This morning's walk - NOT amateur radio

This morning we went for a walk early. It was just under 3 miles. We call it the "Muntjac Walk" as we often see these on this walk. 

We needn't go far as one has already decided some of our garden flowers make a good snack! I have no idea how they get in.

The flowers in the photo were seen on the walk. By the way it is now raining, so we chose the best time.

10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R and tiny loop

So far today (1105z), 159 stations have already been spotted on 10m FT8 RX with the 4 transistor RX and tiny (50cm) indoor loop antenna. The setup is shown in the photo. The little 10FT8R RX is on the left of the photo.

UPDATE 1454z:  188 stations spotted so far today on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1710z: 245 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 1922z: 278 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today. Best DX was UA6YW (3076km). No doubt I would copy far more with a decent outside antenna, but I am not complaining!

sBITX update?

Some months ago I blogged that the Indian designer was working on an SDR version of the uBITX. Since then I have heard nothing further and was wondering if there is an more news? 

The uBITX is an interesting design and an SDR version could well be lower cost than the uBITX which is only $209 for the complete kit. 

As there is hardly any wiring to do, this is probably one of the lowest cost and easiest ways to access the HF bands. Using an Si5351 synthesiser means it will be very stable on all HF bands. An SDR approach might be even better.

Roses - NOT amateur radio

We had a very dull and wet May. It seemed more like March! In the last few days our roses have come on a lot.  This is one at the front of the house.

Yesterday on 10m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop antenna and the 10FT8R RX

In the last day 433 stations were spotted on RX including South America and the Caribbean using the 4 transistor direct conversion RX with the tiny 50cm loop on the shack windowsill.  10m, when good, is a great DX band. As the sunspots climb again we can expect great 10m daytime DX. 10m remains my favourite HF band.

Sunspots - Friday June 4th 2021

Solar flux is 76 and the SSN 28.  A=6 and K=0.

Oakfield, Swindon - NOT amateur radio

This is trumpeted by the Nationwide Building Society as a development that is "off grid" using good insulation, heat pumps and no gas. As much as I tried, I could not see prices. Lots of stuff on how wonderful it was, but no prices! If there, the prices must be well hidden.

I am all in favour of sustainable houses, but please make the prices very clear.

See https://oakfieldswindon.co.uk/?et_cid=25726297&et_rid=4593245806 .

Reach walk - NOT amateur radio

When the weather is dry we like to walk at nearby Reach village. This is a sleepy village with some good rural views. This was seen on the walk. 

10m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop antenna and the 10FT8R RX (Thursday)

Since breakfast I have been on 10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R RX and the tiny indoor loop antenna. It is now 0958z and, so far, 21 stations have been spotted on RX. 

UPDATE 1215z:  101 stations spotted so far. See map.

UPDATE 1636z:  209 stations spotted today.

UPDATE 2005z:  317 stations spotted  today with the 4 transistor homebrew direct conversion RX.

Sunspots - Thursday June 3rd 2021

 Solar flux is 76 and the SSN 30. A=5 and K=2.

Round church towers - NOT amateur radio

There are probably more churches with round towers in East Anglia than anywhere. The one shown in the photo is just a few miles away. They are very old.

This one is at Snailwell, near Newmarket. There are far more in the county of Norfolk alone.

Solar update

My favourite website for solar data has been updated. It would appear cycle 25 looks very similar to the last one. I predict we'll see regular F2 openings to the  USA this autumn.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

Growing fast

The photo shows our 2 grandsons. They are now 13 and 12. 

Frightening to think the one on the left could soon be learning to drive!

Politicians and saying "yes" or "no" - NOT amateur radio

On UK breakfast TV they we interviewing Gavin Williamson, who is the UK Education Secretary. Instead of just answering a simple "yes" or "no" to a direct question, he insisted on giving a long and evasive answer that did not answer the question. You get the impression that most politicians are trained to do this. They all appear so stupid.

What is it about politicians? They seem incapable of answering direct questions or ever admitting to making mistakes! Maybe one day they will surprise us all by being totally frank and honest and actually answering questions!  

Oh, there goes another flying pig....

10m FT8 RX (Wednesday)

It is now 0820z. I have been on 10m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop and the homemade 10FT8R direct conversion RX for about 5 minutes. So far today, 3 stations spotted on RX.

UPDATE 0944z:  28 stations spotted so far on 10m FT8 RX. 

