I keep forgetting that when I am on 6m FT8, I can go on 10m WSPR TX as this uses a different antenna. As of 1014z, I am on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW, 100%, but randomised frequencies.
So far, spotted by HB9TMC at -7dB S/N (strong). This was at 1026z.
Since about 0845z, I have been on 6m FT8 RX. It is now 1004z. So far 103 stations spotted on RX.
UPDATE 1030z: So far this morning, 116 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX with the V2000 vertical omni antenna. Good Es.
UPDATE 1326z: So far today, 167 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX. Most are by Es.
Once again, after a brief session on 2.5W TX (11 spots of my TX, but no QSOs), I am RX only. So far (at 0730z) 41 stations spotted.
UPDATE 0740z: 67 stations spotted 10m FT8 RX. This looks like a mix of Es and F2.
The results have been published by the RSGB. I am still in the same position in the low power section.
Today, July 19th, is supposed to be "freedom day" in England when most Covid-19 laws end.
It was interesting that going to the bakers this morning, nothing had changed. All customers and staff were wearing masks and still only 2 customers inside at a time. From the BBC Breakfast Time it looked like Manchester airport was quiet.
Now, of course, there will be some stupid, selfish people that will go mad. Hopefully, enough people will remain sensible to keep Covid-19 infections low enough.
Personally, I wish the government had mandated wearing of masks in shops and public transport. This is about protecting others and, ultimately, freeing society. By being selfish now, people are probably endangering freedoms later.
According to John's blog there is an experimental station WL2XUP active in the USA on the 8m band. As time progresses a bigger antenna and more power are planned.
Is this the first of many?
With regard to the current Covid-19 pandemic, it looks like the English government is (again) trying for herd immunity.
This was last tried briefly in spring 2020. There is little doubt that cases will rise, but hopefully most cases will be mild. This time around, many have been fully vaccinated. Many have had the disease and recovered. Antibodies could be much higher than spring 2020.
This is a gamble. It may not work, but it might.
Whatever happens, we cannot "go mad". The virus is still here and new variants could be imported from abroad.
I wish the English government would abandon self isolation and replace this with daily testing. This seems a far better way, with far fewer economic impacts and just as safe.
It is still a decent radio, covering all the HF bands, 6m, 2m and 70cm with all modes. It may be used at home or out portable, but some quite small changes could transform it.
My feelings are that Yaesu has lost its way and become, at best, a follower rather than a leader. I have owned several Yaesu radios since the 1970s. I really hope they "get on their game" soon.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/commercial-rigs/yaesu-ft817nd
Apart from a very brief spell on TX with 2.5W (7 spots of my TX), I am RX only. I went on about 0635z. So far today (at 0845z) 231 stations spotted on RX. Most seem to be by Es. It looks like Es is good today.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/other-amateur-radio/shack
On Monday there is a significant easing of Covid-19 regulations in England. The government is gambling that although cases will rise, many people will not die or be hospitalised. Sensible people will still wear masks in crowded places to safeguard other people whilst idiots will be idiots. I can understand why this is happening, but disappointed that the government is not going for "quick wins" by mandating mask wearing in shops and public transport. This has widespread support.
In the absence of this, let us hope that enough sensible people wear masks to stop infections rising putting younger people at great risk.
I saw this on Facebook:
"When I wear a mask in public and in the shops, I want you to know that...
🔵 I'm educated enough to know that I could be asymptomatic and still give you the virus.
🔵 No, I don't "live in fear" of the virus; I just want to be part of the solution, not the problem.
🔵 I don't feel like the "government controls me". I feel like I'm an adult contributing to security in our society and I want to teach others the same.
🔵 If we could all live with the consideration of others in mind, the whole world would be a much better place.
🔵 Wearing a mask doesn't make me weak, scared, stupid or even "controlled". Makes me caring.
🔵 When you think about your appearance, discomfort, or other people's opinion of you, imagine a loved one - a child, father, mother, grandparent, aunt, uncle or even a stranger - placed on a ventilator, alone without you or any family member who is allowed at his bedside.
🔵 Ask yourself if you could have helped them a little while wearing a mask".
The August RadCom has my article about the 10FT8R receiver for 10m FT8. It is very simple but works well. I hope it gives you some ideas.
It would make a nice winter project. Ideally it needs a PCB. It should cost very little. With low cost GQRP Club crystals it is also suitable for 10m WSPR. I was surprised by how much WSPR there was on 10m.
St Ives has some great history and is a good place to visit. This photo was posted on 365project earlier today by a friend.
After a brief period on TX with 2.5W QRP (I worked one F) I am now 10m FT8 RX only. It is now 0920z and 51 stations received.
All being well, I hope to let Richard G3TFX have my 10m multi-mode Lincoln President II on indefinite loan. This is thanks for all his hard work on my antennas. It is so long since I used this that I forget how to use it!
