It is now 0935z and I have been on 10m FT8 RX for about 35 minutes. So far, 20 stations spotted. This looks north south with several stations in Europe and Africa spotted.
UPDATE 2140z: Now QRT. 360 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today
11 Feb 2022
4m - 11 years ago!!
10 Feb 2022
Day off amateur radio
As we were out for much of the day, I have not been on the air today on any band. This must be the first time in several months. I shall probably be on 10m WSPR or FT8 tomorrow.
70cm FT8 activity contest yesterday
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| Stations spotted on 70cm RX yesterday with the 2m omni! |
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| Stations spotting my 2.5W 70cm TX FT8 to the 2m omni antenna |
The ship of the fens - NOT amateur radio
Like Chartres Cathedral in France, Ely Cathedral can be seen from miles away like a boat on the horizon. It is a magnificent building.
Eat less meat - NOT amateur radio
Yesterday I listened, via Zoom, to a most interesting lecture by an economics professor on how to take account of climate change in accounting. This was part of my University of the Third Age in Cambridge (U3AC) lectures.
One of the "take away" remarks was that he thought we would be able to feed the world as long as we eat less meat. In my view, we will be persuaded by adverts to enjoy alternatives, if only on certain days each week. Beef and lamb need huge amounts of land and water. If we don't change, we will all die!
As a carnivore who enjoys steaks I shall not find this totally easy. Eating less lamb and beef and more pork and chicken are good starters. Personally, I could be a vegetarian despite enjoying my steaks, certainly on some days a week.
My 10 year old granddaughter has been vegan for over a year and some of her food has been really tasty.
9 Feb 2022
Rally news - Orlando HamCation
USA folks may be interested in the 75th Orlando HamCation that runs from February 11-13th in Orlando, Florida. There are 65+ commercial traders and a huge car boot sale area. Do check with organisers first before travelling.
See www.hamcation.com .
OFCOM crappery
OFCOM today emailed me about their latest proposals for mobile spectrum.
Despite 2 further chase emails this week, I have still not heard about how my 8m NoV which I submitted last October is progressing. It seems if you are talking money/revenues they are interested. Otherwise, you just get ignored. I am totally out of patience with OFCOM, who appear to have zero interest in customer care!
Both my MP and the RSGB have been contacted. OFCOM come over as a totally inept QUANGO. I have had dealings with OFCOM for many years. They seem as inept as ever.
UPDATE 1707z: Just had a response from my MP who is on the case. Best thing she could do is vote to disband this disfunctional group. Response from OFCOM? Still nothing.
Blooming lovely - NOT amateur radio
The photo shows the daffodils under the tree on our green coming in to flower. Spring is not far away now.
Anglesey Abbey earlier - NOT amateur radio
70cm FT8 cumulative activity contest
The 70cm FT8 activity contest is tonight starting at 1900z. I can only run 2.5W (10W on SSB) maximum to my 2m big-wheel antenna, but probably will be on for a while.
UPDATE 1656z: Just QSYed to 70cm to check SWR etc. All seems fine. Spotted by M0IEP (155km) on TX. Nothing spotted on RX yet.
See https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/contest_rules.pl?contest=70cmsgmac.
10m FT8 RX (Wednesday)
At the moment I am on 10m FT8 RX only with 16 stations spotted.
UPDATE 1345z: 257 stations spotted on RX today so far.
160m FT8 overnight
314 stations spotted on RX overnight on 160m FT8 RX with the 10m antenna. Several in the USA.
8 Feb 2022
70cm activity contest
This was this evening, although I only stayed on for 28 minutes because of my poor voice. As usual, I was using 10W to the 2m big-wheel omni antenna. My biggest "get away" was a station on the south coast. In all, 4 QSOs were had although many more would have been possible had I stopped on longer.
160m FT8 QRP (Tuesday)
Using 2.5W and the 10m end fed antenna, I was copied by 4 stations with the furthermost G4MSA (222km). On RX, 101 stations spotted at 2058z, with the furthermost 4X1UF (3513km).
UPDATE 2140z: 147 stations spotted on 160m FT8 RX this evening.
8m NoV application submitted October 2021
Still waiting any progress update from OFCOM. No email today, despite 2 emails from me in last 24 hours.
ARRL National Convention
As far as I know, this is still on. It is in Orlando, Florida, USA this Thursday. As always, check with organisers first before travelling far. This may be of interest to people in the USA.
Quantum mechanics - NOT amateur radio
One advantage of being near Cambridge is we have a vast choice of courses for our University of the Third Age. Often we can tap into the knowledge of some very clever people.
I go into Cambridge to learn about Medieval History on Fridays and attend a course on Quantum Mechanics at home on Zoom on Tuesday mornings. The course on quantum mechanics is given by a Cambridge Ph.D man. He is a very good communicator, but it is hard.
The important things are the "take away" remarks. Repeated experiments seem to prove that quantum mechanics is right and our "conventional" view of reality is flawed. Indeed, our whole beliefs about space and time may be wrong.
This is as much about philosophy as physics.
10m FT8 QRP (Tuesday)
After a brief period with 2.5W TX, I am RX only. So far today (at 0924z) just G6TUS (18km) spotting me and 15 stations spotted on RX with the furthermost 4I1EBC (10661km).