UPDATE 1344z:  43 stations spotted so far on 10m FT8 RX. See map. All Es.

UPDATE 2019z:  61 stations spotted today.

10m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop antenna and the 10FT8R RX yesterday

In all 158 stations spotted yesterday on 10m FT8 RX. This RX certainly works. 

Antenna fault?

Last evening was the 2m activity contest. I usually use the big-wheel omni antenna and 10W. Last evening the SWR was high. Perhaps after many years I have got some corrosion, or water in the coax. My problem is I cannot do ladder work because of my poor health and depend on other people for detective work. 😢

Sunspots - Wednesday June 2nd 2021

 Solar flux is 75 and the SSN 20. A=3 and K=1.

PI4 decoders

 A lot of beacons now have PI4 sequences. I have no idea how this compares with the more common WSPR digital mode. Looking around for decoders I spotted this from OZ2M.

See https://rudius.net/oz2m/software/pi-rx/ .

8m beacons

On John Desmond EI7GL's blog there is a very useful list of 8m beacons. On his blog are also 5m beacons. I hope John does not mind me copying part of his image here. If there is a problem, I can remove the post.

There is always lots of good stuff on his excellent blog. I see he also reported a recent Australia-Europe opening on 6m.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html.

Many years ago - NOT amateur radio

This photo appeared as a FB memory today. It shows me walking with one of our grandchildren. He is now 13!

Judging by the cow parsley it was at this time of year. 

10m FT8 RX today (Tuesday) with the 10FT8R and the tiny indoor loop

It is now 0855z. I have been on 10m FT8 RX for about 30 minutes and have spotted 11 stations so far using the 4 transistor RX and indoor loop.

UPDATE 1601z  So far today, 98 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX. See map.

The complete crystal replacement?

Thanks for the feedback on the Si5351 as a replacement for crystals. 

It would appear that a low cost micro-controller has to be put alongside the Si5351 synthesiser. I wonder if anyone has a complete solution designed and tested. Also, what about programming?

It would seem that there is a real need for a simple KISS way to replace crystals, so I'd be surprised if someone has not already done this. According to Peter Marks the controller should only be a few dollars. This feedback (that you have to tell the Si5351 the frequency every time) is also what Jay told me.

It looks like a total solution that also replaces the oscillator should be possible for under $10.

Please let me know of any links.

10m FT8 RX yesterday

Stations spotted yesterday

Yesterday I was on 10m FT8 RX with the homemade 10FT8R RX with 4 transistors and the tiny indoor loop antenna. 127 stations spotted. Not bad for something so simple. Details are on the G3XBM website. 

Sunspots - Tuesday June 1st 2021

Solar flux is 82 and the SSN 31. A=3 and K =1.

Crystal replacement?

Unless you are able to find a low cost source of crystals, they can be very expensive these days. Some people have turned to Si5351 synthesiser boards as an alternative. I believe they can be programmed to provide outputs from kHz to VHF frequencies. But can these work with the programming source  removed so this is a true crystal replacement? Please let me know if you know how. 

If they can be used "stand alone" they become far more useful if they can be easily programmed. The ideal would be easy programming with a PC or Mac or even Android and then essentially a free standing oscillator module.

UK and Covid-19 - NOT amateur radio

The UK is doing pretty well in its vaccination campaign, despite a reactive rather than proactive government that always seems to be just behind, rather than just in front of, the pandemic. At the moment, the popular press is worried that the complete lifting of restrictions in a few weeks could be dangerous.

The concern is new variants of which the focus at the moment is on the variant that was first spotted in India.  Most vulnerable people have been vaccinated. Of those, those who get sick are not likely to be hospitalised or die.

I guess the question is, "what danger does another another wave pose?" . Clearly, if all adults were vaccinated, the chances of the hospitals being overwhelmed decreases markedly. Personally I'd keep some restrictions for a few more weeks. Most things we can do and it would be wrong to throw this away for the sake of a few weeks.

Personally I would ban foreign holidays this year unless people are prepared to hotel quarantine at their expense. At least ban them until all adults that want them are vaccinated. I would also make all hospital and care home workers have to be vaccinated as a condition of employment.

Nostalgia time

In the 1970s most SSB operation on 2m was with the Liner 2. Later, many used the IC-202 from ICOM. This was a better radio with fewer spurii and a better, cleaner TX. Many are still in use to drive microwave transverters. The IC-202 was a lower powered radio, but it could be used handheld.

