In 2013, we visited Lincoln. It was very cold! The photo shows Lincoln Cathedral proudly on the hill.
25 Mar 2023
Lincoln 2013 - NOT amateur radio
In 2013, we visited Lincoln. It was very cold! The photo shows Lincoln Cathedral proudly on the hill.
24 Mar 2023
630m WSPR RX (Friday)
At 1850z my 630m WSPR RX was turned on. No spots yet.
UPDATE 2206z: Still no spots.
UPDATE 2208z: I am puzzled. G6AVK is usually copied, but I have had no spots all evening. As far as I can tell, everything is correct. It is not just uploading to WSPRnet as there are no local spots either!
UPDATE 2240z : Restarted WSJT-X and immediately got spots from the Netherlands and Germany. Not sure what was going on. Now QRT.
Another banking crisis? - NOT amateur radio
Although the banking sector is supposed to be far more resilient these days, you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Bank stocks still look spooked by recent events with SVB and Credit Swisse. I hope this is short lived.
10m FT8 (Friday)
Am now on 10m FT8. Only D2UY (Angola) coming through, suggesting there is plenty of disturbance. I am not sure if there is a delay on PSKreporter at the moment.
UPDATE 1456z: Just 2 G spots of me so far. These are probably normal tropo. Furthermost is G4FAL (180km) near Sheffield. I remember that this sort of range was always possible with QRP 10m SSB and a dipole. It is probably even more likely with FT8. Pretty sure far more inter-G QSOs would be possible on 10m FT8.
UPDATE 1900z: Now QRT, but in the end I was spotted by 8 stations and I spotted 12.
CDARC Zoom talks
As I am unable to drive at night, I have really enjoyed the Cambridge Radio Club lectures via Zoom. They are trying to arrange "hybrid" meetings with personal contact in Cambridge and Zoom lectures for those that cannot get in. In my view, the Zoom lectures have been excellent.
My personal view is that all lectures should be on Zoom only, with a social gathering somewhere else once a month. This would mean no room hire, reduced annual fees, people could watch or talk from anywhere on the planet and people could watch the Zoom talks with others in their homes if they do not have Zoom. I would expect most people have Zoom.
Imagine if CDARC became a worldwide radio club!
The image is from the CDARC website. I wanted to link to this image, but could not see how to do this. Instead, I took a screenshot. If copyright infringement is an issue, it will be removed.
See https://www.cdarc.org.uk/ .
Grass cutting - NOT amateur radio
For the second time this year, I cut the grass, just beating the rain. February was very dry, but March made up for it!!
4m FT8 (Friday)
As HF looks to be disturbed, I am again on 4m FT8 with my makeshift antenna. At 1043z, no spots.
UPDATE 1245z: No spots of me, but G4HGI (244km) spotted on 4m FT8 RX.
UPDATE 1416z: GW8ASA (301km) has again spotted me at similar levels to yesterday.
UPDATE 1421z: Nothing outside of the UK so far on 4m FT8. Rather surprised there are not many more stations on 4m FT8. I expect this will change in the Es season.
Lightning
One of the pleasures of UK winter is the usual absence of thunder and lightning. In the UK they can occur, but they are far more common in the summer.
Although I know the chances of a direct strike are low, they do occur. I know of 2 friends who had this. One of the more common things is a power surge as storms approach.
What I tend to do is keep a watchful eye on approaching storms. If there is any danger, I disconnect everything: antennas, mains plugs etc.. I have no idea if this is the correct strategy. My view is it is better to be safe than sorry.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/other-amateur-radio/lightning-maps .
CME
It looks like the coming days (especially today) could see quite disturbed solar conditions due to a coronal mass ejection (CME) on the sun. I am not clever enough to know how this will effect HF and low VHF.
Red Kites (birds) - NOT amateur radio
Until these birds were re-introduced in England some years ago, you would only see them normally in Wales. Now they are a quite common sight especially near motorways where they seek out road kill.
See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/red-kite.
23 Mar 2023
Low cost RF modules
A few moments ago I took a peek at RF modules on eBay. This is just one that will cover many bands. Someone much fitter than me could probably design some useful kit around these.
Signs of spring?
In the UK, clocks go forward an hour on Sunday morning to British Summer Time (BST). Already there are promises of better days to come. Weeping willow trees often have hints of green before most others. This one in Ely a few days ago thinks it is spring!
I like the spring as it is the season of new hope after a long, dark winter. The blossom does not last long, but it beautiful for a while. I prefer the spring to the summer.
Under water - NOT amateur radio
These were photographed by a friend earlier this week in Letchworth.
Unused spectrum - NOT amateur radio
OFCOM is consulting on the future use of the 1900-1920 MHz spectrum. See the OFCOM website for details. Apparently these frequencies are allocated, but not used.
4m FT8
At the moment I am again on 70.154 MHz FT8 with my big-wheel 2m omni and coax tuned via the auto-ATU in the FT-710. At 1029z, no spots. I have yet to be spotted on 4m, although my "antenna" does not help!
UPDATE 1226z: Well, my 4m "antenna" is working with 3 stations spotted and one spotting me - G4HGI (244km).
UPDATE 1241z: I would imagine that most propagation is one of the following: flat-band propagation, tropo enhancement, MS or scatter. As Bas says in the comments, the Es season is probably some months away still.
