Sunspots - Friday December 8th 2023

 Solar flux is 135 and the SSN 121.  A=5 and K=1.

Seasonal Colour - NOT amateur radio

 

Christmastime here always includes hyacinths and amaryllis (see photo).

8m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

My 2.5W to the dipole was turned in about 1445z. Yesterday the SWR was higher than 3:1. Now it is perfect. I have no idea why!   Perhaps a bird was sitting at the feedpoint? I don't think it is wet in the coax as conditions at the moment are very similar to yesterday. No spots.

UPDATE 1730z:  No spots all day.

10m 500uW WSPR tests continued (Thursday)

My QRPPP 10m WSPR TX was turned on about 1445z. No spots.

UPDATE 1530z:  Amazing!!! A transatlantic spot at 500uW (see table). Although my beacon is hard wired to report 0.5W, the actual output with the PA off is 500uW (0.5mW).

Plans for today

 When I get back from my U3A course in Cambridge after lunch, I shall try 500uW (0.5mW) 10m WSPR and try to better match my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground using the NanoVNA as a guide. Let's hope WSPRnet is working!

Sunspots - Thursday December 7th 2023

 Solar flux is 130 and the SSN 125. A=10 and K=1.

NanoVNA

Well, I think I know how to drive it, so I may try to better match my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground tomorrow after I get back from Cambridge in the afternoon.

For the price it is some instrument.

WSPRnet sick?

This afternoon, I have failed to access WSPRnet. It looks like there is a fault. 

Without this, I cannot continue my 10m 500uW experiments. Tomorrow, I may try 10m FT8.  I can try this with 50mW if need be.

Is there an alternative to WSPRnet?

It looks like WSPRrocks is working.

2200m QRP

 Apart from an abortive try last year with my CW beacon, I have not tried this band for many years. 

With my NanoVNA I can (in theory!) match my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground perfectly on that band, so I may repeat my beacon test at 2200m to see if I get more success. Last time I was trying reception with a mag-mounted EFP antenna. I guess this also needs checking.

Looking back through Google Photos I came across my old 2200m transverter, that I used for LF WSPR tests. I guess this would have been 2012? This is shown in the photo. It is not pretty, but it worked!

Christmas shopping - NOT amateur radio

Just before lunch my wife and I did some shopping for food in Newmarket. 

We usually do our food shopping there, varying the shops.

8m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

 At about 1430z my 2.5W 8m FT8 and a dipole was turned on. For some reason, my dipole has gone high SWR and it is actually lower on my triband V2000, so I am using this at present. Not quite sure what has changed.

UPDATE 1445z:  Just local G4WSZ (12km) has spotted me.

Winter garden - NOT amateur radio

There is debate when winter starts. Personally, I go along with the UK Met Office that has winter starting at the beginning of December. To me, winter is December, January and February with spring in March, April and May.

Using the Met Office definition, we are already in winter. During the winter, many trees lose their leaves, grass stops growing or grows very slowly, and everywhere looks dead. Under the ground things are sleeping, waiting to come to life on warm, spring days.

Calendars - NOT amateur radio

My wife enjoys making calendars and posters. Every year she does a calendar for the hall and one for the kitchen, plus a poster to remember the last year. I do one for the radio shack. The one in the photo is an extract of the hall calendar.

10m 500uW WSPR tests continue Wednesday

Judging by the results yesterday, it is possible some stations may have spotted my 500uW (0.5mW) WSPR TX yesterday, so these tests, at 500uW, will continue today.

UPDATE 1440z:  No spots at 500uW.

UPDATE 1630z:  Checking on WSPRrocks, I can see that EA8/DF4UE (2786km) spotted my 10m 0.5mW test today. Even though the beacon is hard wired to report 0.5W, the output with the PA of is 500uW.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

 

In all, 9 stations spotted my 10mW ERP in the last 24 hours. No great DX.

Sunspots - Wednesday December 6th 2023

 Solar flux is 142 and the SSN 133.  A=11 and K=2.

630m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

My gear (10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground) was turned on at about 2045z.  

Looking at my NanoVNA the SWR is far higher than it should be. Tomorrow, I shall see if the match may be improved.

UPDATE 2136z: 8 spots of me.

NanoVNA

Recently, I purchased one of these, mainly to measure the VSWR of my various antennas. At the moment, I am still learning to drive it. 

There are a few YouTube videos that help too. You seem to get a lot for your money.  I am also charging the battery. At the moment, I am still learning.

On my "to do" list is measuring the VSWR of all the antennas I use. 

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

 My 2.5W and dipole was turned on about 1500z. This is later than usual. No spots.

UPDATE 1735z: Just local spots by G4WSZ (12km).

Please explain in plain English - NOT amateur radio

This morning I received this from Google. 

"Google Cloud BigQuery works with Google Analytics 4 to help you become more data-driven and unlock AI. Bringing Google Analytics data into BigQuery can help you reveal business insights across more data and build ML-based audiences to increase marketing ROI."

I have no idea what ML means and many will not know what ROI means!