New life - NOT amateur radio

After what has seemed a long, dull winter there are signs of spring and new life. There are lots of daffodils, nest building and fresh green leaves appearing,

2m QRP FT8

 

Yesterday late I decided to go on 2m QRP FT8. I was on the vertical V2000 omni antenna. Quite amazing.

Sunspots - Sunday March 23rd

 Solar flux is 178 and the SSN 177. A=33 and K=1.

Salcombe, Devon, UK - NOT amaeur radio

In my early childhood, I lived by the sea in Salcombe, Devon. A look on YouTube had loads of videos of the town. 

It is now a rich man's playground with many second homes. In my day, although we had plenty of tourists, it was still a town for locals.

AI lectures - NOT amateur radio

On Friday, I finished a 10 week course at the Cambridge University of the Third Age about AI. It was an excellent course and got me thinking.  It is generally known that AI will well exceed humans in the next few years. 

This morning I watched an AI generated video imagining life in late Victorian times. If I had not known it was AI generated, I would never have known. It was amazingly good. This is just one of the negatives of AI. It is already hard to tell what is fake and what is real. Imagine how this will be in just 10 years' time!

In many ways AI will benefit mankind. It is also very dangerous in the wrong hands. I imagine that the military in the USA, China and Russia are already working hard to counter each other. I imagine they are all working on the idea of mutually assured destruction (MAD) remembering what ever you can do to me I can do to you. It is like nuclear weapons.

Am I in favour of AI?  It is here and we have to live with it whether malign or benign.

Sunspots - Saturday March 22nd

 Solar flux is 165 and the SSN 178. A=25 and K=5.

Ad-(non)sense - NOT amateur radio

As part of running this blog I get stats on visitor numbers from Google Adsense. Basically this is rubbish!  Sometimes visit numbers are high, whereas other times I am supposed to get very few visits. It is best ignored.

WSJT-X 2.7

This happened about a month ago, but I have only just noticed! WSJT-X is now at general release 2.7.  WSJT-X has many of the common digital modes and may be downloaded for free.

See https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx.html 

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

 My IC-705 was turned on at 6W just before 0800z.  At 0920z spotted by 9 stations in the UK and Eire.

UPDATE 2112z:  18 stations have spotted me. No continental Europe and no exotic DX. In fact, a pretty lousy day. QRT.

10m QRP WSPR (Friday)

My 500mW beacon was turned on at 0754z. 3 stations spotting me at 0938z.

UPDATE 2110z:  Spotted by 30 stations. Spots from the USA started just before 1200z. QRT

Friday plans

10m QRP WSPR and 6m QRP FT8 seem appropriate like yesterday.

Quasheng video

This handheld dual band transceiver is available at a bargain price. It may be modified to receive on a wide range and in many modes.

Grass cutting - NOT amateur radio

 

Yesterday definitely felt springlike, so I cut the rear lawn.  We enjoyed our first cup of tea outside.

Sunspots - Friday March 21st

 Solar flux is 170 and the SSN 191. A=6 and K=3.

Rallies this weekend

 You can tell it is spring as I am being notified of several rallies. All these are on Sunday March 23rd. As usual, it is always advisable to check details before going far.

• Biggleswade Swapmeet (BVWS), Biggleswade, SG18 8JH. Contact secretary@bvws.org.uk
• Callington Radio and Electronice Rally,  Callington, PL17 7BD.  Contact alastair.kerr@btinternet.com
• Dover Amateur Radio Club 2025 Rally, Dover, CT17 0HL. See darc.online/rally

6m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

 My IC-705 at 6W was turned on at about 0900z. So far, 7 stations have spotted me, all UK.

UPDATE 1200z:  21 stations have spotted my QRP. 

UPDATE 1600z:  41 stations have spotted me today on 6m FT8 QRP.  See map.

10m QRP WSPR (Thursday)

My 500mW stand-alone beacon was turned on about 0900z.  So far 9 spots by EA8BFK (2880km).

UPDATE 1629z: 23 stations have spotted me. No North American spots, suggesting 8m and 6m would be very unlikely.

FT102

This was a classic 1970s radio. It was a hybrid design with a 6146 PA.

Sunspots - Thursday March 20th

 Solar flux is 180 and the SSN 190. A=23 and K=2.

New video to be created: QMX+ on 8m

 Although my voice is poor I think I need to produce a new video showing how the QMX+ can be put on 8m. Perhaps I can intersperse photos with printed words to avoid talking?

In the meantime my video channel is on YouTube. See https://www.youtube.com/@G3XBM/videos .