Total exhaustion - NOT amateur radio

Things are far harder for me nowadays. Although I try to do "normal" things , I get exhausted very quickly after mental or physical things. This must be a combination of getting older and my 2013 stroke. My stroke after-effects cause me to be giddy almost all my waking hours. This is a "hidden disability" that few can see or understand.

As I have said many times, never judge a book by its cover. Many people suffer in silence whilst casual observers can see nothing wrong and mistake exhaustion for laziness.

FT-710 and FT8

As you may recall, I have been struggling to get this working. Later today I have a "window" to update the firmware and try the recommended settings again. Hopefully I can get things going.

Our grandchildren go shortly and our best man (from a long time ago!) arrives late afternoon.

The death of AM on the amateur bands

Although there are still a few AM nets on some bands, the mode has mostly been replaced by FM and SSB. This is a pity as in years gone by people "chanced" on amateur radio by listening on short wave.  I well remember hearing amateurs on 160m AM many years ago. I remember copying G4PJ 4 miles away on a crystal set in the 1960s when he was on AM.

These days, people can no longer just chance on amateur radio. Our hobby has changed and the way newcomers "find" the hobby will be different. Modes like FT8 may be fine for working DX, but it is unlikely to be an introductory route for newcomers. As a person with a poor voice, I quite like FT8 and WSPR. At the same time, I am conscious that these modes cannot be ways in to the hobby.

AM had many advantages: gear was simple, ex-PMR radios were practically being given away and signals could be detected by very simple detectors. The simplest was just a diode detector. As I recall weak signals were better on AM than FM.  Of course AM carriers could be a real nuisance. 

Many today have never experienced AM, which is sad.

Even MW/LW broadcast AM is being phased out.

Several of my designs in the past were for simple AM transceivers. See my website at www.g3xbm.co.uk or my free PDF book for details.

Where I lived as a teenager - NOT amateur radio

This very old engraving shows Kingsbridge, Devon as it was over 200 years ago. 

Although it has changed quite a bit, the main town is still very recognisable. I lived there from 1959-1970. It is at the head of the Kingsbridge Estuary, that is actually a ria or drowned river valley. 

It is still a very beautiful area today.

Sunspots - Thursday March 16th 2023

 Solar flux is 136 and the SSN 96.  A=29 and K=1.

Eddystone EC10 RX

This RX was first introduced in the late 1960s and was the first transistorised communications RX. It sold for £48 when it first appeared, and we all (well quite a few of us) wanted one.

By modern standards it was hopeless. At high HF the image rejection was pathetic because of the low IF. They still appear on sites like eBay for a fortune. They have become collector's pieces. I briefly owned one a long time ago, goodness knows why. They used germanium transistors and these became leaky with time. Many need replacing. Mechanically, these receivers were excellent. Shame about the electronics!

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/commercial-rigs/eddystone-ec10 .

Burston strike school, Norfolk - NOT amateur radio

This evening, we went to our local history society meeting. It was a talk on the Burston Strike School in Norfolk. The speaker did not use a projector and just spoke. It was excellent. 

I had not heard about this before, but interested to hear this was all so near. It was in an age when society was very stratified.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burston_Strike_School .

Bus ride - NOT amateur radio

Every Wednesday I go to and from Cambridge by bus. The ride is free with my bus pass and I can just relax and watch the world go by. It is as quick as by car. One of the villages we go through is Swaffham Prior which has 2 churches and 2 windmills!!

The photo shows the 2 churches through the bus window. 

Birkitts, Lincoln

This photo of Birkitts shop in Lincoln was taken 2 years ago. I have no idea if it is still there. At one time all sorts of parts were sold. I think the owner died a few years ago. 

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

At the moment, I am on 10m WSPR with my 500mW TX beacon. It is now 0900z. The beacon is tiny. I sync time using my atomic clock in the shack.  Thank you (you know who you are!). No PC is needed at all.

UPDATE 0920z:  Already spots by local G4KPX (14km) and EA8/DF4UE (2876km). I think the Canary Is is single hop F2 propagation. This station gets me most mornings.

UPDATE 1522z:  No further stations spotting me. I was expecting some USA spots by now.

Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

Every Wednesday, I go into Cambridge on the bus for my University of the 3rd Age lecture. It is all too easy to take it for granted, but it has some very fine buildings that people cross the world to see. One of these is King's College Chapel shown in the photo. 

Sunspots - Wednesday March 15th 2023

Solar flux is 139 and the SSN 97. A=17 and K=5.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Tuesday)

 At about 2030z, I turned on my 10m 500mW TX beacon. Just spots by local G4KPX (14km).

70cm activity contest

On the second Tuesday of the month is the 70cm activity contest (UKAC). I can only run 2.5W to the 2m big-wheel omni antenna. Because of my voice, I cannot stay on long. This evening was hopeless and I only stopped on for about 20 minutes and worked just 1 station. I expect there will be many more on the 70cm FT8 activity contest, that I think is tomorrow.

DX soundbites - last year

You may be interested in hearing these DX soundbites from 2022.

See http://hamgallery.com/dx2022/ .

Volunteer day - NOT amateur radio

Although our museum and windmill next door only open 2 days a week from Easter to late October, a team of volunteers comes up every Tuesday to carry out maintenance. Usually it is very quiet, but all changes on a Tuesday!