UPDATE 2029z: 374 stations spotted so far on 10m FT8 RX including North and South America, the Caribbean and St Helena (ZD7) The furthermost was YV1SW (7862km).
After several years of good service, my strimmer packed up, so I bought a new one. Firstly the supplied written instructions needed a degree or PhD in astrophysics to follow. I gave up and looked on YouTube for an instruction video from the manufacturer.
I watched many many times. These were better, but not by much. The last stage was adding the steadying handle. What the video failed to explain was that you had to pull something at the same time!
In all, I was not at all impressed. My last strimmer came assembled and just worked.
If it goes wrong, I have no idea how to disassemble it to return under guarantee as most assembly steps assumed you waited for a click. Perhaps you need a PhD in theoretical physics for that!
I assume this too was made in China by slave labour and is designed to fail just after the guarantee expires.
ICOM has announced that the firmware for the IC-705 has been upgraded to v1.26.
The latest MLS "Something for the weekend" video has news of the Yaesu cashback offers. They have some great deals and a free PSU on some models.
Many have accessed microwaves with very low cost modules obtainable online. With many of these, the microwave engineering is minimal or non-existent. Many have experimented with ATV at 5.6GHz and 10GHz this way. Several have made wideband FM transceivers at 10GHz this way.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/homebrew/10ghz .
OFCOM has made proposals for annual licences for 2.1GHz spectrum. See the OFCOM website for details.
Yesterday, I spotted far fewer stations across Europe on 6m FT8 RX and I had fewer stations spotting me on 10m WSPR TX. Now, this may just be a blip and there might be Es openings for some while to come. I have had 6m QRP SSB QSOs with Sweden in September. Es openings can happen at any time, but are most common in late spring and early summer.
If this follows the usual pattern, we can expect fewer openings in the months ahead. When good, signals can be strong, but we can expect fewer openings. This is why WSPR and FT8 are so good: there are lots of people monitoring all day long and people are looking in a fairly narrow chunk of the band.
In the peak months Es can transform 10m and 6m with the bands wide open for hours on end.
I suspect 10m and 6m openings by Es are far more common. Maybe with FT8 and WSPR will make such openings more obvious.
UPDATE 0750z: Just 3 stations spotted so far today on 10m FT8 RX and only 1 outside the UK.
After a very brief period on 10m FT8 TX, I am on 10m FT8 RX. So far today, 1 spot at 0550z on 10m FT8 RX.
UPDATE 1115z: 230 stations spotted.
UPDATE 1450z: 345 stations spotted including several in the USA and Canada. See map
Stations spotted today
on 10m FT8 to 1450z
We went around the sleepy village of Reach, near Cambridge.
Since breakfast I have been on 10m WSPR TX. So far (at 0950z) I have been spotted by 14 different stations.
UPDATE 1249z: 17 stations have spotted me today.
Since breakfast, I have been on 6m FT8 RX with the V2000 omni vertical. 61 stations spotted with the furthermost 9K2YM (4714km) in Kuwait.
UPDATE 1038z: 66 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX so far today.
UPDATE 1246z: 92 stations spotted.
UPDATE 1853z: 103 stations spotted. Season ending?
Jay, W5OLF, has asked me to forward this:
"At the end of last year I designed the Retro-WSPR exciter around an Adafruit Trinket microcontroller and a 74HC4060 counter chip (see photos below). Retro- I guess because it is at a single frequency and you rely on up/down conversion to get it to the WSPR band you wish. It uses only one chip besides the microcontroller that is a 4.194304MHz oscillator and buffer, which is the RF out square-wave, and a counter that counts down to a 256Hz clock. The 256Hz clock is input to an I/O pin ‘software interrupt’ of a very simple Python program on the Trinket. This provides WSPR symbol timing and 2min timing by counting the beats of this clock. I have never heard anyone proposing such a design in that the WSPR symbol time interval is 8192/12000; if we divide numerator and denominator by 32 we get 256/375. Thus if we count 375 beats of a 256Hz clock it is one WSPR symbol time interval. The next trick is that the clock at 4.194304MHz also is modulated with its mean frequency preserved - for long-term good timing - with the WSPR symbols by slightly changing the VCC to the counter chip (it takes very little voltage change to increase the frequency by 5Hz) using the A/D converter pin from the microcontroller. This setup puts out a 0Hz drift WSPR signal with average low delta-t drift for months once the oscillator is adjusted to the correct parameters and the crystal ‘aged’; although, it is only the exciter.Now the next question is the up/down conversion circuitry which I have not experimented with personally but would use standard gilbert cell IC and transistor amplifiers and bandpass filtering. If any of your readers of your blog want to experiment with doing this I can provide a unit or PCB and crystal for shipping postage only as well as emailing the software to them. The I2C interface is brought out from the Trinket micro and can easily be used to initialize a SI5351 board to an up/down conversion frequency to feed into the mixer. Please feel free to post this email on your blog.73’s, Jay, W5OLF"
