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The sun came out after lunch.
We can see it from the breakfast table and from the lounge.
25 Feb 2025
10m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)
My IC-705 at 5W was turned on just before breakfast.
UPDATE 0945z: Spotted by 21 stations with the furtherest South America and Reunion Is..
UPDATE 1435z: Turned the power down to 500mW to see what happens on 10m QRP FT8.
UPDATE 1518z: Even at 500mW FT8, 28 stations have spotted me with about half of these in the USA with one in the west of Canada.
Mindfulness - NOT amateur radio
This is one of those "new age" phrases that many find annoying.
What it is really trying to get you to do is live and enjoy the "now". We are often crowded out by thoughts and worries in our heads and forget to enjoy the simple pleasures all around us right now.
Often the most mundane thing is pleasurable, but we are too busy worrying to just enjoy it.
See https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/tips-and-support/mindfulness/.
Tuesday plans
Today I think I shall go on 10m QRP FT8. Probably my QRP will span the world. Probably I shall use the IC-705 at 5W.
Village sign -NOT amateur radio
It is located on a place called Pound Hill as it was once the location of the village pound where animals found wandering were locked up and released when the owner paid a fine!
It is also the tiny village green.
24 Feb 2025
CDARC website
A quick look at the Cambridge Radio Club website showed a photo of me giving a talk. I am doing one later this week on 8m. I prepare the slides, but as my voice is so poor someone else is doing the presentation and speaking! The photo must be years old as an "in person" presentation must pre-date my 2013 stroke.
What is the world coming to? - NOT amateur radio
When my wife was young she took a wolf whistle as a compliment. These days even just a touch is an infringement of civil liberties and is a sackable offence! Get real, please. I really hope a judge somewhere says, "case dismissed, stop wasting my time".
Yes, everyone regardless of race, sexuality, colour and nationality has a right to be treated properly and with respect, but there is a vast difference between abusing someone and just a friendly and unharmful touch or comment.
8m QRP FT8 (Monday)
My FT817ND to the low dipole was turned on at about 0915z on 40.680 MHz with a DF of about 1960Hz.
UPDATE 1017z: Spotted by a couple of stations in the Canary Is at about 3000km.
10m 500mW WSPR TX (Monday)
My 500mW 10m WSPR beacon was turned on at 0914z. EA8BFK (2880km) and local G4KPX (14km) spotting me.
UPDATE 1019z: 4 stations spotting me with the furthermost ZD7GB (7607km).
UPDATE 1535z: 31 stations spotting me including JW1ITS Jan Mayen (2945km) in the frozen north. Best DX is a spot from Brazil.
Monday plans
Shortly, I intend to try 10m QRP WSPR TX and 8m QRP FT8 TX. The solar forecast is quite promising.
Reach walk - NOT amateur radio
23 Feb 2025
The dangers of AI - NOT amateur radio
There is no doubt that AI can be very good at analysing lots of data very fast and can be much better than a human. Large language models are trained and GPT4 is vastly bigger and better than the last version. Mistakes still occur, yet many people believe it is true!
Recently I have seen several things on Facebook that may have been done with AI. The trouble now is telling what is real and what is not. As time goes by, AI will only get better. All I can advice is you take great care and assume anything a person is supposed to have said is AI unless you know for certain it is real.
Latest FTX-1F news
This was recently on the FTX-1F IO group...
"Talked to the folks at the Yaesu Booth, at the Orlando Hamfest, today. They said the FTX-1F was ready to be released, worldwide. The current holdup is type acceptance, by the FCC, here in the United States. They want to release the radio simultaneously, around the world. They said they could not even bring a radio to look at, because it was not type accepted, yet.Buddy WB4OMG”
What surprises me is that better specs have not been released giving more detail.
4m and 60m
When I briefly owned a Yaesu FT710 I tried 4m FT8 and was copied all over the UK and mainland Europe despite not having a "proper" antenna and loading up my 2m big-wheel via the auto ATU. Outside the Es season activity was very disappointing. I was surprised.
Also, it is a pity we don't have the WARC 60m band like many others. Many are probably put off by the "bitty" nature of the UK allocations. No doubt we share this with the military who keep saying "no". I bet if we look at all the bands kept "just in case" for the UK military, it would be huge chunks of spectrum.
I fail to understand why radio amateurs cannot gain limited secondary access to some of these with very low power, by NoV, and us being asked to go QRT at any time there was heightened tension, war or interference. After all they know our callsigns and location! In the meantime huge swathes of spectrum ripe for experimentation stay fallow.
If you ask me .... stupid.
8m QRP FT8 (Sunday)
My gear was turned on about 0730z .
 |
| 8m monitors earlier |
UPDATE 1954z: QRT. Just one station spotted me today EI3KF (574km).
10m QRP WSPR (Sunday)
My 500mW beacon was turned on about 0730z . 2 stations spotting me at 0822z .
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