Sunspots - Tuesday January 2nd 2018

Solar flux is 72 today with sunspot number still zero. A=11 and K=2.

10m FT8

I remained on 10m FT8 RX overnight. This morning G0OYQ (177km) and DF7IW (613km) were spotted early on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1040z:  Now OY1DZ (1163km) spotted on 10m FT8.

UPDATE 1524z:  9 unique stations in 6 European countries so far today on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1816z: Well, well, well VP8LP (12772km) has just been spotted on 10m FT8.

UPDATE 1842z: Now PU4YEN (9137km) is coming through.

Near the R.Cam - NOT amateur radio

When most think of the River Cam they think of punts outside Kings in Cambridge. Further downstream it is bleak and wild. Most New Year's Day's we go for a walk and reminisce about the year just ended. Today it was very very muddy on the banks of the Cam near Upware!

Sub-9kHz amateur radio

One of the websites I run is Sub-9kHz Amateur Radio. This is one of the true frontiers and is surprisingly accessible. Most of the software you need is totally free and audio amps work! Layout is not critical.  On RX especially large antennas are not required.

Why not give it a go in 2018? I promise you that you will not be disappointed.

13A UK socket with USB charging and wifi extender

7dayshop is selling a dual 13A 240V UK power socket which has a built in USB charging socket together with a wifi extender. What next?

See https://www.7dayshop.com/products/masterplug-double-electrical-socket-with-wifi-extender-and-usb-port-wh2-922uwr?utm_source=maillist&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20180101

Old Scatterpoint Microwave Newsletters

Thanks to Southgate News I reminded that old copies of Scatterpoint are available online. If you want to read 2017 and 2018 editions you need to join UKuG.

See http://www.microwavers.org/indexs.htm

10m FT8 RX

Currently I am monitoring 10m FT8. The first station copied this year was D41CV (4517km) in the Cape Verde Islands. Since then, quite a wide spread of stations spotted.

UPDATE 1605z:  I wonder if this was winter Es? Signal levels were very strong. D41CV was clearly audible too. No further spots since.

UPDATE 1734z: Still no further 10m FT8 spots. Me thinks this was an Es opening that came and went.

630m WSPR overnight

Overnight my 10mW 630m ERP WSPR was spotted by 8 unique stations in 2 countries. In turn, I spotted 5 unique stations in 4 countries. Overall, disappointing.

Happy New Year 2018

To all readers, I hope you have a very happy 2018. Solar conditions are likely to decline further, but nonetheless there are still plenty of things to enjoy in our hobby.

Sunspots - Monday January 1st 2018

So I remembered 2018 and not 2017!

Solar flux is 70 today and the sunspot number remains zero. A=4 and K=2.

QSYed to 630m WSPR

At about 1945z, I QSYed to 630m WSPR (10mW ERP, 20%TX) from 10m. My signal will drift for a few minutes until the transverter crystal warms.

DXlab

Apparently DXLab now has a waterfall when used with the ICOM IC7300.

See http://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxlabwiki/GettingStarted .

Still probing? - NOT amateur radio

With blog visits over 4 times the normal level at this time, I am convinced there is evil intent abroad. This peak again corresponds with high visitor numbers from Romania. I suspect Romanian bots. Now off to check my other blogs!

UPDATE 1544z:  Looked at the other blogs and visits seem normal.

10m FT8 RX

Although I have only been on 10m FT8 RX for a short while, DM1FL (495km) in the Rhine area has been already spotted.

UPDATE 1512z:  No further 10m FT8 RX spots all day here, so, unless things rapidly change, a dismal day!

UPDATE 1530z: Well, well, well thing did change with VO1NE (3931km) being spotted on 10m FT8. He has been widely spotted across Europe and in North America, so he is definitely genuine.

UPDATE 1620z: More Gs and near Europeans now being spotted on 10m FT8. Currently 7 stations, 5 countries, 2 continents today on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1708z: Lots of Eastern Europeans coming through on 10m FT8. I suspect Es again.

UPDATE 1847z: 10m FT8 was still good a little while ago.

630m WSPR overnight

Last night was disappointing with just G spots of my 10mW ERP. On RX too it was unexceptional as well. Shortly it will be time to move to 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1103z: Now QSYed to 10m FT8 RX.

2017 - NOT amateur radio

So, another year draws to a close. Despite the after-effects of my 2013 stroke (giddiness and tiring quickly) I have still managed to do a lot including a 10 day trip to Italy, a week in Corfu (Greece) including a trip to Albania and a week in Devon. Things are much harder, but one has to milk life and accept oneself.

2018? I have no idea what it will bring. Live each day as if the last and "go for it".

Sunspots - Sunday December 31st 2017

Solar flux is 70 and the sunspot number zero. A=3 and K=0.

Painting by our 8 year old grandson - NOT amateur radio

When I was sent this picture drawn by our 8 year old grandson I was very impressed. Even for a boy twice his age it would be good. A year ago he did a picture of the Santa Maria ship in great detail. In my view he is a natural artist with real talent. Note that the perspective is good and the shading.

Christmas - NOT amateur radio

Our younger granddaughter enjoying unwrapping Christmas presents earlier in the week. They went home today. Our house is now quiet!

630m WSPR

As of a few moments ago I QSYed to 630m WSPR. I noticed several more European spots on 10m FT8 RX that did not upload to the internet. Usually it takes a little while for the 630m transverter crystal to settle, so early spots will show some drift.

The initial spots of me show this early drift. After about 15 minutes drift is usually zero.

