VLF tests

Years ago I did some drive around tests in my car with an E-field probe on the roof. I was trying to see where my 5W signal could be received. This map shows where it was possible. 

Sunspots - Friday March 3rd 2023

Solar flux is 169 and the SSN 103. A=9 and K=3. 

United Eire? - NOT amateur radio

In the end I can see Eire becoming one nation again. I doubt this will be in my lifetime however. 

The DUP (the Unionists) appear very much in the minority and this will go down further in the years ahead. No, Northern Ireland was a convenient political outcome in the last century and I can see a united Ireland this century. Clearly the DUP need appeasing, but this is the 21st century not a long time ago.

10m QRP WSPR TX

Since mid afternoon, I have been on 10m WSPR with my 500mW beacon. So far, 5 stations have spotted me. I forgot that when on 8m, the 10m antenna is free so that I can use the 10m WSPR TX beacon.

Rallies

 The following rallies have been notified to me. Please check that this information is correct.

*  Saturday March 4th - Lagan Valley ARS. No contact details.

*  Sunday March 5th - Exeter Radio and Electronics Rally.  No contact details.

As I have no contact details, please check on a search engine.

8m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

At 1325z, my 8m QRP FT8 was turned on. No spots yet.

UPDATE 1505z:  Still no spots.

UPDATE 1540z:  ZS6OB (9099km) spotted strongly on 8m FT8, but no spots of me sadly.

UPDATE 1649z:  No spots of me and no further spots on RX.

15m

At the moment 15m is a very useful band. It stays open longer than 10m and with the high sunspot count, it is capable of worldwide DX.  Although many people have migrated to FT8 to chase DX, some may still go on CW.

Back in the mid 1970s I designed the QRP Pipit CW transceiver. For many months it was the only rig used. It worked really well with just a low dipole.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/15m-qrp-cw-pipit.

First grass cut - NOT amateur radio

Just cut the grass for the first time this year. 

More Dalham - NOT amateur radio

This collage shows more of the village of Dalham not far from us. As you can see, it is very attractive. 

Yaesu FT7

My first ever Yaesu rig was the 10W FT7, which I bought second hand in 1979. By modern standards it was big, but it was a great rig, enabling me to work 10m SSB QRP DXCC in the 1980s. Being this old, WARC bands were not included and on 10m, it only covered 500 kHz. 

Later, they brought out a 50W version (the FT7B) that covered all of 10m in 4 switched bands. Synthesizers and memories were in the future, so it had an analogue VFO. The RX was very quiet. It was one of the best rigs I have ever owned.

Several Yaesu rigs have been owned and I like Yaesu products, but feel they lost their way in recent years. Let's really hope they survive.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/commercial-rigs/yaesu-ft7 .

Re-thatching - NOT amateur radio

Thatched cottages need new roofs from time-to-time. They keep houses warm, but new thatch cannot come cheaply. We saw this a few days ago.

10m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

 

Spots of my QRP 10m FT8 to 1035z today

At the moment, I am on 10m FT8. So far 42 stations spotted at 0855z and I have been spotted by 4 stations.

UPDATE 1035z: 166 stations spotted by me and I have been spotted by 22 stations.

UPDATE 1335z:  561 spots of others and 106 spots of me, plus a few QSOs, although I have not called others.

Sunspots - Thursday March 2nd 2023

 Solar flux is 162 and the SSN 105.  A=8 and K=1.

Those royals - NOT amateur radio

Allegedly, according to unconfirmed reports, Harry and Megan have been served an eviction notice on their 10 bedroomed cottage on the Windsor estate. This has been offered to Prince Andrew who lives in a 31 bedroomed house. How hard life must be!!! Just think of the heating costs and the dusting. 😉😉

Solar data updated

My favourite site for solar data has been updated. It still expects solar maximum November this year. If correct, this is very early.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

First car memories - NOT amateur radio

On the way to Cambridge, this Morris 1000 was spotted. As our very first car in 1971 was a green Morris 1000 just like this, it triggered some happy memories.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

At the moment, I am on 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW beacon. Just 3 stations spotting me. Openings to the USA seem to have dropped off of late.