No synthesisers, lots of wires, no memories, just clean and simple. These were SSB/CW radios with a very good VXO covering 200KHz with each crystal. To most people it seemed like a VFO with smooth, continuous tuning. I also used mine on QRP 10m SSB as well with a homebrew transverter. I have no idea what became of this transverter, but I worked all over the world with 1W SSB and a wire dipole. It used a Plessey SL6440 IC I seem to recall.

I expect they units are still available second hand. They were replaced by the IC-202S and there was a similar radio for 70cm. Once I worked was down in France from a coastal site in Devon using just the IC-202 with its whip antenna.

A quick check on eBay showed one example at just over £200. There are lower cost examples listed as "not working" or "for spares".  Looking on eBay there was also an IC-212 FM version. I don't remember this and wonder if it was ever on sale here in the UK?

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/vhfuhf-commercial-rigs/icom-ic-202 .

10m FT8 Grabber

A reminder that you can see what I am seeing on 10m FT8 by looking at the grabber on my website at https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/10m-ft8-grabber .

Grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows our 2 granddaughters earlier studying an album together.

BBQ time - NOT amateur radio

For a change this May, yesterday was gloriously sunny. Most of the month has been dull and wet. We had our 2 sons and all 4 grandchildren for a barbecue.

10m FT8 RX (Monday) with the 10FT8R and the indoor loop

I have been on 10m FT8 RX for about 1 hour with the homemade 10FT8R RX with 4 transistors. It is now 1000z and so far today 25 stations have been spotted.

UPDATE 1037z:  35 stations spotted today so far. Not a bad start today on 10m Es with this 50cm indoor antenna and a DSB RX.

UPDATE 1324z:   49 stations spotted.

UPDATE 1520z:  68 stations spotted today with the 10FT8R direct conversion RX and tiny indoor loop. See illustration. OK, it is a rats nest!

UPDATE 1831z: 115 stations spotted on RX as the map shows.

Sunspots - Monday May 31st 2021

 Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 27. A=6 and K=1.

Local museum - NOT amateur radio

The local museum across the road from us has old fashioned dial telephones. The photo shows 3 of our grandchildren trying to ring each other: they are not used to phones which have to be rotated to dial a number!

Crocheting - NOT amateur radio

One of our grandchildren is very talented. Here he is crocheting. Whatever he does he is good at it - painting, sports etc.. 

4m website?

Certainly until last year there was a website dedicated to the 4m (70MHz) amateur band. A casual Google search failed to find it. It may have gone? 

It is many years since I operated on the band, but I can imagine it is an interesting allocation, especially in the Es season with so many countries now active and more rigs with 4m coverage. A few watts of SSB (or even FM) to a wire dipole should be enough to work many of the European countries now active on the band in Es openings.

UPDATE 0853z:  See Colin's comment. It is still there. www.70mhz.org   .

On 10m FT8 RX (Sunday) with the FT817ND and tiny indoor loop

It is now 0807z.  For a short while, I have been on 10m FT8 RX. So far, 15 Spanish stations spotted and 1 Italian spotted.

UPDATE 0819z:  Now 25 stations spotted.

UPDATE 1031z:  101 stations spotted.

Sunspots - Sunday May 30th 2021

 Solar flux is 76 and the SSN 26. A=6 and K=2.

Haircut day - NOT amateur radio

In an earlier post, I showed one of our grandsons "helping" me many years ago. He is now 13 and today he got his very long hair cut. 

I think he looks much better and more good looking. He quite likes it too.

10GHz

 As I have mentioned in the past, some take 10GHz operation very seriously, with big dishes, high power and receivers with really low noise figures. Well equipped stations can operate moonbounce on 10GHz.

Others "play" at 10GHz, for example with low cost HB100 Doppler radar modules. With these low cost modules really no microwave engineering is needed. Some have covered 5km with WBFM with just these modules. Placed at the focus of a dish, over 100km has been covered on ATV with these modules. 

The modules contain 4 PCB antennas. 2 are for RX and 2 for RX.

They can even by bought on Amazon. They are even lower cost on eBay. Their main application is Doppler radar, but they have been repurposed. 

I think there are similar units for 24GHz. These 24GHz units are on sale on Amazon, but I have not looked for WBFM designs using these. Just imagine, a very low cost microwave station!

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/homebrew/10ghz .