Sunspots - Sunday November 17th 2019

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=1.

10m FT8

Things seem better on 10m FT8 today. Even my 2.5W 10m FT8 CQ was copied by GI4OWA (586km) and OZ9QV (861km). Sadly, no QSOs resulted.  On 10m FT8 RX, 9 stations (all in Europe) already copied.

UPDATE 1236z: Now 24 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today with best DX 5R8VX (8612km).

UPDATE 2240z: As my son is fast asleep in the next bedroom, I cannot turn off my PC and rig set up on 10m FT8 RX. So, I shall be monitoring overnight. It will be a miracle if anyone is spotted.

Salcombe lifeboat - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows the Salcombe lifeboat on station. Years ago the crew had to run on foot to a place called South Sands, about 1.5 miles from the centre of town. Just over a 100 years ago there was a tragedy when the lifeboat overturned and most of the crew were drowned. One of my aunts remembered this as a young child.

Talking about childhood, I recall watching my dad play water polo more or less where the lifeboat is now. As a young child I was brought up in Salcombe, Devon.

Out of season Salcombe is quiet. In the summer it is filled with visitors and boats. The estuary behind the lifeboat is teaming with boats.

10m FT8

Since 0910z, I have been on 10m FT8 calling CQ with 2.5W initially. As yet no spots given or received on 10m.

I stayed on 2m FT8 RX overnight, but nothing copied until breakfast time when a few nearer Europeans were coming through. Actually 2m FT8 is a waste of time (and electricity) overnight.

UPDATE 1800z: Just 3 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX in 3 countries all day with best DX spotted MM3RDX (516km). So far, very disappointing. I guess this is to be expected around sunspot minimum: some days may be quite reasonable, especially N-S, whereas other days can be very poor. Low activity cannot help either.

UPDATE 1826z: QRT.

MLS "something for the weekend" deals

Every week I get an email from MLS (a UK dealer) with some special deals for the weekend. Rarely are these worthwhile in my view (as a cynic) and most times I am not impressed.

See their website for details.

Sunspots - Saturday November 16th 2019

Solar  flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=2.

2m FT8

About 10 minutes ago I called CQ on 2m FT8 with 2.5W to the big-wheel. Although no QSOs resulted I was spotted by just one station G7RAU (461km). On 2m FT8 RX 5 stations in 3 countries spotted so far with DF6PW (562km) as the best so far spotted.

UPDATE 2200z:  So far this evening 18 stations in 6 countries spotted on 2m FT8 RX. With 2.5W FT8 TX I have been spotted by 3 stations in 2 countries with best DX spot being by GI6ATZ (479km). Even 2.5W to the omni antenna seems enough!

Nearly Christmas! - NOT amateur radio

Many shops have had Christmas displays since September and it is not long now to make profits.

Sunspots - Friday November 15th 2019

Solar flux is 70 and the sunspot number 0. A=2 and K=1.

Windmill Sails - NOT amateur radio

We are lucky to live next door to a fully restored 200 year old windmill. Sails turn on special occasions only. The video shows the sails turning.

SW broadcasters

This link has been on before, but if you are like me you will have enjoyed shortwave broadcasters from around the world and collected their QSL cards.

These days the shortwaves are very different with far fewer English language services. Many choose to use the internet instead. It is cheaper and reaches a bigger audience with much better quality.

So, many of these sounds are from a very different era. Enjoy.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/interval

Back on 10m FT8 tomorrow

As I have now returned from a few days with my brother in Devon, I hope to be on 10m FT8 again in the morning.10m is my favourite HF band. At this part of the solar cycle things can be a bit variable, but even with my modest set-up there can often be DX from outside Europe.

UK Rally

Saturday 16 NOVEMBER : ROCHDALE & DISTRICT ARS WINTER RALLY

St Vincent de Paul's, Caldershaw Road, off Edenfield Road (A680), Norden, Rochdale, OL12 7QR. Doors open to the public at 10.15am with disabled visitors gaining access 15 minutes earlier. Admission is £2.50 with those under 12 years free. £5 per pitch (for traders with own tables) or £10 for a pitch with table provided. Guest speaker Keiran Wilkinson, IT Director at Hack:Oldham, will give a lecture on Make it, don't buy it, an explanation of how you can use Computer Aided Design, 3D printing and laser cutting to create project enclosures and casings. Due to limited seating, the talk will be given twice at 11am and 12 noon. Refreshments available including bacon and sausage butties. Further details: Robert, M0NVQ, by email to m0nvq@outlook.com .