UPDATE 1515z: G3SHK (200km) has been spotted, and has spotted me, on 4m FT8 (see map). M0RJV (91km) has spotted me. Still to have my first FT8 QSO on 4m. The impression I am left with is this band is very under-used apart from (maybe?) during the Es season.
UPDATE 1630z: My first ever 4m FT8 QSO has happened. GW8ASA (301km) was worked this afternoon using the 8m dipole and the internal auto ATU.
 |
| Stations spotting me today on 4m FT8 TX |
UPDATE 1907z: No further stations spotted.
UPDATE 2115z: QRT.
Devon cliffs - NOT amateur radio
This photo was taken in 2012 and shows me in Bolberry Down in Devon.
22 Mar 2023
630m WSPR RX
At 2005z, I went on to 630m WSPR RX using the 2m big-wheel and coax via a ferrite rod ATU. So far this evening, a couple of German stations spotted.
UPDATE 2119z: G6AVK (78km) also spotted.
UPDATE 2218z: Now QRT.
.
Ely Cathedral - NOT amateur radio
This photo was taken yesterday at Ely Cathedral. There has been Christian worship on this site for 1350 years.
Electric cars - NOT amateur radio
In a few years, as mentioned recently, I am expecting a "tipping point" when most use electric cars rather than cars fuelled by fossil fuels. My prediction is this will happen about 2028.
For this to happen, range has to be considerably improved and prices have to fall dramatically. Electric cars today appeal mainly to early adopters, those who feel strongly against fossil fuels and those who only make very short journeys like shopping trips and who can charge at home. I think the breakthrough will come with solid state batteries.
Usually on my trips to Cambridge I see about 2 electric cars. Today I saw 10!! There must be a lot of early adopters!
10m FT8 QRP (Wednesday)
As I am back from Cambridge, I am on 10m QRP FT8 with 5W. After about 10 minutes, 13 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 99.
UPDATE 1540z: 28 stations have spotted my QRP 10m FT8 and I have spotted 257.
 |
| Stations that have spotted my 5W 10m FT8 today at 1800z |
AI search engines - NOT amateur radio
There has been a lot recently about artificial intelligence and search engines. First there was ChatGPT followed by GPT-4 and now BARD which is Google's experimental version.
I can see great danger with these as people believe what these bots create as truth, when it may be full of errors. I tried BARD out and most was correct, but some things were totally wrong!!
21 Mar 2023
Thatched cottage - NOT amateur radio
The photo was taken in 2013. It shows a thatched cottage in a village not far from here.
630m WSPR RX (Tuesday)
At about 1745z, I changed to 630m WSPR RX. It is now 1756z and, so far, no spots.
UPDATE 2057z: 2 stations spotted so far this evening.
UPDATE 2240z: Now QRT.
4m UKAC - missed it!!
Last Thursday evening was the 4m (70 MHz) activity contest for March. I missed it!
My antenna is just my 2m big-wheel and coax matched via the auto-ATU in the FT-710. I have no idea how it performs with regard to gain, polarisation, or directivity. This I was hoping to find out! Maybe in April? My next chance looks like April 20th.
Birthday lunch - NOT amateur radio
Yesterday we went to lunch with old university friends we have known since the 1960s. Seeing them, it is as if we had seen them just the day before.
10m WSPR QRP TX and RX
At present, I am on QRP 10m WSPR using the FT-710. After the first transmission 4 spots.
UPDATE 1625z: My own 5W WSPR TX has been spotted by 19 unique stations and I have spotted 135 unique stations. Furthermost so far is a spot by WP3SM (6851km) in Puerto Rico.
Tuesday plans
My current plan is to go on 10m WSPR with the FT-710 to see if I can preset the optimum settings for WSPR. I may try 630m WSPR RX after dark.
Red-legged partridges - NOT amateur radio
We used see these handsome birds regularly in our garden but I have not seen any recently.
630m WSPR RX yesterday
For the first time I tried my FT-710 on 630m WSPR RX using the coax to my 2m big-wheel via a ferrite rod ATU. Everything seems to work fine with stations in the Netherlands Germany and Norway spotted before I had to turn the rig off.
20 Mar 2023
Plans for the day (Monday)
As we are out some of today, I shall probably go on 472 kHz WSPR RX this evening. It is getting later in the season, so I have no idea how it will go. I shall probably have to use the coax to my 2m big-wheel antenna with some loading.
Muntjac deer - NOT amateur radio
See https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/mammals/muntjac-deer .
2m FT8 QRP
In my view 2m FT8 has been transformational with DX possible at any time with QRP. Yes, SSB activity has declined, but I feel sure some sort of scatter is being tapped into.
This is not aircraft scatter as planes are not needed. Personally I think this is troposcatter made possible by the far better sensitivity of FT8.
The photo shows the received stations on typical day with flat conditions. This was 2019 with just an omni antenna!
Hallsands Devon - NOT amateur radio
This painting was done in 1884. It shows the coastal village of Hallsands that was washed away early in the 20th century. Dredging offshore for Plymouth Dockyard was blamed. Previously this had been a thriving village famous for crab fishing.
19 Mar 2023
Kindness
Many times in the last 10 years I have been reminded of the kindness shown to me.
Complete strangers have offered me help and several have sent me gifts, purely out of kindness, things to make life better. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. All I can say is the true spirit of amateur radio is alive and well.
It is my belief that there are many more kind people in the world than bad ones. It is just that kindness is, sadly, not sensational or newsworthy.
At some point, I hope that I am able to be as kind to somebody else.
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