Yesterday's walk - NOT amateur radio

 

My wife made a collage of our walk at Quy near Cambridge yesterday. It was a pleasant walk down to the river and lake.

It is here for the record.

630m WSPR (Sunday)

Now that my 630m station is working well on "split", I can be on both TX and RX on 630m WSPR. For a change, I am sticking with 630m WSPR in the daytime to see what happens. I am surprised by the activity that is there. Perhaps it is because it is a weekend? 

UPDATE 1411z:  QRT on 630m. On again this evening. In the last day I have been spotted by 11 stations with the furthermost OH1LSQ (1733km). Pleasing with a very low ERP and the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.  Some while back, I measured the ERP as 10mW.  The transverter produces 10-15W into a 50 ohm load. See my website for details.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/630m-472khz-transverter

UPDATE 1555z:  630m WSPR gear turned on again at 1554z.

UPDATE 1905z:  At the moment WSPRnet seems not to be working, so I am looking on WSPR Rocks. So far this evening these are the stations spotting me (see map).

UPDATE 2125z:  OH1LSQ (1733km) and a station in Norway have spotted my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR this evening. The station in Finland has spotted me for 2 days running.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Sunday)

My 500mW beacon is on again. Spots from the Canaries as well as some stations in Europe are again being received. I guess these latter ones could be F2 backscatter or Es. 

UPDATE 1326z:  So far today, my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon has been spotted by 34 stations (see table).

UPDATE 1511z:  46 spots of me today.

UPDATE 1806z:  Spotted by 53 stations today.

Yesterday on 630m WSPR

Now "split" is working I am fully active on 630m WSPR. DX spots with the earth-electrode antenna in the ground are as good as ever. Great to be back. 

Sunspots - Sunday October 8th 2023

Solar flux is 157 and the SSN 145.  A=4 and K=2.

LoRa devices at 863-870 MHz

 As far as I can gather, this band is licence exempt in the UK and may be of use to experimenters. I have not read the regulations wrt ERP etc.. 

It may be of use for short-range experiments over a few kilometers. I expect there are several RF modules available. 

Helsinki, Finland - NOT amateur radio

In all, I have been here 5 times, 2 for work and 3 times on holiday. On holiday it was summer time and mild. For work, it was once in winter and very cold and once in May. We travelled north to Oulo where there was still ice in May!  

Helesinki is a fine city with a nice feel.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki .

Quy Hall near Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

This morning, we went for a walk to Quy Hall, near Cambridge. 

8m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

My 2.5W to the dipole was turned on at about 0830z. Already spotted by G4WSZ (12km) , but really hoping for some excellent F2 propagation and transatlantic spots like last F2 season. 

UPDATE 1319z:   Still just the local spot. I think for F2 it has to be good with just 2.5W.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Saturday)

 My 500mW 10m WSPR beacon was turned on at about 0830z. It seems almost every day I get spotted in the Canary Islands. 

UPDATE 1129z:  So far today, 16 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1803z:   50 stations have spotted me today.

630m split?

I can't remember the last version of WSJT-X I used on 630m. It appears a problem with split may be linked to a earlier version, so later today I may try split with WSJT-X v2.6.

UPDATE 1310z:  First problem - locate the FT817ND manual to find how to set up split as I cannot remember how to do this!

UPDATE 1755z:  Split seems to be working so I can both TX and RX on 472 kHz WSPR.

UPDATE 1900z:  OH1LSQ (1723km) is the furthermost spot of me in the last few days (see table). Not bad with the low ERP (10mW) and earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. This REALLY works and nothing is visible.

UPDATE 2012z: These are the stations I have spotted on 630m WSPR RX in the last few weeks (see map).

10m WSPR TX yesterday

In all, 41 stations spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon yesterday. 

Sunspots - Saturday October 7th 2023

Solar flux is 155 and the SSN 138. A=9 and K=2. 

630m antenna current meter fixed

Just mended my 630m antenna current meter. G0VQH (15km) is reporting me 2-3dB stronger. I think there were dry joints. I am finding soldering much harder nowadays- a combination of old age, eyesight and my 2013 stroke!

As my modified FT817ND does not allow me "split" operation for some reason, I am currently TX only with WSPR on 22% TX.

UPDATE 1841z: 6 spots of me so far this evening. I think my ERP is about 10mW.

Ely Cathedral Art Exhibition - NOT amateur radio

Today, we went to Ely. There was an art exhibition in the Lady Chapel at the cathedral.  It was very good and free.

Platlights

These very powerful LEDs were bought in 2012. They were going to be used on 481THz tests over the horizon. Sadly my stroke got in the way. 

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Friday)

 My 10m WSPR TX beacon was switched on just after breakfast. So far, spots from the Canary Is..

UPDATE 1635z:   29 spots of my QRP 10m WSPR beacon.

8m QRP FT8 (Friday)

 At the moment, I am on 8m QRP FT8 with my 2.5W and dipole. Just  local spots by G4WSZ (12km).

Fixing the 630m antenna current meter

As reported yesterday, it appears I have a fault with my antenna current meter. Today I must find the fault. I shall go on 630m WSPR TX tonight. I'm finding fault finding and soldering harder these days. 

Sunspots - Friday October 6th 2023

 Solar flux is 156 and the SSN 179. A=16 and K=2.