See https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HA642SW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.
This morning, I was planning to go on 10m QRP FT8, but something is still intermittent so I have a high SWR. I suspect the coax plug. At some point, I shall have to remake the joint. These days, this is less easy as my fine motor skills are poor.
At the moment (1106z) I am on 40.680 MHz FT8 with my 2.5W and low wire dipole. No spots on RX or TX.
UPDATE 1545z: No spots.
PJ4MM has also got a permit to TX on 4m. When the Es season comes, this will be an interesting path from Europe.
As far as I know, this is the first amateur in the northern hemsiphere in Region 2 to get a transmitting permit.
I think VP8 in the southern hemisphere has 4m, so this could be an interesting TEP path.
Martin G8JNJ is doing some 8m WSPR tests, so I am looking for his signal. The path loss between us means this very unlikely.
I have also heard today that a station in Bonaire now has an 8m licence - PJ4MM. Bonaire is in the Caribbean. Not sure what this licence covers i.e. it is limited experimental licence or a full amateur licence.
After lunch, I hope to go on 10m QRP FT8. Most days, the USA and Canada come through pretty well. When on RX I use 2.5W. Mostly I just go on RX only as the FT8 slot is so full.
UPDATE 1453z: So far today, 227 stations spotted on 10m FT8. There is still an intermittent fault on my 10m antenna plug as the FT817ND initially said "hi swr".I shall have to investigate.
UPDATE 1635z: Before going QRT on 10m FT8 RX about 30 minutes ago, 274 stations spotted today.
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| The chef |
Whilst on 8m, the 10m antenna is free, so I shall again go on with my W5OLF 500mW WSPR beacon. I expect this will be about 1015z.
UPDATE 1645z: QRT. Best DX today was a spot by FR1GZ (9724km).
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| 10m WSPR QRP spots of me today |
Later this morning I will be on 8m WSPR doing a test with G8JNJ. Brief tests last evening were unsuccessful, but I want to monitor the web SDR to see if I can see any sign of the signal.
UPDATE 1539z: No spots of my 8m 2.5W WSPR today on the WessexSDR. Checking on the WessexSDR there was no sign at all of my signal, I was expecting a tiny trace at least. The WessexSDR is picking up EI1KNH and G8JNJ.
See http://wessex.zapto.org:8060/#freq=40681500,mod=usb,secondary_mod=wspr,sql=-150
People come from miles around to look. They raise money for charity each year.
At this time of year, things are meant to be cheerful, but I have already had 2 pieces of sad news today. Everything always seems more poignant at this time of year. This seems to always happen. Usually I am quite pleased when Christmas and New Year are over and things get back to normality.
At the moment, I am on 10m WSPR TX (500mW) with the WSPR beacon. No spots yet.
UPDATE 1204z: Just EA8BFK (2880km) spotting me.
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| Stations spotting me today om 10m QRP WSPR |
Yet again, my 2.5W 8m FT8 to the dipole is on air. As usual, I am on 40.680 MHz.
UPDATE 1333z: No spots today.
UPDATE 1845z: Just G9PUV (158km) on the south coast of the UK spotted on 8m FT8 RX.
UPDATE 2053z: Just tried some 8m WSPR tests. Martin (G8JNJ) was monitoring on his web SDR, but sadly no spots.
In the last 40 years, activity on 2m has changed a great deal. When G8 stations were first permitted on 2m in the UK, the band was quite busy on FM and SSB.
Since then, people rarely come on just for a chat. These days people can chat, with video, to anyone in the world for free without a licence, on the Internet on a PC, tablet or smartphone. Instead, many people appear on the amateur bands just for contests or when conditions are good. There is a lot more use of digital modes like FT8 which needs very little spectrum. FT8 is ideal for squares hunting, but not for chatting.
If we are totally honest, we do not need the spectrum we have on 2m and 70cm most of the time. For FT8, 100 kHz would be more than enough. Even 3 kHz is enough most of the time. When there is a lift on, we may need more, but 2 MHz at 2m seems very generous. At 70cm, this is even more so, and here we have even more spectrum available to the Amateur Radio Service. Of course, this cannot be discussed with OFCOM or the FCC in case they reduce our allocations. I know the priority is to hang on to the allocations we have.
Personally, I would be in favour of more VHF/UHF bands, but slightly narrower, possibly with a lower power limit. This would encourage research and self training. Many bands could be secondary allocations. Would anyone really is miss 5 kHz off every VHF/UHF band? Be honest!
Without doubt I will be pushing up daisies long before then!
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/2m-operation .
Today is the shortest day in the northern hemisphere. After today things slowly get lighter for longer. It gets darker in the morning for a while. It is the end of January before things really become noticable.
As my 10m antenna is available, I am on 10m QRP WSPR with 500mW.
UPDATE 1524z: 8 unique stations have spotted me.
UPDATE 1804z: 9 unique stations have spotted me today.
At 1454z, my 2.5W 8m FT8 was turned on. Yet again, the antenna is just the low wire dipole. It is again on 40.680 MHz USB dial.
UPDATE 1508z: Already spotted by Phil EI9KP (649km).
UPDATE 2150z: In the end just the spot by EI9KP. Now QRT.
UPDATE 2155z: I am unsure how to proceed with experiments on 8m. I am prepared to spend £50 for an extension of my T&I permit, but object to having to pay for this. In my view, this should be a tiny amateur band available in the UK by NoV. It would be really helpful to know just why OFCOM and the FCC are quite so anti this. It is not that they are neutral. They seem to be dead against this. Personally, I think it is the military and the Official Secrets Act (or equivalent in the USA) that is preventing us being told the full truth. People are scared of prosecution. If we were just told, "yes the military is blocking all applications" that alone would clear up this apparently stupid situation. This year's tests have already shown that with Es and F2, great distances may be covered with just 2.5W and a low wire dipole. There is no doubt that a higher ERP certainly improves chances.
Last week, it was unusually cold. We had snow on the ground for a week. These days, this is almost unheard of.
Nighttime temperatures were very low indeed and some parts of the UK remained below freezing all day. Last night the thaw came and there is no snow at all left. It just went.
Temperatures today are much milder. Probably it is 10-20 degrees Celsius milder. It is wet and windy. I prefer the sun and snow, but not the temperatures that go with it!
At the moment I am RX only on 10m FT8, 178 stations (at 1205z) so far spotted.
Initially I was getting very few spots until I realised the coax plug was shorted. Now corrected, the SWR is again very low. This could account why yesterday there were so few reports of my 500mW WSPR TX.
Like the heating which failed due to the very cold weather last week (thankfully now fine) you don't realise how important things are until you can not have them.
As my 8m coax has been mended, I am again on 8m QRP FT8 with 2.5W on 40.680 MHz.
UPDATE 2110z: No spots. Now QRT.
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| Sunrise this morning |
Today I have again been on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW from my little W5OLF beacon. Surprisingly just a single spot from YO3BN (2083km). Odd, I usually see many more with the USA coming through by early afternoon,
Much of the morning I was on 2m QRP FT8, 7 stations spotted my 2.5W to the big-wheel omni antenna and I spotted 35 stations on RX (see maps).
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| Stations spotted on 2m FT8 RX this morning |
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| Stations spotting my 2.5W FT8 on 2m this morning |