FT-710 and FT8

Thank you for all the suggestions. 

I was going to do this yesterday (find out why the FT-710 does not work with FT8), but had no time. Today is make or break time: I shall check the firmware version, try at a lower speed that 38400 (probably 4800) and if all else fails give MLS a ring for help! 

In the end, it has to be something daft and I shall say, "of course"!

UPDATE 1709z:  It would appear my firmware on the FT-710 is not up to date. I am not sure if doing the reset to factory settings some weeks ago did this or whether these firmware updates post date the rig being shipped from the factory and MLS? Anyway, clearly I should make sure the firmware is fully up-to-date before I try to get FT8 working. The rig talks about CAT-3 settings and elsewhere CAT-1. This has left my small brain confused, HI.

481THz optical beacon tests

This popped up as a Facebook memory yesterday. It is some years since I last did optical tests over the horizon. In the near future, I want to re-assemble my optical gear and do some local tests before attempting some NLOS tests with Bernie G4HJW who is over the horizon about 9km away.

Sunspots - Tuesday March 14th 2023

Solar flux is 143 and the SSN 87. A=3 and K=3.

OFCOM updates

 A reminder that OFCOM updates the data it holds on licences etc. every week. See the OFCOM website for details.

Thomas Paine Statue - NOT amateur radio

We saw this statue in Thetford yesterday.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine .
 

12m FT8 yesterday

 In the end, I went QRT on 12m FT8 RX only at about 2100z. In all, 921 stations were spotted. The band was still wide open when I went QRT.

Tilt switch DT project - NOT amateur radio

My grandson was very exited about this design and technology (DT) project at his school. It is a demo of a tilt switch. 

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.

Pixie transceivers

The Pixie is a classic low cost CW transceiver usually for 80m or 40m. It started life as the Micro80. Kits are available from China at ridiculously low prices, although some are better than others. 

It uses the PA transistor as a mixer and often suffered from poor selectivity and AM breakthrough. It was let down by this poor RX. Over the years several versions have been created to help with these issues. 

However, it does work and is capable of really get contacts.

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 .

Sunspots - Monday March 13th 2023

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.

See https://dx.qsl.net/propagation/index.html .

BBC email? - NOT amateur radio

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.

Yaesu FT-710 FT8 - last try!

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.

Yaesu FT77

Way back in the last century, I bought this radio. It came after the FT7 (which I loved) and had the WARC bands. I guess this would have been in the mid 1980s. I did not warm to the rig. As for the DX worked with it, I cannot remember. As I recall it had a noisy RX. Mind you, after the FT7 most receiver sounded noisy!

See https://www.rigpix.com/yaesu/ft77.htm .

12m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

This is a band I rarely go on and as my QDX covers this and the antenna is still a good match, I am giving it a try.  After about 5 minutes, I am being spotted by 10 stations (3 in the USA) and I have spotted 47 stations including the west coast of the USA.

UPDATE 1747z: Spotted by 140 stations and I have spotted 428 stations on 12m FT8 with the QDX. Now RX only. Power on 12m is about 3.9W.

Stations spotted on 12m
FT8 with the QDX

UPDATE 1929z:  739 stations spotted on 12m FT8 RX.

10FT8R receiver

At the moment 10m is in great shape with plenty of DX via F2 most days. We are also approaching the Es season in the northern hemisphere. My 10FT8R receiver (been on this blog before) makes a great, low cost, 10m FT8 RX. This is very inexpensive, yet works well.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10ft8r-rx

Thetford Priory - NOT amateur radio

This was destroyed by King Henry VIII hundreds of years ago. It upsets me when history is destroyed. Nobody has any right to destroy our past. We may not agree with the views when these things were created, but (please) do not destroy them. Had King Henry VIII has a son early on, history might have been so different.

Coffee time - NOT amateur radio

 

This morning, we went to Thetford. It is about 25 minutes from us. With me driving, it is a bit slower! This was where we had coffee.

10m FT8 RX (Sunday)

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.

Stations spotting me on
10m QRP FT8 today

Stations spotted today
on 10m FT8 RX

UPDATE 1430z: 1025 stations spotted on RX and 86 stations have spotted me with the tiny QDX.

UPDATE 1445z: 1066 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX with the QDX and 98 stations have spotted me. I reckon the QDX is about size of a pack of cards. Amazing. It is just too easy!

20m FT8 RX with the QDX

Stations spotted on 20m FT8 RX
with the QDX and 10m antenna

Overnight, I left my QDX on 20m FT8 RX using my totally non-resonant 10m antenna. In all, 841 stations spotted as the map shows. Too easy!! I guess I was on for about 15 hours.

CDARC talk on my website

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 .

Sunspots - Sunday March 12th 2023

 Solar flux is 157 and the SSN 126.  A=7 and K=2. 

Snow - NOT amateur radio

This winter we have had far more snow and frosts than in most winters. This was our rear garden yesterday. Afterwards there was bright sunshine!

QDX 20m FT8 RX (Saturday)

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.

UPDATE 2104z:  259 stations spotted on 20m FT8 RX with the furthermost VK7XX (17241km).

Stations spotted with the QDX
on 20m FT8 RX this evening

UPDATE 2321z:  425 stations spotted.

QDX on 15m FT8 (Saturday)

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.

QDX on 17m FT8 RX (Saturday)

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.