These are widely used in "man down" alarms in wireless devices where you can trigger a remote alarm if a person falls to the ground. This has applications in safety critical situations such as police radios.
We might make an engineer of him yet! He is excited about such things, which is good.
The photos show a typical Pixie and my version of the Micro80.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/8040m-pixie-and-micro80-transceivers .
Solar flux is 143 and the SSN 135. A=4 and K=0. It looks like the page I get my information from is back to normal. Yesterday morning it looked different.
I cannot find the BBC email to whom I should send my complaint. If you know it, please would you share it?
My complaint is that nearly every documentary seems to have loud and intrusive music that drowns out the speaker. Why? It is almost as if we have to have this music, but why is it so loud?
It would be good if this music was much quieter or even not there at all! The music is added, I suppose, to give dramatic effect.
The latest culprit is David Attenborough's "Wild Isles" on BBC1.
Please, do not treat us as stupid.
Having tried most things, I shall give my FT-710AESS one more try on FT8.
So far, everything I have tried has failed. If it is something I am doing wrong, I have yet to find out what it is! All the drivers are installed, port selection is correct, port properties are correct, rig selection is correct, RTS is selected (as they say), but still CAT fails to work.
If this fails, the rig will have to go back. I really hope I can crack it. It should not be this hard. If the rig is working, I fail to see why this popular mode is so difficult.
If you have one of these rigs, please tell me your FT8 settings both on the transceiver and WSJT-X. I thought mine were all correct, but obviously not.
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| Stations spotted on 12m FT8 with the QDX |
Apart from a brief QRP 10m FT8 TX session (11 spots of me) I am on 10m FT8 RX with the QDX. It is now 0930z and 96 stations were spotted after about 20 minutes. We are out for the morning, so just on 10m FT8 RX. After lunch I may try TX.
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| Stations spotting me on 10m QRP FT8 today |
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| Stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX |
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| Stations spotted on 20m FT8 RX with the QDX and 10m antenna |
I think this file is now shared. If you have problems getting it, please discuss with me. I created it in (free) Open Office and saved it in Powerpoint.
Open Office is totally free and every bit as good as Microsoft equivalents in my view.
There is a link on this page below.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/other-amateur-radio/cdarc-talk-march-2023 .
My QDX and PC have been restarted and a Windows update carried out. It will be interesting to see if RX spots start.
UPDATE 2031z: 165 stations spotted on 20m FT8 RX. I suspect a delay at PSKreporter was the main issue.
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| Stations spotted with the QDX on 20m FT8 RX this evening |
A few minutes ago I QSYed to 15m FT8 with the little QDX transceiver. 10 stations have spotted me, but (according to PSKreporter) I have spotted zero stations, whereas locally there are plenty shown! Either this means I am not uploading spots to PSKreporter or there is a delay with RX spots.
UPDATE 1932z: Plenty of spots now appearing, so looks like there was a delay reporting RX spots.
UPDATE 1941z: Windows was updating, which may have had some effect.
At the moment I am on 17m FT8 RX with my QDX. PSKreporter seems to have a delay as I am seeing plenty on RX, but these are not being displayed yet. My internet is on and I have the PSKreporter box ticked on WSJT-X.
My other Windows PC came back yesterday and works fine with my tiny QDX. It has already been spotted all over the place and works fine on RX too.
Sadly I have still not got my Yaesu FT-710 to work on FT8. I cannot get the CAT to communicate with the rig. I have downloaded the drivers, adjusted the settings for the driver speed as they say, selected the correct port and all settings and still no joy. This is so frustrating.
After lots of trying, I just cannot see what I am doing wrong. If this is "finger trouble" at my end I just do not understand. I shall give it another try or it will have to go back. It is a pity, as this is a good rig.
Just a reminder that OFCOM updates the details held on licences etc. every week. Check the OFCOM website for more information.
Solar flux is 171 and the SSN 135.
My favourite website for daily solar data is after funding. See www.solarham.net.
At the moment I cannot see the A and K index figures on the new site.
On this band, worldwide DX is possible most days by F2. We are also approaching the Es season in the northern hemisphere bringing good propagation out to about 1500km, occasionally much further.
You may be after a simple, but effective, 10m antenna so I would like to remind you of my Homebase-10 antenna that was in Practical Wireless many years ago. It is very low cost and most of the parts can be bought at your local hardware store. It might make a nice weekend project.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/homebase10-10m-halo .
My second Asus Windows PC has been returned from repair under warranty. This was very fast. Later I hope to try this on FT8 with my FT-710. At the moment I am too giddy.
UPDATE 1335z: At first I tried to sync to internet time. Of course, I forgot that it did not recognise the connection! All sorted now and synchronised. Still to try with the FT-710. Need to install a driver first and WSJT-X.
For the first time since before my stroke in 2013, I am giving a talk to the Cambridge Radio Club (CDARC). The talk is by Zoom only in view of the bad weather. I have prepared the slides and someone else is voicing my notes.
The talk is entitled" Fun With Amateur Radio". It is quite wide ranging. I am pretty sure visitors to the Zoom talk would be welcomed. Talks usually start at 2000z.
The usual style is people mute (apart from the speaker) and unmute if they have questions, or use the Zoom chat facility.
Most club talks are also via Zoom, so you could join CDARC even if you live in Australia! Annual subscriptions are very reasonable. In the past we have had speakers and viewers from many parts of the planet.
At about 1024z, I turned on my 500mW WSPR TX beacon. So far, no spots.
UPDATE 1100z: 4 spots of me from the Canary Is so far.
Although I quite like the look of snow, I prefer milder sunnier weather. Roll on spring.
Later today, I hope to go on 8m QRP FT8 again on 40.680 MHz. Although EI2IP and G4APB were both copied yesterday, I suspect my low ERP only gets spotted if conditions are exceptionally good via F2. Both these stations have probably got far greater ERP than I have. This is my choice to see what can be achieved on 8m with very simple gear. I suspect for reliable F2, I need at least another 10dB.
It is now 1515z. My 8m FT8 QRP was turned on at about 1500z. So far, no spots at 1522z.
At about 1500z, my 500mW 10m WSPR TX beacon was turned on. So far, no spots today.
The following rallies have been notified to me. If travelling far, it is always worth checking the information is correct before setting out.
Being far more wobbly these days, this will be far harder for me now.
All my 100mm gear is still in the shack, but it all needs putting together and testing.
Yesterday I had an email to say my PC had been repaired and checked and Asus was awaiting collection by the courier.
This was under warranty and was done very fast. I expect they just swapped the motherboard. They have contacted me at every stage. I hope it is OK now.
When it arrives back I must check it and see if FT8 works with the FT-710.
Currently I have 2 Windows PCs. Both run Windows 10 and were made by Asus. One I have had for years and is the main shack PC. The other failed under warranty and is currently being fixed.
Despite trying everything, I have still not got the FT-710 to work on FT8. I have downloaded the drivers, checked the settings are correct many, many times. This includes watching several YouTube videos. Until the other PC returns from repair, I cannot check the FT-710 with the other Windows PC.
Looking in Device Manager, all is there, but I cannot get CAT to work and there is no TX audio.
Of course, the FT-710 could be faulty, but I suspect the shack PC.