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

Sunspots - Thursday November 14th 2019

Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 0. A=2 and K=2.

Seaside towns out of season - NOT amateur radio

Today my brother and I went to Dartmouth on the bus. It is a great run. Sadly Dartmouth looks very out of season. There were few shops busy and very few people on the streets.

Reach walk - NOT amateur radio

At the weekend we went for a nice walk at nearby Reach. My wife made this collage.

What are a little strange are the two emus in a garden. They have been here for several years. I do not know why they are there. Perhaps they like emu eggs!

HF antennas

Some years ago I bought an x80 vertical antenna. These are basically Rybakov vertical antennas. I erected mine briefly at the old QTH, but have not done so here. I would need help with erection, whereas my end-fed I managed to string to a nearby tree on my own. The end-fed is a good match on 10m (my favourite HF band) , where it seems to do quite reasonably on FT8.  So, for now, the x80 is unused.

At the time (2011) the x80 had mixed reviews. Some said the aluminium flexed too much and broke. Being a vertical, it is probably noisier than a horizontal antenna. If you have an auto ATU it is quite an easy way to get on several HF bands. These days I think there are stronger versions around.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/x80

Sunspots - Wednesday November 13th 2019

Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=0.

Salcombe out of season - NOT amateur radio

At the moment I am spending a few days with my brother in Devon. Out of season it is a different place.

Sunspots - Tuesday November 12th 2019

Solar flux is 70 today and the SSN 0.  A=7 and K=2.

70cm activity contest this evening

A reminder that the 70cm leg of the RSGB 's UKAC activity contest is this evening starting at 2000z.

VLF amateur radio experiments

8.97kHz earth-mode TX

The conventional wisdom is that VLF requires huge antennas and enormous powers. This not the case and radio amateurs have spanned thousands of kilometres with back garden antennas and modest powers. With utilities assisted earth mode (what I tried) just a few watts is enough to span very useful distances. For RX only, VLF antennas can be very small indeed.

In the past I have copied radiated signals from amateurs below 10kHz from several Western European countries.

Sadly my poor health has put a stop to my earth-mode experiments in recent years.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vlf/8-97khz-earth-mode-transmitter

Sunspots - Monday November 11th 2019

Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 0. A=3 and K=1.

2m FT8

For a change, I am on 2m FT8. I may go QRT later.  A recent 2.5W FT8 CQ using the big-wheel omni was spotted by 3 G stations. On RX only 2 stations spotted so far with best DX spotted being DK1VC (503km).

UPDATE 1025z: Just 3 stations spotted this evening on 2m FT8 RX. Time to go QRT.

Hospital visit - G3TFX

This morning we went to visit Richard G3TFX who is in hospital. He seems in good spirits and hopes to get home soon. He is awaiting the fitting of a stent. In the meantime he has to listen on the internet to webSDRs such as Hack Green. For a useful site of web SDRs see http://www.websdr.org/ .

He doesn't want to be there and the overheads of keeping him there are about £1700 a day!! In the meantime he is, against his will, blocking a bed in a teaching hospital. Surely there is a lower cost way of doing a daily blood test and calling him in for his appointment? Yes, our NHS is wonderful but they do waste money. From my own experience they do seem to waste a great deal and the NHS needs reform and accountability.

Six years ago I was in hospital for 3.5 months. My treatment was first class, but I am aware that they need better management. In the private sector, they would run as good or better service at far lower cost.

One thing that seems missing is accountability.  Yes, we all want good service for patients but at lower cost and without waste. In my view they can save money and offer patients a better service. Their inefficiencies lead to poorer services for patents. Apparently a blood pressure monitor costing around £40000 can be bought for about £10 in a local chemists. Does no-one check value for money? In the private sector this would be a sackable offence.

Another person, a D-day veteran and SWL, is terminally ill in a local hospice. I worked with him and he is a real gentle man.

Very successful session on 472kHz WSPR

In the last 2 weeks, 45 stations have copied my 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. Last night alone, 22 stations spotted me including 2 stations in Norway. LA2XPA (1310km) copied me 20 times last night! So, getting to Norway is no "one off" thing.

I have an oddity: G3KEV who is a very strong 472kHz WSPR signal has been received several times this morning. This is odd as my FT817ND dial says 3.6742MHz which is the input frequency for my transverter! It would appear I am receiving on 472kHz WSPR in split mode, despite what the dial says. All very odd.

Stations spotting my 472kHz WSPR 

(10mW ERP) in the last 24 hours

10m FT8

As is normal, I have QSYed to 10m FT8. My initial FT8 (2.5W) CQ call was copied by no-one and I have not yet copied anyone else.

