look. It may give a clue to possible 8m and 6m F2 openings.

See https://www.sws.bom.gov.au/HF_Systems/6/5 - this gives the MUF for vertical incidence.

See also https://prop.kc2g.com/ .

10m QRP WSPR TX

 My 500mW WSPR beacon was turned on about 0800z. So far, spots from the Canary Is.. I presume this is F2.

UPDATE 1048z:   Still just the spots from the Canaries.

UPDATE 1835z: The usual USA stations spotted me, but going QRT very soon.

6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My 2.5W to the V2000 vertical was turned on at about 0800z. No spots yet. If things look promising, I may try 8m QRP FT8.

UPDATE 0849z:  So far, spots of my QRP from 4 UK stations. I suspect some are by aircraft reflection with the furthermost GW4VXE (367km),

630m WSPR RX overnight

Once again I stayed on 630m WSPR RX overnight with the earth-electrode antenna in the ground. No further stations were spotted on RX overnight proving it is not worth staying on after midnight.

The shack some years ago

This was one of my Facebook memories today. It shows my shack 11 years ago.