SHF rig from ICOM?

ICOM may be developing an SHF rig. 

They have been doing some experiments at 5.6GHz and have asked for inputs.  At one time microwave bands seemed far too high to be of interest from the major Japanese manufacturers. 

Back in the 1970s we were amazed when the Liner 2 transformed 2m SSB for the masses.

See https://www.icomjapan.com/lp/shf/ .

Spring is in the air - NOT amateur radio

Before it rained, we did a walk around the village earlier. There are signs of spring everywhere now. 

Cambridge bookshops - NOT amateur radio

There used to be lots of bookshops in Cambridge but there are fewer as many people prefer to buy online. 

10m FT8

At 0640z my 10m FT8 has been turned on. No spots yet.

UPDATE 0804z: Just 1 spot on RX so far. 

UPDATE 0919z: Just 2 EUs spotted on RX so far. 1 station has spotted my QRP on TX (G0FWX 160km).

UPDATE 1205z:  50 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today. 

UPDATE 1218z:  Back on QRP 10m FT8 TX again. 3 spots earlier today. 2 just now.

UPDATE 1342z:   RX only again. 88 stations spotted.

UPDATE 1600z:   110 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today. Seen better days!

Sunspots - Friday March 11th 2022

 Solar flux is 127 and the SSN 90.  A=10 and K=3. 

Rally

 As far as I know, this rally is on. My advice is always check with the organisers beforehand!

Sunday March 13th - Hamzilla Radio Fest in Sandwich, Kent. See www.hamzilla.uk .

DP0GVN (Antarctica) on 10m WSPR

The German Antarctic Research base has been copied several times today on 10m WSPR.

See https://www.awi.de/en/expedition/stations/neumayer-station-iii.html

Anglesey Abbey earlier - NOT amateur radio

Today has been a lovely spring day so far. We went for a walk around Anglesey Abbey earlier. The snowdrops are mostly over but the daffodils are still not at their best. 

10m WSPR QRP (Thursday)

 At the moment I am on 10m WSPR with 2.5W for 20% of the time. So far, 3 unique stations have spotted me (furthermost TA4/G8SCU 3010km) and I have spotted one G.

UPDATE 1330z:  So far today, I have been spotted by 7 stations and I have spotted 10 stations.

UPDATE 2130z:   18 stations have spotted my 10m QRP WSPR today and I have spotted 22 stations (see chart). I shall try FT8 tomorrow.

Architypal Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

Cambridge is world famous for its college buildings especially King's College Chapel which is known across the planet for its Christmas carols. The photo shows King's a few days ago. 

Sunspots - Thursday March 10th 2022

 Solar flux is 115 and the SSN 89.  A=5 and K=1.

70cm FT8 activity contest

Starting at 1900z is the RSGB organised UKAC 70cm activity contest. 

A brief 2.5W TX period to the 2m big-wheel omni antenna resulted in nobody copying me. 8 stations have already been spotted prior to the contest (booking their spots?) with the furthermost PE1ITR (360km).

UPDATE 2150z:  45 stations spotted. 2 QSOs, spotted by 5 stations on 2.5W QRP to the 2m big-wheel.

Cambridge bridges - NOT amateur radio

These are some of the bridges over the River Cam in Cambridge.  

You may have to click on the image to see the bridges more clearly.

Mimosa - NOT amateur radio

 

This was seen yesterday not far from King's College, Cambridge.

15m FT8 RX with the indoor loop

At just after 0900z, I turned on 15m FT8 RX using just the tiny indoor loop antenna used yesterday on 17m. So far, 20 stations spotted in just a few minutes.

UPDATE 0933z: 51 stations spotted with several in Japan.

UPDATE 1637z:  446 stations spotted on 15m FT8 RX today. 

UPDATE 1706z: 491 stations spotted on the tiny loop antenna on 15m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 1835z:  526 stations spotted. QRT soon.

Cambridge Bridge of Sighs - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday, we walked over the Bridge of Sighs in St John's College, Cambridge. The photo shows the view. 

160m FT8 RX overnight

Overnight I stayed on 160m FT8 RX with the untuned 10m antenna. In all, 285 stations were spotted with several from across the Atlantic. 

Sunspots - Wednesday March 9th 2022

Solar flux is 115 and the SSN 93.  A=6 and K=1.

160m FT8 RX

This evening I am on 160m FT8 RX with the untuned 10m antenna.  So far, 161 stations spotted on RX. 

Lightbeam communication

This was much easier than I thought. 

Although my "thing" is NLOS (non line of sight) over the horizon digital comms, I have tried line of sight speech communications. People have managed much further than I have.

One of the beauties is the gear is all homemade. Even the test gear was homemade and simple.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/optical-nanowaves/line-of-sight .

Cambridge sun - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows the view towards King's College Chapel earlier.  

It is all too easy just to accept this view that people come halfway around the world to see.

The punts were on the River Cam outside King's. It is quiet now, but much busier in the summer.

Plenty of cider - NOT amateur radio

This photo shows an event in Devon about 100 years ago. Not sure what they were celebrating, but plenty of cider ready! Cider was made locally on farms and was a popular drink. 

17m FT8 RX with the loop (Tuesday)

At 0615z, 17m FT8 RX with the indoor loop antenna was turned on. This antenna sits on the shack windowsill. See photo. Just one station spotted at 0640z.