UPDATE 1217z: 261 stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX with the furthermost VK8NSB (13781km).
UPDATE 1350z: 333 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX from all over the world.
UPDATE 1935z: 494 stations spotted. QRT soon.
160m FT8 overnight
307 stations spotted on RX on 160m FT8 overnight. The antenna was the 10m end fed.
Sunspots - Tuesday February 8th 2022
At the moment the usual site I get my solar data from seems to be offline. I shall add numbers as soon as I can.
UPDATE 0930z: This site is still not responding. I shall try again later. If it still fails, I shall have to find a new source of data. See https://dx.qsl.net/propagation/index.html . It seems the host site dx.qsl.net is not working at the moment.
UPDATE 0938z: It looks like the NOAA site (where the data comes from?) is undergoing maintenance.
UPDATE 1214z: Well, the dx.qsl site is now working, but the best data is 2115z yesterday, not today. This is what follows.
Solar flux is 127 and the SSN 83. A=8 and K=2. Remember, this is late yesterday, not today.
7 Feb 2022
160m FT8 QRP (Monday)
The 10m antenna turns out to have quite a reasonable SWR on 160m.
Just for fun, I tried a few CQs on 160m FT8 TX with this antenna and was spotted by 2E0VDS (30km) and G0BNR (37km).
On 160m FT8 RX 32 stations spotted by 1955z, after about 15 minutes!
UPDATE 2118z: 157 stations spotted on 160m FT8 RX.
10m WSPR TX (Monday)
As usual, I am on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW and the W5OLF beacon. So far just local spots of me by G4KPX (14km).
When not in use for other things like FT8, I use the 10m antenna for WSPR TX.
UPDATE 1235z: 4 unique stations have spotted me today so far.
UPDATE 1923z: 5 unique stations have spotted me today. Now QRT.
6m FT8 QRP (Monday)
After a very brief period on TX with 2.5W and the V2000 vertical omni antenna, I am now on RX only.
So far, just one spot on TX by G0PQO (50km) and nothing yet on RX at 0957z.
UPDATE 1326z: 5 stations spotted so far with the furthermost OZ5TG (738km). Judging by the strength (huge!), I suspect this was aircraft reflection.
UPDATE 1925z: QRT.
4m reception
A local amateur has set up a personal beacon on 4m. He is about 3km away. I have no 4m antenna, so I tried reception with the V2000 vertical omni antenna and the 2m big-wheel omni antenna. Good copy was possible despite the power being only 10mW.
8m NoV- update this week?
It would be great to get an update on my 8m NoV application to OFCOM submitted last October! It is now 4 weeks since I requested an update on progress.
My NoV application was submitted 4 months ago, and I have still been told nothing. The NoV (hopefully) ran from March 1st 2022, which is just a few weeks away!
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/8m-band .
UPDATE 1925z: Nothing (again) today. Am I surprised? No. I have written yet another letter requesting a progress update by return. If this was private industry, someone would be accountable and either retrained or sacked.
"Dear xxxx
Original case reference number xxxxxx - amateur licence G3XBM
The original NoV application was submitted in October 2021. 4 weeks ago I requested an update, quite reasonably. I have heard absolutely nothing at all on progress! As this NoV was for a limited duration, with low power, intended to run from March 2022 (just weeks away) I am asking (yet again) for a progress update.
By return, please give me an update. "
Improving HF conditions
For the next few years we can expect HF conditions to improve. Some days will be poor but on average things will get better until about 2025. 10m will be good again and we might even see some F2 openings on 6m. I hope you have fun! 😁😁
Oscar 100 activity
As regular blog readers know, I take a peek at activity levels on this geosynchronous satellite. My last look was at 1545z on a Sunday. There were a few QSOs ongoing, but things remain pretty quiet. I am sure the challenge is that first QSO, then the interest wanes.
It is surprising this is not busier: I guess for most the effort is just too hard. Many DXers just go out and buy a new rig and linear. Soldering iron? Which end do I hold? RF - what is that? 😁
6 Feb 2022
Grandson bellringing - NOT amateur radio
This morning our grandson rang the church bells at Bottisham about 5 miles from here. He has now rung bells in 4 places.
French amateur success on 8.27kHz
F5VLB has been received in Todmorden, UK by Paul Nicholson. Jean-Marie was using a 75m base earth-electrode antenna. Paul was integrating the signal which had to remain stable for a very long time (days). This is, I am sure, the first reception of a French amateur outside France below 10kHz. Huge congratulations to both stations. This is a result of hard work by both.
UPDATE 2230z: Apparently the power has been increased a bit and he is being copied in Italy too!
In the snowdrops - NOT amateur radio
My wife yesterday at Hare Park, near Cambridge. There were snowdrops out, but no daffodils. I think the snowdrops will be better next week.
Classic QRP transceivers
The challenge is often trying to make the simplest rig that actually works. Often it is receiver that is the weakest link. With modern rigs, mW signals can often be dug out of the noise.
One classic is the Pixie and its predecessor the Micro80. Pixie kits can often be bought from China at stupid prices. These work and allow real QSOs, but they are let down by the RX. The challenge is to get a rig where the RX is up to the job. Often I do not call CQ in case a weak signal I cannot hear is already there. With QRP, calling others is often a better approach.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/8040m-pixie-and-micro80-transceivers .
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