UPDATE 1820z: Just 5 10m FT8 RX spots all day with best DX spotted RA2FL (1343km). Nothing outside Europe spotted today.

Sunspots - Sunday November 10th 2019

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=1.

Back to 472kHz WSPR TX (10mW ERP)

As it is dark I have again QSYed to 472kHz WSPR TX. My first 2 minute transmission was spotted by several stations. LA2XPA (1310km) has already spotted me twice, which is very early.

Windows 10 upgrades

My shack PC runs Windows 10. Up to now this has been fine.  Sadly it only has a small 32GB SSD. Despite plugging in an external hard drive temporarily is still wants 8GB of space on the C drive of the PC to install the latest upgrades. Even with removing junk I only have half of this space. I guess it means I cannot continue to upgrade Windows 10 in future.

This begs a few questions:

• What am I missing?
• Does it matter?
• How do I permanently disable windows updates to avoid these annoying messages?

If probably tells me it will soon be time to upgrade the shack PC!

UPDATE  1633z: I have just found this at  https://www.windowscentral.com/how-stop-updates-installing-automatically-windows-10, which others might find useful too. I think you can then decide whether or not to install an upgrade. I have not tried it. There may be a way to turn all Windows 10 upgrades off for ever which is probably what I need.

"To permanently disable automatic updates on Windows 10, use these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Search for gpedit.msc and select the top result to launch the experience.
3. Navigate to the following path: ...
4. Double-click the Configure Automatic Updates policy on the right side.
5. Check the Disabled option to turn off the policy."

Cabinda - NOT amateur radio

A bit like Kaliningrad in Russia, Cabinda is a bit of Angola cut off from the rest of the country. I guess this is one of those quirks of history. No doubt these are others too in the world I have not yet found.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinda_Province

10m FT8

For the day, I am on 10m FT8 again. My recent 2.5W CQ was spotted by no-one and there are no spots so far on RX (0933z).

UPDATE 1630z: So far 17 stations spotted with best DX ZS6S (9109km)

Quite a good session on 472kHz WSPR

Last evening and overnight I was on 472kHz WSPR TX again with the usual set-up of 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.  In all, I was spotted by 13 stations with 5 spots by LA9IY (1374km) in Norway. He seems to spot me often.

Stations spotting me on 472kHz 

WSPR (10mW ERP) overnight

.

Sunspots - Saturday November 9th 2019

Solar flux is 70 and the sunspot number still 0. A=5 and K=0.

Chrysanthemums - NOT amateur radio

Several weeks ago my wife got some cut chrysanthemums.

They still look great as the picture shows.

472kHz WSPR TX (10mW ERP)

After another successful day on 28MHz (10m) FT8 RX with Mauritania and South Africa logged, I have decided to QSY to 472kHz WSPR TX (10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground). My first 2 minute transmission was copied by 3 stations with best DX being G8TTI (186km).

IC-705 video

Some months ago ICOM introduced us to the IC-705, which should be available in 2020. This is a QRP (10W or less all mode) radio. It is a radio that appeals to me.

I created an IC-705 website to add links as I find them. This rig hopefully will cover all HF and VHF bands to 70cm and be SDR based like the IC-7300 and IC-9700. This is just one video.

Baby Brennan - NOT amateur radio

For my birthday and Christmas (my birthday is a few days before Christmas) my wife has bought me a baby Brennan BB1 receiver. This stores lots (16GB) of music (e.g. from CDs), has access to 40000 internet radio stations as well as YouTube videos on a small TFT screen. It works with Bluetooth headphones.

Actually, I suggested this and I ordered it!

See https://www.brennan.co.uk/itemcontent.php/content/newbrennan

WRC-19

As you may know, this conference in Egypt to discuss spectrum matters is well under way. Southgate News has a piece on this and links the regular updates by the RSGB.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/november/rsgb-wrc-19-update--23cms-and-a-long-day.htm .

Lies - NOT amateur radio

Every time there is an election coming nearly all politicians make promises that are rarely kept.

In the UK we have a General Election due December 12th. Yesterday the Labour Party and the Conservative Party were making promises to spend big on the health service.

Today there was a Conservative politician on TV about a points based immigration system. When repeatedly asked a very direct question about whether this would result in more overseas workers working in the UK she swerved around the answer as most politicians do.

I seem to remember President Obama in the USA promising to close Guantanamo Bay.  Many years later it is still there. Then there is President Trump's wall.

Cynical me?

Whatever politicians promise, ignore.  Is it any wonder we don't trust our politicians?