The Peter Marks Blog

I read on Peter's blog that the Chinese version of the mcHF-QRP ships with FreeDV included. As far as I know this is a first. It is a pity they did not come to an agreement with the designer first. It looks a decent product at a decent price, but.....

See http://blog.marxy.org/2017/04/first-transceiver-with-built-in-freedv.html?utm_source=amateur-radio-weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter


UPDATE 1637z: I see this was on Peter's blog in April 2017. Ah well, they say things mature with age!

10m FT8 RX

Last night I remained on 10m FT8 RX. I am still on that band/mode this morning. A few spots this morning so far with best DX is DC4CP (436km) in or near Aachen.

Sunspots - Saturday December 30th 2017

Solar flux is 71 today and the sunspot number zero. A=4 and K=1.

Alibris: yet another "sale" - NOT amateur radio

Alibris, the book seller on line, is having yet another "sale". Hardly a week passes without one. Anyone who buys from them outside a "sale" must be stupid. As a marketing technique they need to see a psychiatrist as few now believe their "sales".

High Power Wireless Power Transmission

According to Southgate News the IARU is taking seriously the threat of RF pollution from this source.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2017/december/iaru-addresses-new-radio-spectrum-pollution-threat.htm#.WkZwNUx2vIU

Bringing back Martian samples to Earth - NOT amateur radio

Apparently there is a race on between the USA and China to bring back Martian soil samples to Earth.

See http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a14506608/united-states-china-racing-first-sample-from-mars/

Apple: whiter than white? - NOT amateur radio

Apple has admitted slowing down older iPhones saying the reason is aging batteries. As an owner of older iPod Touch devices and my wife has an old wifi-only iPad, this really annoys me. Now, this may be a legitimate move, but many suspect Apple's motives, allegedly. I cannot possibly judge. Based on personal experience I do not like built-in batteries and slowing down older devices. Others may be happy.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42508300 .

Romanian Bots Again? - NOT amateur radio

Blog visits are high again and there are a lot of visits from Romania. Again, I suspect probing bots.

10m FT8

Although I stayed on 10m FT8 RX all night and am still monitoring this morning, nothing yet spotted today.

UPDATE 1136z: GI4ONL (549km) is the best DX so far this morning on 10m FT8 RX. Only UK stations so far spotted.

UPDATE 1640z: At some point my internet connection to the shack was lost. Several near Europeans were spotted, but not uploaded to PSK Reporter Maps. These were probably received by aircraft reflection.

UPDATE 2022z: Much to my surprise 10m FT8 RX was full of stations this evening from all over Europe from the Faroes, to Spain, Italy and Bulgaria. I assume this is mid-winter Es. This now makes 3 days in a row. The opening seems to have ended about an hour ago. In the last 30 minutes just a G station spotted. Some of the signals were very strong, supporting mid-winter Es.

Sunspots - Friday December 29th 2017

Solar flux is 71 and the sunspot number zero. A=5 and K=0.

Bots? - NOT amateur radio

Blog visit numbers are up today and this corresponds with high visit numbers from Romania.  Although I may be wrong, this could be probing by bots looking for vulnerabilities. This is one reason I change passwords regularly. If you are looking for holes, look elsewhere! If you are a genuine visitor from Romania, you are most welcome. Probes of this kind usually take place about once a month.

France - NOT amateur radio

Our "London" grandchildren are in France with mum visiting their French grandparents.

One of the French grandparents made this Michael Jackson outfit, which was an instant hit.

They grow up fast these days!

I think they are there for a week. In the meantime we have the "other" 2 grandchildren and their mum and dad until Saturday.

HF - the forgotten spectrum?

The USA proposals for WRC-19 and WRC-23 have been published. My reading is that many administrations are more interested in the GHz bands than HF.

Perhaps many administrations have given up on HF? Maybe there is too much noise on HF and there is little money to be made from HF. On GHz bands there are plenty of opportunities to sell spectrum.

Broadcasters are abandoning shortwave. This is good news (perhaps) for radio amateurs.

472kHz WSPR

PA0A was copied in Reunion last night. He is always a good signal with me, but Reunion Is a very long way!

Christmas Cards - NOT amateur radio

This year, with the high price now of 2nd class post in the UK, I was expecting far fewer cards in the post.  Numbers are a little down, but we still had quite a few.  Of the ones missing, I expect a few were posted to the wrong address or you can hear the partner saying, "do you know who we forgot this year?". We all forget someone!

Rare snow - NOT amateur radio

Until this winter, we have not seen snow for some years. We have had the odd flurry, but not decent snow that has stayed. Yesterday it snowed (unexpectedly) all morning and there is still snow on the ground this morning.

This is a photo of 2 of our grandchildren in the snow yesterday with their mum.

10m FT8 RX

Yesterday was another good day on 10m FT8, but nothing spotted here today so far on 10m FT8.

UPDATE 1048z: SQ9RHS (1323km) has been spotted strongly.

UPDATE 1644z: No further spots since the Polish station this morning. Disappointing.

UPDATE 2027z: I see that I spotted German and Danish stations today on 10m FT8, but these did not upload to PSK Reporter Maps. I must have lost internet connectivity in the shack.

Sunspots - Thursday December 28th 2017

Solar flux is number 71 today and the sunspot 11. A=7 and K=2.

Growing up fast - NOT amateur radio

Our elder grandson, growing up all too fast.

The picture was taken a few days ago over Christmas.

IC7300 circuit diagrams

MLS have the IC7300 circuit schematics for download. They also have a sale on.

See https://www.hamradio.co.uk/userfiles/file/IC-7300_Schematic_Diagram.pdf  .