UPDATE 1535z:  Still just those 3 stations spotting me today on 10m WSPR.

Wicken - NOT amateur radio

This photo was taken some years ago at Wicken about 5 km away. 

Sunspots - Wednesday, March 1st 2023

Solar flux is 161 and the SSN 100.  A=28 and K=1.

10m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

My QRP 10m WSPR 500mW WSPR beacon was turned on at 1154z.

UPDATE 1211z: Copied by FR1GZ (9724km) on Reunion, so it works.

UPDATE 2130z:  A really poor day with spots by just 3 stations

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

After several days absence, I am again on 8m QRP FT8. Conditions on 10m looked promising, so it was worth a go. My 8m FT8 gear on 40.680 MHz was turned on at 1141z. As the USA has not been spotted on 10m FT8, I am not too hopeful of getting "across the pond" on 8m today.

Just remembered! I can go on 10m QRP WSPR TX at the same time with my 500mW beacon.

UPDATE 1407z:   No spots yet on 8m FT8. Interestingly, I had to change my PC. The power on 8m seems to be holding up better over time. This suggests the audio level into the FT817ND was dropping, not the FT817ND losing power as it got warmer.

UPDATE 1454z:  No 8m spots. Nothing seen from the USA on 10m WSPR TX, so I suspect my 8m FT8 QRP stands very little chance now until the Es season starts again.

UPDATE 2120z:  Windows PC has packed up under warranty. So, needs to be fixed or replaced.

Pye Telecom PF8

In the end, we did not sell that many of these at Pye Telecom. It took a lot of time to get to market and, really, it was not worth the effort. It has some innovative ideas for its time: it used a multi-layer PCB (a first at that time), a DC-DC converter (what a nightmare!), an internal antenna, looked before its time like a cellphone, no external parts to break,etc..

It featured on TV in "The Professionals".  

Some were converted to 70cms. They are rare these days and I do not have one! Your best bet is eBay. There is a PDF manual on my website.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/vhfuhf-commercial-rigs/pye-pf8 .

Solar conditions

The sunspot count remains respectably high with counts of over 100 most days. My favourite site for solar data is still showing the next solar peak as Nov 2023, which seems quite early. Figures are usually revised in the early days of the new month.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

Super VHF DX

In July for many years, stations in Europe have been able to work stations on 6m (VHF) in Japan. A look at the map will show this is a very long way. 

The most credible explanation is this is caused by ionisation in the mesosphere linked to the formation of noctilucent clouds that form at this time. From research, this path could work at even higher frequencies, possibly microwaves! What is needed is for keen people at each end to try. 

This is definitely a case when research by radio amateurs could advance radio science. There is much to be gained from this research. I think noctilucent clouds are becoming more common as a result of climate change, but don't quote me on this. Certainly Far East stations have been spotted here on just a vertical omni on 6m FT8 for several years in July.

Now is the time to arrange some skeds on 2m, 70cm or 23cm. Records could tumble.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/super-dx .

10m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

After just a few minutes (it is now 0938z) 5 stations have spotted me and I have spotted quite a few stations in Eastern Europe using the QDX. This looks like single hop F2 propagation. To be honest, conditions are better than I was expecting.

UPDATE 1106z: 40 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 118 stations here. Conditions are definitely better than I expected, so 8m FT8 (or WSPR) is worth a try later.

Plans for Tuesday

At first, I shall try 10m FT8 using the QDX transceiver. If successful, I may try 8m FT8 later. I am toying with trying 8m WSPR at 1W around 40.680 MHz. 

Pye Telecom/Philips - NOT amateur radio

Most of my working life was in design in the Pye Telecom days. Although Philips bought Pye in the late 1960s, it was very "hands off" for years. Eventually we badged some products Philips such as this PF85 shown here. It was a good product with some truly great engineers. After the late 1980s I think most products were badged Philips. The PF85 and the PFX shared many modules.

