Rally news

The following rallies are due this weekend. If you are going a long way, I always advise contacting the organisers first. 

Saturday November 18th - Rochdale and District ARS Winter Rally, Norden, Rochdale, OL12 7QR.  Contact dave@cardens.me.uk .

Sunday November 19th  - Coulsdon Amateur Transmitting Society (CATS) Bazaar,  Old Coulsdon, CR5 1ES. Contact bazaar@catsradio.org.uk .

8m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

 My 2.5W 8m FT8 was turned on at 1413z.  No spots at 1617z.

Fog of war - NOT amateur radio

When there are wars on it is very hard to discern the truth as all sides tend to distort the truth. This was true in the Vietnam war and was certainly true in WW2. 

At the moment, in the Middle East, it is hard to untangle the facts. Clearly Israel wants to eliminate the threat from Hamas. At the same time, many innocent people are being killed or maimed and their homes destroyed. The best way I have found is to listen to the news from both angles and try to make up your mind on the truth. With the "fog of war", this is hard.  

The only thing for certain is that all involved bend the truth!!

10m uW WSPR (Thursday)

My 10m WSPR beacon is still turned on but with the PA turned off. No spots. My beacon is pre-programmed to say 0.5W, even though the power is actually about 500uW.

UPDATE 1630z:  Unless things dramatically change, I think spots of my 500uW on 10m WSPR TX are very unlikely today. Tomorrow, I shall probably revert to 500mW, i.e. QRO for me! I guess the issue for many is now a high local noise floor.

630m overnight

With 15 stations spotting me overnight (on 630m WSPR with 10mW ERP) this is my best this season. Once again the best were 3 spots  by OH1LSQ (1733km).

Sunspots - Thursday November 16th 2023

Solar flux is 119 and the SSN 41. A=12 and K=2.

630m QRP WSPR (Wednesday)

 My 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground was turned on shortly after 1730z.

UPDATE 1736z:   2 spots of me so far.

Fungi - NOT amateur radio

 

This fungi was on a log at Anglesey Abbey, near Cambridge, earlier.  At one time there was a hornet's nest here.

Medieval stained glass - NOT amateur radio

 

This stained glass is in King's College Chapel in Cambridge and dates from the 1500s.

As locals, we can get in to the chapel free.

The chapel is darker than normal as there is scaffolding and tarpaulins outside.

8m QRP FT8

My 8m QRP (2.5W) was turned on about 0920z.  No spots yet.

UPDATE 1442z: An Irish station called me, but we were unable to complete the contact.

UPDATE  1725z: No spots of me today on PSKreporter.  Shortly QSYing to 630m WSPR.

10m uW WSPR TX

A reminder that today I am trying my 10m WSPR beacon with the PA off. According to my TinySA spectrum analyser the output is about 0.5mW or 500uW. This is pre-programmed to show the power as 0.5W even though the power is actually 30dB lower. As yet, no spots.

UPDATE 1720z: No spots all day. I think conditions have to be well up for this to succeed.

630m WSPR overnight

12 stations spotted me overnight whilst I was using 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna"  in the ground.

Sunspots - Wednesday November 15th 2023

Solar flux is 124 and the SSN 86.  A=6 and K=1. 

Bus shelter - NOT amateur radio

We go by this bus shelter every week. Only recently have we noticed how mossy the roof has become. 

We have had a very wet autumn.

10m uW DXing

As an experiment tomorrow, I may leave the PA turned off on my 10m WSPR TX beacon. It is pre-programmed to say 0.5W, but I would guess the actual power out is microwatts. I must check the difference on a spectrum analyser.

My guess is some single digit reports of me might still be copied if my PA was off. Today, there were several such reports. I guess it also depends on the RX station having a low noise floor.

UPDATE 2150z:  Using my TinySA spectrum analyser, it looks like the TX is 30dB weaker with the PA turned off, so the output is about 500uW. I wonder how many will be able to spot this on Wednesday?

10m 500mW WSPR TX

My 10m WSPR TX beacon was switched on about 30 minutes ago. Several spots already.

UPDATE 1656z:  54 spots of me today.

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

Once again, I am on 8m WSPR with my 2.5W and dipole. Of course, my PL259 plug failed and a high VSWR resulted. After resoldering (hard these days), I am back on the air. No spots yet.

UPDATE 1015z:   Just local spots of me by G4WSZ (12km).

UPDATE 1647z:  3 stations have spotted me: 2 UK and 1 Caribbean.

Windy - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday we had strong winds. Many of the trees in our garden lost plenty of leaves. The next milestone will be looking for the first buds to appear in the spring.

Waxwings - NOT amateur radio

In the winter time waxwings (pinkish almost starling sized birds with crests) fly to the UK from Scandinavia because food is more plentiful. They are often spotted eating berries in supermarket car-parks. In all my years, I have never seen one!  It is not for the lack of looking either.

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/waxwing .

630m QRP WSPR overnight

13 stations spotted me including 4 spots from OH1LSQ (1733km) in Finland and two from Norway. Not bad with 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.