My beacon was turned on at about 1500z.
UPDATE 1526z: So far, spotted by just one station in the USA.
30 Dec 2025
6m 5W FT8 (Tuesday)
At about 1455z, I QSYed to 6m 5W FT8.
UPDATE 1521z: Spotted by 5 English stations.
10m 1W FT8 (Tuesday)
As mentioned earlier, I decided to go on 10m 1W FT8.
UPDATE 1435z: 1l0 stations have spotted me. See map.
DXpedition
These days I don’t chase DX but you may be interested in the DXpedition to an island in the Caribbean quite close to Puerto Rico. I had to check where this was as I had no idea!!
Too interconnected?
In these days we live in a very interconnected way and we take this for granted.
Electricity in the UK (and many places) comes from gas a great deal still. Most of the UK's food is imported. Most goods are bought with cards. Fuel is imported. Most of out manufactured goods come from abroad. The internet works because it is vastly connected. Most of us depend on our smart phones.
Just imagine if we had a sudden shock and had to live without some (or all) of these. Would society be able to cope?
Tuesday plans
Probably more 10m 500mW WSPR and 6m 5W FT8, but I may decide differently! In the end I went on 10m FT8 with 1W!!
Fog of war
Always in times of war opposing sides slag the other side off.
It is hard to see through this “fog” and get at the truth.
The measure of a good politician is to be able to see through this and steer the right course.
29 Dec 2025
Uncertain times?
There was an interesting piece on the BBC website this morning about the state of the world. After a relatively peaceful time since WW2, it looks as if we are entering more troubled times. Since WW2 we have lived under the shadow of atomic war.
It looks like future wars will be more hybrid with enemies trying to disrupt the lifestyles of those they are wishing to hurt. As with the Cold War, whatever one side wants to do, the other side could do similar.
Like all periods, humans adapt.
6m FT8 5W (Monday)
My gear was turned on at 0942z.
UPDATE 1100z: So far, spotted by many English stations and one in Denmark 🇩🇰.
UPDATE 1335z: Spotted by 12 stations including one in Germany and Denmark.
10m 500mW WSPR (Monday)
My gear was turned on at 0942z.
UPDATE 1054z: So far, spotted by stations in Finland and the Canary Islands.
UPDATE 1328z: 14 stations have spotted my 500mW WSPR. See table.
Digital Voice (DV) transceiver
This was on Facebook yesterday, It looks like Crawley club members have been busy.
28 Dec 2025
ICOM IC705
In my view the IC-705 vastly beats the Yaesu FTX-1. Certainly in the UK, the FTX-1 is very expensive and still lacks many of the features that the IC-705 had years ago. It was introduced about 5 years ago. In my humble view Yaesu is playing catch up ... and losing badly.
It would not surprise me at all if ICOM announced an IC705A later this year in a portable form factor aimed at SOTA and POTA users with internal auto ATU and maybe 4m in European versions. It could sell well.
Yaesu have made some great kit and the majority of my commercial transceivers have been Yaesu. But I get the distinct impression Yaesu have "gone off the boil".
6m 5W FT8 (Sunday)
My gear was turned on at 0947z.
UPDATE 1006z: So far, 4 English stations have spotted me.
UPDATE 1435z: Spotted by 15 stations with the furthest GM6NX (505km).
10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)
My beacon was turned on at 0946z.
UPDATE 1004z: So far, one spot by EA8BFK (2880km).
UPDATE 1439z: Spotted by 17 stations, most in North America.
70cm way back
This has been on before. When first on the air I was a G8 and could only operate on 70cm and above unless operating another station under supervision. At university I became a G3.
My first forays on 70cm were with a version of this transverter. As most were crystal controlled it was fine. With a passive mixer it must have been deaf but worked some impressive DX with a tiny yagi on AM.
Sunday plans
At the moment my plans are the same as yesterday i.e. 10m 500mW WSPR and 6m 5W FT8, although I may decide differently later!
Ukraine’s future
Today the president of Ukraine is meeting the US president at his estate in Florida. If President Zelenskyy does not accept what President Trump has agreed , the US president could just walk away.
The future of democracy is at stake, although I don’t think President Trump appreciates this sadly.
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