Apparently OFCOM is appointing a new Chief Technology Officer who used to work at Amazon. This person seems well qualified in business. Let's hope this person really understands technology too.
See the OFCOM website for details.
10 Jun 2021
6m FT8 RX (Thursday)
Since about 0830z, I have been on 6m FT8 RX. It is now 1104z and 41 stations spotted so far. Surprising number of UK stations, suggesting some tropo?UPDATE 1132z: 55 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today so far.
UPDATE 1538z: 256 stations spotted so far.
UPDATE 1755z: 427 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX with the furthermost WP4G (6803km) in Puerto Rico.
UPDATE 1936z: 646 stations spotted today on RX with the furthermost PV8DX (7830km) in northern Brazil. Not bad for a VHF band with an omni antenna with a poor SWR!
Fault finding my Par endfed 102040 antenna
Since taking it down I have realised I can check if the coax was faulty by connecting a 10m dipole (endfed at the shack) and running the wire down the garden. If it is the coax I can replace it and get on 10m, 20m and 40m.
With this antenna I had 10m spots from all over the world (including Australia and Antarctica) with 500mW WSPR.
9 Jun 2021
70cm 4el yagi on website
Last evening I had to use my homebrew 4el 70cm yagi in the activity contest. This was mounted on a PVC "mast" in the shack and turned by hand.
Even with this "Heath-Robinson" antenna and 10W, I was able to make over 100km QSOs on SSB.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/70cm-4el-yagi .
Garden in Early Summer - NOT amateur radio
Sadly the frost has killed the pear blossom and I doubt we will see many this year.
OFCOM updates
As usually happens early in the month, OFCOM has updated its Communications Monthly with the latest information it has. See the OFCOM website for more information.
6m FT8 RX (Wednesday)
Since mid morning I have been on 6m FT8 RX with the V2000 vertical with the poor SWR. At 1225z 35 stations spotted on RX so far.
UPDATE 1555z: 75 stations spotted..
UPDATE 1639z: 121 stations spotted.
UPDATE 1941z: 201 stations spotted so far on 6m FT8 RX today.
UPDATE 2147z: QRT.
V2000 issues
Yesterday and this morning G3TFX tried to fix my very old V2000 triband vertical antenna. Sadly, we could not remove the bottom collar despite trying everything. It may be possible, but not in situ. Possibly in a vice if the coax is cut this may be possible. I may have to get a new antenna. They are quite expensive.
Meadow walk - NOT amateur radio
8 Jun 2021
Painting time - NOT amateur radio
At the moment, it is being repainted by volunteers. I guess you have to have a head for heights!
If you look at the photo, you can see someone painting the sails.
V2000 faulty
A local friend Richard G3TFX kindly tried to mend my faulty V2000 vertical. This covers 6m, 2m and 70cm. I must have had it for almost 20 years. Recently it developed a high SWR. When Richard investigated it looked like water had got in and there was some corrosion. He came back today to see if he could loosen the collar at the bottom which he could not release due to corrosion. At the time of writing, this is stuck fast.
At the moment it is about 75cm off the ground without radials and horizontal. Despite this, I have still spotted 172 station on 6m FT8 RX with the best DX spotted A92GE (5036km) in Bahrain!!
70cm activity contest (UKAC) this evening at 1900z
A reminder that the 70cm leg of the RSGB activity contest is this evening. As my 2m big-wheel is faulty I am trying with my homemade 4el yagi in the shack.
70cm UK beacons
At the moment, I am not sure which 70cm UK beacons are operational.
Last night GB3LEU at Leicester (432.490MHz) popped up with the indoor 4 el yagi, pointing out the window. Most of the time it is below the noise floor.
Every time some tree surgeons were working about 50m away, I could hear a sprog on 432.432MHz!
It seems few (none?) of the UK beacons have FT8 or WSPR sequences. PI4 which several beacons use, seems to require special software. Personally, I think it would be good to have time synchronised beacons with an FT8 TX slot so there could be more monitors.
Vancouver BC - NOT amateur radio
7 Jun 2021
4el 70cm yagi
I usually use my 2m big-wheel omni, 10W, and stop on for less than an hour. Sadly, my 2m big-wheel has developed a high SWR, so tomorrow I will be using an old 4el homemade yagi indoors. It could be several dBs down. At least it can be hand-rotated from the operating position and the match is good. It will be interesting to see how I get on.