Sunspots - Tuesday February 28th 2023

Solar flux is 161 and the SSN 192. A=94 and K=4. 

Tree stump - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday, we went for a delightful walk at the nearby village of Dalham in West Suffolk. On the way we passed through an avenue of trees up the hill to the church. We passed this old tree stump.  I bet this old tree had seen some history.

FT8 in the quiet solar years

At the moment, 10m FT8 seems to be able to deliver worldwide DX daily. In about 5 years' time we will be at the depths of the solar cycle and 10m may appear dead again. This is when WSPR and FT8 could prove extremely useful.

Both the WSPR and FT8 "watering holes" are quite small, but well monitored. I hope many will stick with these modes on 10m as there is a great deal for us to learn. Especially on N-S paths it would not surprise me at all to find paths open, even with very low solar activity.

Often low 10m activity is not because of conditions, but people going ever lower in frequency for an easier life. Just listen to CB nearby.

New 8m T&I licence obtained

Even though I wish the RSGB and OFCOM would see sense and grant real experimenters an NoV for 8m, I have shelled out (yet again) to continue research at 8m until April 2nd 2024.  In my view their position on this seems totally stupid in the extreme!!!   As before, I asked for digital only at QRP.

I really hope as many as possible come on the ISM band without a licence whilst ensuring they are fully compliant with any national requirements. As I said yesterday, it is my view that anyone in the UK can run 10mW ERP WSPR beacons in the 40.66-40.70 ISM band without a licence and with whatever callsign you like!!

Strictly  speaking, you do not need to give your location, even with the T&I licence either! Personally I think this is bizarre.

Callsigns are not a requirement of ISM use, although I think there is nothing whatsoever to stop you using your amateur radio callsign as an identifier. This is not the Amateur Radio Service. You could, of course, make up your own callsign like "your initials"123!  If using WSPR, it is advisable to make sure the format of the callsign will be reported to WSPRnet.

10m QRP FT8 with the QDX

This morning started with a slight panic. I went on 10m FT8 with the QDX and thought the SWR looked high. It was as if the QDX was still on 20m. Then it clicked - I was on PWR not SWR. All was well and the SWR very low!!

My gear was switched on at about 0850z. It is now 0900z and, so far, 25 stations spotted on RX and 4 stations have spotted my QRP FT8 TX.

UPDATE 0921z:  11 spots of my QRP from Eastern Europe. I assume this is F2 propagation.

UPDATE 1036z:   20 stations have spotted me with the furthermost 7Z1IS (4948km). On RX, 99 stations have been spotted here.

UPDATE 1400z:  31 stations have spotted me on 10m FT8 and I have spotted 301 stations.

UPDATE 1424z:  45 stations have spotted me with the furthermost ZS3SH (9149km). On RX, 372 stations spotted on 10m FT8. Still using the tiny QDX.

UPDATE 1542z: Today I have been spotted by 87 stations and I have spotted 487 stations. In just a day, I have been spotted on 5 continents with the QRP QDX on 10m FT8 as well as had many QSOs on 10m FT8.

UPDATE 1918z: 119 stations have spotted my QRP 10m FT8 today and I have spotted 565 stations. Not a single station has been spotted from North America.

UPDATE 2025z:  120 stations have spotted my QRP 10m FT8 today (see map) using the QDX.

Early tests on 481 THz

 

This was 2012. It was an eye opener for me. 

Sunspots - Monday February 27th 2023

 Solar flux is 159 and the 120. A=26 and K=6.

Breakfast 2022

 

This was breakfast a year ago. 

15m FT8 RX (Sunday)

As 10m seems to have stopped, I have QSYed to 15m FT8 RX.  So far, 135 stations have been spotted with most in North and South America. Still using the QDX transceiver. A very brief TX slot was spotted in the Canary Is..

