Solar flux is 103 and the SSN 111. A=9 and K=2 .
17 Feb 2022
16 Feb 2022
8m Research Licence Crowdfunding
As OFCOM has refused my 8m NoV and instead asked me to apply for an Innovation and Trials Licence costing lots a year. If you are a 5G company with billions this is nothing. For small researchers like me this is stupid. I have trying for crowd funding. If I get enough funding, I shall go ahead.
See https://gofund.me/c0c32843
Exhaustion and giddiness - NOT amateur radio
It is extremely hard to get other people to understand my giddiness and exhaustion.
This is an after-effect of my 2013 stroke. All the time when awake, I feel giddy. Much of the time I feel exhausted. Not tired, totally exhausted. Any exertion leaves me very, very, tired. Many people think this is laziness. It is not.
In the past, I quite liked driving. These days, even short journeys are stressful. I guess my reaction times are longer and my brain makes all driving seem 20mph faster. Also, it is as if my brain is in overload when driving: all the time I am thinking of potential hazards.
Outwardly I look totally fine, much like many people who have MS or similar conditions. This is in some ways a good thing. In other ways it is hard, as people just do not understand.
My voice is also poor: it is very hard repeating myself as others do not understand what I am saying.
10m Tenner Transceiver
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10m-tenner-qrp-cw .
One year later - NOT amateur radio
This is a photo of me with my elder grandson. He's grown quite a bit in a year! Same place.
10m FT8 (Wednesday)
My 10m FT8 gear was turned on at 0741z. Nobody spotted my short 2.5W QRP transmission.
UPDATE 0858z: So far this morning, 19 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX.
UPDATE 1741z: 528 stations spotted today.
UPDATE 2105z: QRT.
Old home - NOT amateur radio
This is an aerial photo of our old home. My son lives here now. We moved 300m in the village 8 years ago.
15 Feb 2022
10m operation
10m is my favourite HF band. It is wide enough to support all modes and at various times of the sunspot cycle it experiences virtually all propagation modes. For much of the solar cycle it is an amazing daytime DX band. On my main website there is a page about this.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/10m-operation .
Anglesey Abbey - NOT amateur radio
This place is now owned by the National Trust. It has huge grounds in which to walk. We usually go there several times a month. It is about 4 miles away from home.
8m NoV
In the last few weeks I wrote to my MP saying how disappointed I was that after months of waiting and several recent chase emails, I had heard nothing of progress from OFCOM. She is contacting OFCOM to ask why I have not heard. We'll see if this does any good.
I would much have preferred it if they has simply given me a response last year. I am not asking for much! Until they respond I was not planning to erect an 8m dipole. This was for serious propagation research too.
UPDATE 1515z : Wonders will never cease!! After months and months, they have refused my application for an NoV. Instead they want me to apply for an Innovation and Trials Licence which has a fee starting at £50!! I think the real reason is they are afraid radio amateurs will get a foot in the door. So, unless I am prepared to pay at least £50 a year, I am not even allowed just 50Hz of spectrum at 5W for 6 months. I am speechless and quietly fuming. So much for propagation research. You can imagine, that even if I applied, the Es season would be over before I heard!
10m FT8 QRP (Tuesday)
At the moment I am RX only, but I might try 2.5W TX later. So far today (at 1430z) 9 stations spotted.
UPDATE 1741z: 178 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX.
14 Feb 2022
Hair! - NOT amateur radio
Other G3XBM sites
Periodically, I like to remind people of my other sites that may be of interest.
This blog is usually updated daily, whereas the other sites less frequently. Often these other sites can be useful and have more project information.
Video channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/G3XBM
Main site: http://www.g3xbm.co.uk
This blog: http://g3xbm-qrp.blogspot.com/
Sub 9kHz: https://sites.google.com/site/sub9khz/
The sub 9kHz site is badly in need of an update!
2m activity contest results
The results for this activity contest have just been released. This year, I am donating my points towards the Cambridge Radio Club (CDARC).
As I usually run 10W to an omni antenna for much less than an hour, because of my poor voice, I doubt my points help much!
Most activity is on SSB and activity levels are usually very high.
See https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfresults.pl?Contest=144MHz%20UKAC&year=2022 .
Lightning
At this time of year in the UK, lightning is not usually a great risk. In the summer months, although unlikely, lightning can be more of a risk. A direct strike is very rare, but can be devastating.
More common are surges on power lines when lightning is near. For this reason, I usually disconnect PSUs and antennas if there is lightning in the area.
Years ago, a colleague at work had his house struck and there was a lot of damage. I keep an eye on lightning maps to see how close storms are.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/other-amateur-radio/lightning-maps .
Ely station - NOT amateur radio
For a rural station, this is surprisingly busy. Many lines converge here, so there always seem to be trains coming and going.
Lines go to Norwich, King's Lynn, Cambridge, Ipswich and Peterborough. All converge here. There are also goods trains trundling through as well. The photo shows the station just as a train is leaving for Cambridge and ultimately London.
It is possible to get right across the country without changing from here. Destinations include Liverpool, London and Birmingham.
I love train rides: just sit back, relax and let the world go by. If you prefer, just read.
10m QRP WSPR (500mW)
Later, I hope to turn on my 10m WSPR TX beacon by W5OLF. This is on TX 100% of the time, but changes frequency every cycle to prevent being clobbered by a strong station. Usually I get spots from a local and the Canary Is. Occasionally I get spots from South America and the USA as well as Europe.
Rybakov Antennas
At the end of a long wire, the impedance is usual high. With a 49:1 transformer, the SWR is usually well within range of auto-tuners found in most modern rigs. This usually means that a multi-band antenna can be erected covering most or all HF bands. In many cases, the SWR is sufficiently low that no tuner is needed at all.