The last time it was used was early 2013.
6m FT8 RX (Monday)
As yesterday, I am again on 6m FT8 with the V2000 vertical omni that has a high SWR TX. So far, 115 European stations spotted apart from the Canary Is.
Summer - NOT amateur radio
6m FT8 RX yesterday
In all, 667 stations were spotted on 6m FT8 RX yesterday despite the omni vertical antenna being faulty and unusable on 6m TX. It looks like the YS1 station was a pirate sadly. I have copied the Americas and Caribbean before on 6m though.
6 Jun 2021
Website navigation
There has been some confusion over how to navigate to the various pages on my new website at www.g3xbm.co.uk .
For the avoidance of doubt, click the arrow next to the sub-menu not the words. There may be a way of making the sub-title clickable, but I don't know how at the moment, HI.
As an example, if you want to look at one of the pages on "antennas" click the arrow next to "antennas" first, then select the one you want e.g. "ferrite rod TX antennas".
I have made this a little clearer on the "home" page. If anything else is not clear or wrong, let me know.
6m FT8 RX with the V2000 omni antenna
On TX, my V2000 omni has a very high SWR, so I am RX only. After a very brief check on 10m FT8 RX I am on 6m FT8 RX with 31 stations spotted at 1124z, with the furthermost A45XR (5843km) in Oman. Well, this omni antenna still works fine on RX.
UPDATE 1450z: 112 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today.
UPDATE 2144z: 658 stations in 4 continents spotted today on 6m FT8 RX. Nothing yet from South America. It is probably worth leaving the setup running overnight in case North or South America comes through. This already a great day on 6m with an omni antenna that is not working properly.
5 Jun 2021
10m FT8 TX (for a change!) - Saturday
For a change, I am on 10m FT8 transmit with the FT817ND and the tiny indoor loop with the wire inductor. This is less good than the copper central heating pipe inductor, but I was concerned with RF voltages on the higher Q loop on TX. In RX, of course, this does not matter So far, nobody has spotted me on TX today.
UPDATE 1324z: As nobody spotted me on TX, so I am on RX only at present with the FT817ND and the loop. Perhaps I should put the higher Q inductor back on the loop?
UPDATE 14303z: K5YCM (7275km) spotted amongst 83 stations so far copied. At first I thought he was a pirate, but he seems to have been spotted by many in the USA and Europe so may well be genuine.
10m FT8 RX today (Saturday)
Since about 0800z, I have been on 10m FT8 RX with the 4 transistor 10FT8R direct conversion RX and the tiny indoor loop again. So far (at 0812z) just one German station spotted.
UPDATE 0845z: 7 stations spotted so far on 10m FT8 RX.
UPDATE 0942z: 14 stations spotted on RX.
10m FT8 RX yesterday
4 Jun 2021
Website issues?
Although I have tried successfully with Chrome and Windows 10, I have had a report that the drop-down menus cannot be seen. In the past I have had some issues where I can see things OK but others cannot.
On the www.g3xbm.co.uk new webpages (please make sure your browser cache is empty so you see the new pages) can you see the drop-down menus OK? If not, please tell me.
24GHz wideband FM
I see that similar units are available for 24GHz. although I am not sure if these are suitable for WBFM or how they can be moved in frequency, if necessary.
They are available from Amazon, but suspect they would be even lower cost on eBay.
E layer openings
We are familiar with the spring and summer Es (sporadic E) openings, especially on bands like 10m and 6m. These are usually about 1500km. Occasionally multi-hop openings occur. Some of the long distance contacts may be multi-hop.
However, I have long suspected that some very long paths are due to some other form of E layer propagation. Every June 6m opens up to Japan, which is a very long way. This regular propagation seems to be linked with mesospheric clouds that seem to form at this time of year.
EI7GL reports on his blog that there have been at least 2 openings from Australia to Europe on 6m this spring. The probability of this being multi-hop Es seems extremely low. My theory (totally unproved) is this is due to some sort of chordal hop E layer propagation. This could also account for some of the transatlantic openings.
We have a lot to learn about E layer propagation. This is one reason 6m is called the "magic band".
Latest modern gear
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
