Who me? - NOT amateur radio

Red-legged partridges on our lawn. These handsome birds were introduced in the UK in the 1800s and can be quite tame. 

Sunspots - Tuesday August 17th 2021

 Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 14.  A=7 and K=1.

Pye Telecom PF1 on 70cm

Back in the late 1960s these were revolutionary radios bringing communications to beat policemen. 

A few found their way on to 70cm although they were only about 50mW. Years ago I built a 2m super-regen RX in a PF1 RX case.

See the Pye Telecom History website for details. 

2016 - NOT amateur radio

 

This photo shows our back garden 5 years ago. It is similar this year. We have no pears as frost killed the blossom, yet we have a laden crabapple tree and sunflowers yet to come out. The first ones were eaten by the Muntjac Deer! 

Sunspots - Monday August 16th 2021

 Solar flux is 75 and the SSN 23 .  A=10 and K=3.

Almost normal - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday we went to Bury St Edmunds as an earlier post shows. It felt almost normal, which was good to see. 

Bury St Edmunds is a delightful place. If you live in the UK and have never been, I thoroughly recommend it.

10m WSPR TX 500mW (Sunday)

 Transmissions started at about 0840z. No spots yet.

UPDATE 0918z: 3 unique spots already. Promising!

UPDATE 1055z:  4 unique spots of me so far today. 

UPDATE 1355z: 7 unique spots of me today on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW.

6m FT8 (Sunday)

 After a very brief TX period with 2.5W to the vertical omni antenna (3 G spots), I am RX only. At 0855z, 8 stations spotted. Some evidence of Es.

UPDATE 1100z:  42 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today so far. Plenty of Es. 

Stations spotted on
6m FT8 RX to 1350z

UPDATE 1350z: 93 stations spotted.

Bury St Edmunds - NOT amateur radio

It was good to see things almost normal yesterday with my wife and 2 of our grandchildren in Bury St Edmunds yesterday. The gardens were stunning 

Sunspots - Sunday August 15th 2021

 Solar flux is 73 and the SSN 47.  A=4 and K=3.

Five years older - NOT amateur radio

This afternoon we went to nearby Bury St Edmunds with 2 of our grandchildren. One insisted on reproducing a photo from 2016. 

Before and after are shown in the photo. It was taken in the Abbey Gardens that were a riot of colour. 

Bury seemed normal i.e like it was pre-pandemic.

Look carefully at the left picture you will see she insisted on wearing odd shoes!

Are they joking?

On the back of the latest RadCom is an advert by a UK dealer for a certain brand of antennas. Now I have no doubt these will be good.  

Then I saw the prices!!! 

Someone is making loads of money out of stuckers. Probably the dealer and manufacturer are both making handsome profits. I shall not embarrass them by adding names, but remind all this is just a hobby. 

I am all for dealers and manufacturers charging fair prices and making fair profits, but do not exploit your customers please.

Are we being ripped off? I stand to be corrected. Perhaps the dealers and manufacturer would care to let us know the profits? Perhaps they would rather not. 

This same dealer recently announced it was the sole UK dealer of a German radio that retails at over £12k!! Again, big fat profits come to mind. I would be surprised if the components cost more than £200. OK, they have to recover development and selling costs, but that still leaves a huge profit for the dealer and manufacturer. Once again, if I am wrong I shall happily retract how I "sense".

They sell at high prices as people are prepared to buy at these high prices.  Now, each to their own and spend your money as you want. 

Meadow - NOT amateur radio

This 11 acre meadow was bought from the village many years ago. They were cutting the grass earlier. 

10m WSPR TX 500mW (Saturday)

As usual, I am on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW. It is now 0850z. So far, nobody has spotted me.

6m FT8 (Saturday) - mostly RX

 Apart from a very brief TX period with 2.5W (4 spots of me), I am RX only (6 spots after about 10 minutes at 0844z). Antenna is the usual V2000 vertical omni.

Devon 1942 - NOT amateur radio

This photo shows a farm in Devon in 1942. This was in the days of the land army when many women were asked to work on farms so farm workers could become soldiers.

Maths - NOT amateur radio

One of our grandchildren doing online maths. 

VLF 10 years ago

10 years ago I was totally fit and doing field work below 10kHz. 

Zoom advantages?

Since the start of the pandemic our local Cambridge Radio Club (CDARC) has been holding regular lectures via Zoom. We usually get between 20-30 people attending. 

The advantage is those watching and speaking can be anywhere in the world.  Last night the speaker was in Canada. It felt as if he was next door!

As I am unable to drive in the dark, these talks suit me fine.

Sunspots - Saturday August 14th 2021

 Solar flux is 73 and the SSN 0. A=6 and K=1. 

10m WSPR TX at 500mW

Since 0822z, I have been on 10m WSPR TX. As yet, nobody has spotted me.

UPDATE 0840z:  Already 4 spots from 2 unique stations. Looks like Es.

UPDATE 2056z:  26 unique stations spotted me today.

6m FT8 QRP (Friday)

Since 0822z I have been on 6m FT8. Apart from a very brief TX period at 2.5W to the V2000 vertical omni with the furthermost a spot by YO8SSB (1874km), I have been RX only. So far this morning, 4 stations spotted. Es is just starting I think.

UPDATE 2104z:  179 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today as the map shows.

Parsonage Farm - NOT amateur radio

 

This is Parsonage Farm in our village. 