UPDATE 2051z:  Now 15m FT8 seems to have stopped? 138 stations spotted.

8m beaconing without a licence?

 Some months ago, I had an email from OFCOM. The contents are shown here. It convinced me (although I am no legal expert) that beaconing in the 8m ISM band is perfectly legal without a licence as long as certain conditions are met. In the UK, this means 10mW ERP. Half this power at 8m has already spanned 5000km from Australia to the Cook Is on WSPR. With summer Es I am certain that such WSPR beacons in the UK would be copied in Europe. Microwatt 10m WSPR beacons have been copied in Europe from the UK.

This is what OFCOM said in an email:

"The use of licence-exempt apparatus is authorised under exemption regulations, with set emission powers and other criteria.  This is in order for it to be available to all users with minimal risk of disruption or interference.

 

The limits, including maximum power levels and whether airborne use is permitted, are set out in the UK Interface requirement IR2030.  If apparatus being used for testing meets the relevant technical criteria and complies with IR 2030, then a licence will not be necessary.   Please note that some frequency bands which may be licence-exempt in other countries, such as the USA, may not be so in the UK and only the frequency bands listed are eligible for the exemption of qualifying apparatus.

 

In some circumstances we may be able to authorise the test or development of non-compliant radio apparatus under an Innovation and Trial (I&T) licence.  However, this generally will be under conditions that are sufficiently remote, shielded or otherwise unlikely to affect other users.  I&T is not intended for the operational use of radio apparatus, such as for the monitoring / control / telemetry of other apparatus, where a licensed or exempt authorisation is already generally available.  Even if it were the radio apparatus itself that is under test or development (in excess of normally permitted limits) we should emphasise that, as describhe OFCOMed above, it will not be possible to grant an operational permission for its future deployment and use."

My interpretation is 10mW ERP is legal for beacons in the 8m UK ISM band without a licence as long as these conditions are met. This is not the Amateur Radio Service.  

Probably we are OK to experiment in other ISM bands as long as the OFCOM criteria are met. I did not ask this.

This loophole may be available at different power levels in other countries. If so, many more people could legally get on 8m in future.

The important bit is:

 "If apparatus being used for testing meets the relevant technical criteria and complies with IR 2030, then a licence will not be necessary."

10m FT8 (Sunday) with the QDX

Now my QDX transceiver has arrived, I am concentrating on 10m FT8 today. The antenna looks quite a good match to 17m and even on 20m it is not bad. I think the QDX puts out about 4W on 10m.

UPDATE 0943z:   55 spots on 10m FT8 RX and a couple of spots on TX (Ukraine and Canary Is).

UPDATE 1500z:  481 stations spotted today on 10m FT8 using the QDX transceiver. As I was out, I have not been on 10m FT8 TX for several hours.

10m QRP FT8 spots of me to 1600z using the QDX

UPDATE 1621z:  519 stations spotted and my QRP 10m FT8 TX has been spotted by 31 stations with 2 QSOs, although these were stations calling me. If I called others I am pretty sure more QSOs are definitly possible.  I guess it must be the time of year, but no North Americans spotted yet. The map clearly shows F2 skip. Still nothing yet from the USA.

UPDATE 1900z:  45 stations have spotted my 10m QRP FT8 and I have spotted 589 stations.

South Devon - NOT amateur radio

In my childhood and teenage years I lived in South Devon. The photo is near where I come from. We have a continuous record of our family history back to the mid 1500s in this part of Devon. 

VHF AM

When I first came on VHF, most activity was on AM. These days what phone activity exists is SSB or FM with AM quite rare. 

In some ways, this is a pity. AM gear used to be able to be picked up very cheaply and homemade AM gear can be very simple. I have to confess that I am rarely on AM these days, preferring FT8 as my voice is poor. I come on 2m and 70cm SSB for activity contests and once a week on a 2m FM net.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/vhf-am .