Devon golf - NOT amateur radio

My brother plays golf ⛳️ in South Devon several times a week. The views are amazing.

Sunspots - Thursday June 27th

 Solar flux is 181 and the SSN 135.  A=9 and K=2.

8m TX permit

 Just got this from OFCOM......

Hi @Roger Lapthorn,

I’m afraid we can’t make any changes to the application.

We simply go of the dates provided in the application – You can of course apply again in the new year if you need more time for your project.

...and of course pay another £50!! Need I say more? Brain? Think? I am left feeling they really are stupid or brain dead.

Just to do experimentation? In the past they would just have issued an NoV to my amateur licence for free!! Meanwhile 2 MHz of VHF spectrum is available for radio amateurs by NoV. I am asking for just a few kilohertz at low power. I cannot contain my anger!

QMX+ cures

In the time I am away, I have ordered another USB-C to USB data lead as Ken's cure (suggested in a comment yesterday) did not work. 

To rule out the possibility of a lead problem, I shall replace the lead. This will have to wait until next week before I can try this.

Devon tomorrow - NOT amateur radio

All being well, I hope to travel to South Devon tomorrow by train to see my brother. My wife is staying here. I am coming back on Monday. 

This will mean fewer posts on this blog and means I cannot be on the radio.

Demise of amateur radio?

More than ever, I am convinced that amateur radio will die out.  It can't be long before many PTTs tire of amateur radio as it ties up people and generates no revenue.  

I can see the day coming when CB and amateur radio merge and callsigns are allocated (if at all) by national societies. It would not surprise me if all non-licenced things are merged at the same time e.g. ISM.   The golden rule is no harmful interference must be caused and any interference accepted.

Personally, I am not bothered as long as I can continue experimenting.

Fewer and fewer "amateur" radio operators know how their rigs work and even fewer actually experiment i.e. they are much like CB operators.

12 years ago

This was me operating in the garden of our old home using 2.5W CW into a small loop antenna. As I recall it worked remarkably well.

Sunspots - Wednesday June 26th

 Solar flux is 194 and the SSN 129. A=9 and K=1.

8m permanent amateur allocations

The number of countries with permanent amateur access to the 8m band is growing. Last week, the Cayman Is (ZF) joined the list. 

This reminds me of the early days on 6m in Region 1. Slow steps....

Faroe Islands - NOT amateur radio

These are located between Scotland and Iceland. I can imagine it can be cold and windy much of the time. 

This was a photo posted on 365project by someone who lives there. I imagine it is nice there when the sun shines.

8m TX permit - is OFCOM totally stupid?

On June 17th I was told my 8m TX licence was ready and would be emailed to me if I paid £50. Of course I was interested (I would have preferred to pay nothing and just be issued with a NoV to my amateur licence), but I could not be sent the licence until the invoice was settled. The date of the licence (when it eventually came) was from June 1st - well in the past!! I have asked for the dates to be changed to when I can actually do some research. 

Perhaps engage brain next time or send me a copy of the licence marked "not valid until invoice paid" or similar? No, that would involve thinking.  

It would appear they are only interested in taking money!

Frustration!

Recently, I bought a QMX+,  ready built in a case, from QRP labs. It arrived as promised and worked well. When I hit some issues I did a factory reset. With some help from Hans Summers it now covers the right bands and the CAT works. When I first got it, it recognised the audio codec in the QMX+. Not any more!!

I think I have now tried every combination but my Windows 10 PC refuses to recognise it. Apparently this is a known issue with Windows but not on Linux or Mac OS. Until it is fixed I cannot use the rig. 

I have applied to join the QRPLabs IO group and, once approved, I will enquire if others had the issue and if they know what to do. As the software is the same as that on the QMX (I think) others may have had the same issue.

Help!! 

It is a nice rig, but this is far harder than it should be. I was expecting it just to recognise the codecs in the QMX+ and just work.

If you know what to do, please tell me.

Far East from Europe by E layer on 6m

Regularly, at this time of year, there are openings from Europe to the Far East on 6m.  This happens year after year about now. 

It appears to be linked to the formation of noctilucent clouds in the mesosphere. These are forming more frequently now because of global warming.  With weak signal modes like FT8, these are being spotted more often.

I have copied Far East stations on 6m several times now, although my 2.5W has never been enough!

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/super-dx .

European Es (Tuesday)

In the spring and summer Es certainly helps short skip on many bands including the lower VHF bands such as 8m, 6m and 4m. It occasionally reaches far higher, although these openings are far less frequent.  

Occasionally, far further may be covered on 6m by Es, although personally I think this is far more likely to be some sort of chordal hop E layer propagation. Some of these paths seem too long to be multi-hop Es. Some may be by multi-hop Es, but I somehow doubt this is the main propagation mechanism.

See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ .

QMX+

My priority today is to get my QRP Labs QMX+ fully working again. 

Last week I attempted a factory reset, but it only covered 80-10m afterwards! 

Having discussed this with Hans Summers of QRP labs, I got a very helpful answer in which he pointed out that for QMX+ the band limits can be set to cover 160-6m by rotating a knob. I did not know this. I do now! 

Also, with Windows only (not Linux or Mac) the order in which things are turned on can affect the QMX+ audio being recognised (see later post today).

Sunspots - Tuesday June 25th

 Solar flux is 199 and the SSN 141.  A=5 and K=1.

Back on 8m QRP FT8, after a fashion

Later this week I am off to see my brother in Devon, but my XYL will still be here. 

I was hoping to erect my 8m dipole so I would have a few days operating before Thursday. I failed, so I am using my Par end fed that has a high SWR on 8m. 

When I get back I hope to be on properly. For now I shall probably be on RX most of the time.

My 8m TX permit  runs to June 2025.

UPDATE 0830z: Already spotted in Spain by EA3ERE (1153km) which is a great start!

UPDATE 0939z:  QSO with EA3ERE. No more QSOs, but I have been spotted in 2 countries and I have spotted 3 countries here on 8m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1200z:  Now that Spain is on 8m, I am surprised how many stations have been spotted. 13 at last count.

46 stations spotted
on 8m FT8 today

UPDATE 1347z:  18 stations spotted on 8m FT8 RX. I have been spotted by 3 stations in 3 countries, one QSO. My conclusion so far is that with Spain now on 8m TX it has made a lot of difference for the better.

UPDATE 1455z: 23 stations spotted today on 8m FT8.

UPDATE 2040z:  46 stations have been spotted on 8m FT8.  Mostly Spanish.

6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

Early Es spots of my 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna this morning on 6m.

10m QRP WSPR (Monday)

 Early Es spots of my 500mW WSPR this morning with spots from Eastern Europe.

Early Es

It looks like Es has started early today with spots on both 10m and 6m QRP.