6m QRP FT8

This morning, I am again on 6m FT8 with my 2.5W to the vertical V2000  omni antenna, Mostly UK with some Scandinavian spots on 6m FT8 yesterday.

UPDATE 1646z: 12 spots of me (see map), all in England. 7 stations spotted here (England and Wales).

630m QRP WSPR overnight

 

Either conditions were poor or people are QSYing as only 13 spots of my 10mW ERP WSPR overnight.

10m QRPP WSPR

My WSPR beacon without the PA is on again with 500uW on 10m. Once again, I was spotted in the Canary Islands yesterday. 

My article on these 500uW (0.5mW) tests was in the April 2024 RadCom by the RSGB.

At 500uW (0.5mW) is far harder at the RX end than with 500mW (30dB weaker). I was surprised to get spots at all as many people have a high local noise levels which masks weak signals.

UPDATE 1644z:  No spots.

Sunspots - Tuesday March 19th

 Solar flux is 177 and the SSN 127.  A=6 and K=2.

Swaffham Prior - NOT amateur radio

This sleepy village near Cambridge has two windmills and two churches (in the same churchyard!) as well as some fine old buildings.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

14 stations spotted me overnight. Furthermost was Norway.

Cheerfulness - NOT amateur radio

 

These are on our patio. They smell great, but I notice one flower that should not be there!

Sunspots- Monday March 18th

Solar flux is 151 and the SSN 86. A=2 and K= 0.

630m QRP WSPR (Sunday)

 At about 1906z I QSYed to 630m WSPR with my 10mW ERP. I had been on 8m FT8.

Return to 8m QRP FT8

At the moment, I am on 8m QRP FT8. The antenna appears to be a bit too long and probably needs cutting a bit. I have put on a new PL259 plug.

UPDATE 1730z:   No spots.

EI7GL's blog

John's blog is always interesting. I note he has a fascinating report of a 23cm QSO in Australia by lightning scatter. The blog is always worth a read.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/

Walk yesterday - NOT amateur radio

 

This is a collage of our walk around the village of Reach, near Cambridge, yesterday.

10m QRPP WSPR (Sunday)

My 500uW 10m WSPR is on again.

UPDATE 1050z:  Yet again my 500uW (0.5mW) WSPR has been spotted in the Canary Is.. A reminder that even though my beacon is pre-programmed to report 0.5W it is actually 0.5mW (30dB less) with the PA off in these tests. The station(s) at the RX end must have low noise floors!

UPDATE 1122z:  He has spotted me again. Now 2 spots of me today with 500uW (0.5mW) 10m WSPR. I guess this must be single hop F2.

UPDATE 1153z: The photos show Peter's site and antenna in the Canary Islands and my beacon which is about the size of a pack of cards and needs no PC.

UPDATE  1520z: For a third time today he has spotted my 500uW QRPP!

6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni is on again. At 0925z, 6 English stations had spotted me.

Stations spotting my 6m
QRP FT8 this morning

UPDATE 1217z: 8 stations have spotted me. It is pleasing to see activity even when there is no DX around. If I can work around the UK with just 2.5W and an omni, imagine what is possible with full power and a beam!

UPDATE 1435z:  No further spots of me, but I have spotted 14 UK stations.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

Overnight 14 stations, including  2 in Norway, spotted my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR.  I shall try again tonight. Being on 630m WSPR TX again over the last few months has been great fun.

Pathfinder - NOT amateur radio

My dad was a Pathfinder in Lancaster bombers in WW2 . He hated the war and rarely talked about those scary night raids over Germany. I am sure that those bombs would have killed or maimed innocent people just like him. This would have always haunted him all his life. Wars are so cruel.

He died in 1987 and loved his quiet life in Devon after the war. He must have been so brave and so scared knowing that on each trip he could have been killed or maimed.

Sunspots- Sunday March 17th

 Solar flux is 144 and the SSN 67 . A=3 and K=0.

630m QRP WSPR (Saturday)

 My 630m 10mW ERP WSPR has been spotted by 8 stations so far.

70cm

Years ago, there was plenty of activity on 70cm FM simplex. I had one of the first synthesised amateur rigs in the country. It was an FM321 based on the Australian UHF CB rig, the FM320. With an indoor UHF TV yagi and 4W much DX was worked on FM. It was very good.

These days, there is little activity apart from in contests. The map shows the contacts made with 10W SSB and my 2m omni antenna in a recent activity contest.

Openings on 70cm were localised, and often tropo openings were more frequent than on 2m. These days, with FT8, amazing distances can be covered. It is a great pity 70cm is so under-used.

Reach - NOT amateur radio

 Today we did a nice walk around the sleepy village of Reach. There has been a fair here since 1201.