For those unable or simply preferring not to make one, commercial antennas or baluns are available. One that was available was the X80. I bought mine many years ago. It worked well, but was only up for a few weeks as most of my operating was on a single band - 10m. I swapped mine for an active RX antenna.
I think modern versions can come in fibre glass, but are more expensive.
If you are happy to make your own, all that is needed is the balun in a suitable waterproof enclosure with connectors and a long wire. I think the wire is ideally not a multiple of half waves. There are several designs on the internet I believe. If you are happy to experiment, you can try different wire lengths. The X80, and its successors, looks like a CB vertical. Often people put things inside aluminium ones to make them bend less in high winds. I never did this.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/x80 .
More farmshop breakfast - NOT amateur radio
13 Feb 2022
VHF/UHF FT8
As recent activity sessions have shown, FT8 on 2m and 70cm can be very effective. Although many QSOs are due to tropo, I am convinced that some sort of scatter is often involved.
This maybe aircraft scatter or troposcatter. With FT8, scatter is possible with far smaller stations. It would not surprise me if scatter was more likely as the frequency is increased. It might be very effective at 23cm or higher with FT8, although I have no evidence.
If I had 23cm FT8, I might try some tests.
UK post office scandal - NOT amateur radio
This is an unbelievable scandal. Back in the early 2000s several hundreds of UK sub-postmasters were audited. Apparently many were accused of fraud and were even put in jail. Some even committed suicide.
It turns out the software was at fault! These people were totally wronged.
The person that was allegedly in charge at the time is now an ordained church minister! I cannot believe this person has not been put in jail and the keys thrown away. This is a total injustice! This person and whoever else was in charge back then should carry the can for this injustice.
10m FT8 QRP (Sunday)
After a brief period on QRP TX (2.5W and spotted well in Israel) I am now RX only. At 1315z 52 stations spotted. I have been in for about 20 minutes.
UPDATE 1358z: 91 stations spotted today.
UPDATE 2011z: Now QRT. 287 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today.
Yippee - GQ3XBM in June
Well, I for one will not be applying for this NoV which allows me to add Q to celebrate the queen's platinum jubilee in June 2022. If OFCOM's speed is any guide, I might get it in 2024!!
Farm shop breakfast - NOT amateur radio
We treated our son and grandson to breakfast at our local farmshop cafe.
10FT8R 10m FT8 RX
Once again 10m is good. On FT8 RX most days, most continents can be received on simple low wire antennas.
When 10m is like this, it is quite useful to have a RX that does not tie up the "big rig". One such simple RX is the 10FT8R, which I designed and made about a year ago. It was in RSGB RadCom and is on my website where a clearer schematic may be found. The crystal needed was low cost. If a 14.037MHz crystal can be found then the inductor is series with the crystal can be removed and the connection just shorted.
Despite its low cost and simplicity, it works really well. For "one offs" simple dead big construction is fine. As a club project a PCB would be useful.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10ft8r-rx
12 Feb 2022
King's Lynn - NOT amateur radio
The photo shows the Custom House and the statue of George Vancouver.
South African 8m beacon widely copied in Europe
The South African 8m beacon ZS6WAB on 40.675MHz CW had been widely copied in Europe in recent days. The propagation mode is unclear.
If these 8m beacons all used FT8 and were within a few kilohertz, monitoring would be so much easier as all could be monitored 24/7 with a single setting of PSKreporter.
Optical experiments
In view of my earlier post, it is probably a good idea to point you to my pages on optical communications. I have not been able to do much in recent years because of my stroke, but there is nothing stopping others!
This is an area where the gear is easy, results can far exceed expectations and anyone can join in. As far as I know, no licence is needed.
All the gear uses low cost parts and can be assembled and tested in the back of the garage. Even test gear can be very simple and low cost. This really is great fun.
Some like to experiment with speech over very long distances. My "thing" was over the horizon. I was totally surprised that even when there was no sign at all of a signal, it could clearly be seen on a PC. The distance records for "over the horizon" are amazing. I think these used "cloud bounce", where signals are reflected off the base of clouds. In my case there were no clouds, so this was by refection off dust in the air I think.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/optical-nanowaves/over-the-horizon .
Travel rules relaxing - NOT amateur radio
Covid-19 is not over, but for most it is like a heavy cold now.
Fewer people are hospitalised or die with the Omicron variants. As a consequence travel rules have been relaxed in many places.
The economic consequences of restrictions are such that it is becoming better to treat it a bit like a bad cold: If you feel rough, don't travel or go to work or school. I think this is the right decision in England.
In the UK those asked to stay off work or school are causing harm to society. Of course, if you are unwell you try not to spread it to others like colds and flu. There is no longer any sense in imposing restrictions on the whole society. We have to take responsibility for ourselves.
In the UK the vast major majority of people have built up immunity through vaccines or prior exposure to a corona virus like a cold or even Omicron. Most will be exposed to Omicron. Only some will get ill and even fewer will end up in hospital. Interestingly, most who end up very ill are unvaccinated.
Get vaccinated for your sake as well as others!
160m FT8 RX last evening
There would probably have been USA stations later, but I went QRT.
11 Feb 2022
OFCOM weekly publications update
If you look on the OFCOM website, it has updated the list of available publications.
It would be nice if OFCOM gave me an update on my 8m NoV, submitted October 2021 and which I have chased for an update several times in the last month. I was hoping to start the experiment in about 2 weeks time!! Needless to say, nothing heard, despite promises of an update.
Hello - is there anybody there at OFCOM?
160m FT8 RX
I QSYed to 160m FT8 RX with the 10m antenna and have been on for about 90 minutes. So far, 186 stations spotted.
King's Lynn - NOT amateur radio
These days, it is a very working class town.
In years gone by it was a very important trading port quite close to the North Sea.
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