UPDATE 0843z:   63 stations spotted on 17m FT8 RX with the furthermost JA3APV (9407km).

UPDATE 0926z: A brief QRP TX period resulted in nobody spotting me. 90 stations spotted on 17m FT8 RX today so far. My antenna is a modified Whizz loop with central heating pipe instead of wire for the loop. This makes tuning harder (sharper), but the loop is more efficient. I am sure a big beam would be better, but the tiny loop actually performs pretty well!

UPDATE 1610z: 524 stations spotted so far on 17m FT8 RX with this system. I am amazed how well this loop does considering it is tiny, fixed and indoors. Must try it on 15m FT8 tomorrow What has surprised me is not a single station from South America has been spotted.

UPDATE 1830z:   650 stations spotted on 17m FT8 RX today. 17m seems a good all round band, until the evening at least.

UPDATE 2154z:   695 stations spotted with the tiny loop on 17m FT8 RX in the last day.

Sunspots - Tuesday March 8th 2022

Solar flux is 118 and the SSN 84.  A=9 and K=2. 

17m FT8 RX (Monday)

At 2008z, I turned on 17m FT8 RX using the tiny loop antenna on the shack windowsill. So far, 4 USA stations spotted. I suspect the band is just closing.

UPDATE 2117z:   9 stations spotted.

UPDATE 2140z:   It seems the band has now closed.  QRT soon. I may try again tomorrow morning.

UPDATE 2207z:   Not quite closed!  There are still Ws coming through, so I have left things running a bit longer.

Spring blossom - NOT amateur radio

A sure sign of spring is the appearance of blossom on the tree near our post office. It looks great right now, but it will soon be gone.

Loop TX antenna

Last year, I used this tiny antenna on many HF bands. 

It is only about 50cm across and sits on the shack windowsill, but worked remarkably well on FT8. 

I must try it again on bands like 17m.

SW broadcast interval signals

 See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/sw-interval-signals .

This was created a long time ago, so I hope the links still work.

10m FT8 RX (Monday)

 At the moment I am on 10m FT8 RX. Plenty coming through. 

UPDATE 1710z:   500 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 1926z:   603 stations spotted. Stragglers are North and South Americans mainly. QRT soon.

Oscar 100 activity

Every few weeks I take a peek at activity on the geosynchronous satellite Oscar 100. Activity levels are similar to the last time I looked: not high and still plenty of space. 

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ .

Sunspots - Monday March 7th 2022

Solar flux is 116 and the SSN 82. A=18 and K=3.

Low pass filter design

With my upcoming permit to test on 8m, I may need to add external low pass filtering to ensure my TX is totally clean. There are several circuit calculators on the Internet. The one below is an example. It seems daft to buy one when a simple one can so easily be made.

See https://rf-tools.com/lc-filter/ .

Radio amateurs in Ukraine

Since the recent troubles began, radio amateurs in Ukraine have been asked to keep off the air on TX. This has largely been observed. 

Whatever your views, innocent civilians are being killed or displaced. I hope a peaceful way can be found to stop the bloodshed.

Even at the height of the Cold War, radio amateur chats with stations behind the Iron Curtain continued. In a small way, we all tried to break down barriers.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2022/march/ukraine-maintains-ham-radio-silence-in-state-of-emergency.htm#.YiTBi4rP3rc .

East Anglian Churches Blog - NOT amateur radio

For many years I wrote a blog about the East Anglian churches we had visited. For several years we have been unable to visit new ones, but I hope to visit more this year. 

Our grandson has rung bells in 11 different towers now. He rung in the one in the photo (Isleham) this morning. 

See http://eachurches.blogspot.com/ 

Elecraft

Over the years I have owned a couple of Elecraft kits. One was the T1 auto-ATU and one was the K1 QRP CW transceiver. The latter is now discontinued. 

These days, they sell the KX2 and KX3 rigs as well as the K4 transceiver. Elecraft transceivers are usually very high specification products. 

Some years ago I did a webpage on the K1.

See https://elecraft.com/ for the main Elecraft site.

Needlework exhibition - NOT amateur radio

Ely Cathedral currently has a needlework exhibition on. I didn't go, but my wife did.  The photo does not do it justice.

See https://www.elycathedral.org/ .

6m FT8 QRP (Sunday)

At about 1030z, I turned on 6m FT8 with 2.5W and the V2000 vertical omni. After a brief period on TX (2 G spots)  I am now RX only (just 2 G spots).

UPDATE 1313z:  8 stations spotted with the furthermost CT2HXM (1422km) .

UPDATE 1604z: 11 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today. The latest DX is IU3MDI (1137km). I am not sure of the propagation mode.

UPDATE 2100z:   13 stations spotted. QRT.

Salcombe NOT amateur radio

This photo shows where I come from in South Devon yesterday. I spent my childhood years here. 

DX crystal set

This is a circuit I have never built. It was in QST some years ago and uses a zero bias MOSFET to give better sensitivity. You may want to have a go. Please read the ARRL article below.

See http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/tis/info/pdf/culter.pdf

Reassuring? - NOT amateur radio

Next time you fly in a large passenger jet this sign may reassure you that you are in safe hands. 😉😉