Arecibo Observatory and EME

Sadly this giant radio telescope in Puerto Rico was damaged beyond repair. 

In the mid 1960s it was used for some amateur moonbounce tests. Many amateurs made their first EME QSOs this way. The dish gain was very high with a 1000 foot dish! I have no idea what the ERP was.

This was 1964 (?), way before we had any weak signal modes that makes EME a little easier. EME still needs optimum equipment and is not for those not prepared to work hard.

I am not sure what is needed these days to work the better stations via EME, but I would guess at least 100W, mast head preamps and as big a yagi array as you can manage. This also requires accurate moon tracking, low cable losses and weak signal modes optimised for EME.

Re-tarred - NOT amateur radio

For the last 2 days they have been applying tar to the outside of the restored windmill next door. This is 200 years old and they last coated it 8 years ago.

It looks splendid, although a few drops from starlings on the sails could soon spoil this!

All the work is done by volunteers.

Tunnel diodes

Back in the 1960s these were all the rage.  I remember making a simple tunnel diode oscillator at university in about 1969.

I am not sure if you can buy them still. They are 2 pin negative resistance diodes that work by quantum mechanical tunnelling. 

Very simple uW TXs are possible and there was one published that was copied about 200km away in New Zealand on 80m.

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

See https://www.rfwireless-world.com/Vendors/Tunnel-diode-manufacturers.html .

Sunspots - Friday August 13th 2021

Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 11 . A=4 and K=2.

2m FT8 QRP (Thursday)

After a very brief session on 2.5W TX (2 spots of me), I am RX only. It is now 1506z and 2 stations spotted.

UPDATE  1752z:  17 stations spotted with the furthermost  DL1KDA (456km).

Perseid meteor shower

This meteor shower peaks about now. Often this is accompanied by some long "pings" with VHF signals propagated a long way via the ionised trails. I shall be monitoring 2m FT8 overnight, but there may be better modes.

10m WSPR TX 500mW (Thursday)

Since about 0930z, I have been on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW.

UPDATE 1000z: Already a couple of spots from Germany.

UPDATE 1414z: 17 unique stations have spotted me so far today. Furthermost is a spot by EA8BFK (2880km) in the Canary Isles.

Spots at 1738z

UPDATE 2052z: 23 stations s.potted including the furthermost FY5KE (7110km). QRT soon.

UPDATE 2100z: QRT

6m FT8 QRP (Thursday)

At about 0930z I decided to try 6m with 2.5W FT8. 3 stations spotted me including 1 in Italy. Since then, I have been RX only.

UPDATE 0955z: 7 stations spotted on RX across Europe.

UPDATE 1312z:  67 stations spotted with the furthermost 5T5PA (3791km) in West Africa.

Kafka? - NOT amateur radio

 This is supposed to be true, although I no way of telling. Whether true or not, I like it.

At 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, walked through the park in Berlin when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favourite doll. She and Kafka searched for the doll unsuccessfully.

Kafka told her to meet him there the next day and they would come back to look for her.

The next day, when they had not yet found the doll, Kafka gave the girl a letter "written" by the doll saying "please don't cry. I took a trip to see the world. I will write to you about my adventures."

Thus began a story which continued until the end of Kafka's life.

During their meetings, Kafka read the letters of the doll carefully written with adventures and conversations that the girl found adorable.

Finally, Kafka brought back the doll (he bought one) that had returned to Berlin.

"It doesn't look like my doll at all," said the girl.

Kafka handed her another letter in which the doll wrote: "my travels have changed me." the little girl hugged the new doll and brought her happy home.

A year later Kafka died.

Many years later, the now-adult girl found a letter inside the doll. In the tiny letter signed by Kafka it was written:

"Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way."

Mini-whip RX active antennas

These antennas can be very effective on VLF, LF and MF. They are extremely small but work every bit as well as big antennas. They are the best way to listen on these lower bands.

They are sometimes known as E-field probes (EFP). They work because external noise dominates. This noise decreases as the wanted signal decreases so actual S/N is just as good with a small antenna. This is not the case when the RX noise figure dominates. Often they are optimised for lower frequencies. With active antennas it is important to have good dynamic ranges.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/e-field-probe-efp . 

UPDATE 1253z:  Now 137kHz EFP on new site - see https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/137khz-efp-rx-antenna .

10m FT8 (Thursday)

In a few moments I hope to go on 10m FT8 again. My usual pattern is a few times on 2.5W FT8 TX followed by RX for most of the time. 

Disappointing - NOT amateur radio

The rose garden at nearby Anglesey Abbey is usually a picture. This year it looks "different" with fewer roses out. I am not sure if this is due to the weather or Covid-19. It still looks colourful, but not as good. 

Snogging? - NOT amateur radio

These two snails were spotted yesterday. It looks like they are having a cuddle, possibly more! I am no expert on snail reproduction. 

Yesterday on 10m FT8 RX

There is little doubt that Es was prevalent on 10m FT8 RX yesterday. In all, 354 stations spotted, with most of these in Europe. 

Sunspots - Thursday August 12th 2021

Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 22. A=6 and K=1. 

Practical Wireless (September 2021)

I still get this on subscription. 

If I am honest, it would be the first magazine to go. 

Content is a bit patchy with some good articles and some less so. 

It must be many years since I wrote an article for PW. I have certainly not written anything since ownership changed.

Wild flowers - NOT amateur radio

These wild flowers were seen in 2014 at Ickworth near Bury St Edmunds.  

In recent years these have been disappointing.