What was this? - NOT amateur radio

This odd building, now very derelict, is on sale in a nearby village (Lode) for £250000. It looks like it was once a shop, but its odd design suggests it was once something else. Sadly, I do not know its history. In decent condition it would probably sell for over £1M. Nice restoration project for someone!

Rally on Sunday

This is a reminder of this rally this coming Sunday. As I always say, please be sure it is on before travelling far.

Sunday April 2nd - Hack Green Surplus Sale and Militaria, Nantwich, Cheshire , CW5 8AL. Contact coldwar@hackgreen.co.uk.

Walk with grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

This was last weekend on a walk with 2 of our grandchildren. We were playing a game of "Pooh Sticks" when a stick is dropped on one side of the bridge and one waits on the other side of bridge for it to emerge.

Sunspots - Thursday March 30th 2023

Solar flux is 148 and the SSN 135. A=6 and K=2. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) - NOT amateur radio

This worries me. 

Just now I tried Google's version called Bard again. It tries to make sense of the data it knows about and writes about this. Some answers were remarkably good, whereas some were useless and factually incorrect.

Now, used properly I can see lot of uses. However, many will (wrongly) take everything it says as factually correct when it is not. I can see a future when many people accept everything produced by AI as factually correct. "Brave New World", as Aldous Huxley Huxley said?

Cambridge artwork

 

This painting was in a shop window in Cambridge on Monday.

G4BAO away?

Several times I have tried to contact John to arrange a quick sked on 23m SSB. It seems odd to me that he has not replied even when I sent to an address he had used quite recently and another that I had. 

At first I wondered if my address had gone into SPAM by mistake. I have come to the conclusion he is away.... or I am no longer in his good books,HI!

6m FT8 (Wednesday)

Stations spotting my 6m FT8 until 1602z

At the moment (1510z) I am on 6m FT8 with the FT-710. So far, spotted across the UK with the furthermost MI0BOT (478km). Was this aircraft reflection?

King's College flowers - NOT amateur radio

At the moment the spring flowers on the lane towards King's College in Cambridge from Queens Road look a picture. This photo was taken on Monday. 

FT-710 on 8m TX?

Luckily, I have one of the few legal permits in the UK to TX on 8m. For the last year, I have used my FT817ND on 8m FT8. So far, with just low power and a low wire dipole, I have been copied on 4 continents and in 21 countries (it may be more now). 

I am curious to know if the FT-710 can be simply modified to TX on 8m just with button presses. Although I have no plans to use my FT-710 on 8m, I am just wondering. I am sure there will be wideband mods by changing diodes internally, but I do not want to do this.

4m FT8 (Wednesday)

Once again on 4m FT8. So far, no spots. 

UPDATE 1508z: After a whole day with absolutely no 4m FT8 spots (and apparently no monitors either!) I have QSYed to 6m FT8 and was immediately spotted across England. Probably I shall give 4m a miss until Es kicks in. It is unlikely I shall bother with a halo for 4m as my "ad hoc" arrangement seems to work perfectly. This will certainly get me Es contacts into Europe on 4m FT8.

Sunspots - Wednesday March 29th 2023

 Solar flux is 159 and the SSN 114. A=5 and K=0.

4m FT8 (Tuesday)

At about 1810z, my 4m FT8 was turned on. My compromise antenna is again the 2m big-wheel and coax tuned via the auto-ATU in the FT-710.  After about 50 minutes, no spots.

UPDATE 2000z:  No spots.

South Devon - NOT amateur radio

As mentioned many times, I originally came from the South Hams in South Devon. I lived here until we came to Cambridge in the early 1970s. I get back there most years. My brother still lives there and I stay with him usually and travel down by train.

Cambridge spring - NOT amateur radio

This is the view of the university church, Great St Mary's yesterday. Cambridge is a fine city, especially in spring sunshine. This is the view from behind King's College Chapel

Operating on 10m

At the moment, 10m is again in great shape. Most days DX from across the world may be copied.  Come May, June, July and August we see the peak Es season in the northern hemisphere which will allow DX up to about 1500km almost daily and some times further. F2 is currently very good. 10m is usually best for DX in the sunlight hours.

There even some single band multi mode 10m rigs available. These are based on CB radios, but can be very good as 10m radios.

There is little doubt that 10m (28MHz) is my favourite band of all. In the past I have used these with CB verticals very successfully on 10m.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/10m-operation .

OFCOM

 A reminder than OFCOM usually updates the data it holds on licences weekly. It has also published several documents this week.   See the OFCOM website for details.

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

At 0955z my 8m FT8 was turned on.  I am not really expecting any spots. Currently, no spots!

UPDATE 1455z:  No spots.

Italian food - NOT amateur radio

My son and grandson are away on different school trips to southern Italy. This is an example of the food.  

Amateur radio black humour

 

Seen earlier today.

Sunspots - Tuesday March 28th 2023

Solar flux is 158 and the SSN 128. A=3 and K=0.

630m transverter

This was designed some years ago, but has appeared in QST and the RSGB book "LF Today". 

I wanted a simple way of getting on this MF band and this was the result. Several have since been successfully built. 

It produces about 10W into 50 ohms, but the ERP will be considerably lower depending on the antenna used. In my case, my "antenna" was just an earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground with the electrodes about 12m apart with the wire back to the shack along the fence not very high. I tried the wire on the ground and it made little difference. My theory is this forms a loop in the ground. The actual loop diameter will get larger as frequency is reduced. Such an antenna has been used for far field amateur TX tests (successfully) at well below 10 kHz.

Most nights my measured 10mW ERP was spotted in Norway on WSPR. It used the FT817ND in split mode TXing on 80m but receiving directly on 630m.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/630m-472khz-transverter .

630m WSPR RX (Monday)

At the moment I am on 630m WSPR RX. So far, just PA3GSH (396km) spotted. 

Cambridge Backs today - NOT amateur radio

This was the view towards King's College chapel this morning. Spring is on its way with several trees bursting out.

Spain on 8m?

Recently, a station in the Caribbean has reported a sudden increase in contacts on 8m with Spain.  He wonders if the authorities there have granted access to 8m to radio amateurs. 

It would be good if more countries were granted legal access, if only for a limited time. This next year or so, around the solar maximum, a great deal of useful research could be done.

Does anyone know the legal situation in Spain please?

8m QRP FT8 (Monday)

 After being off for about 10 days playing with other things, I am back on 40.680 MHz QRP FT8 again at 1430z. No spots. It will get much easier for QRP stations when the Es season gets going.

Today has been disappointing on 8m. It looks like conditions have to be very good for my QRP FT8 to get through.  I would probably do better on 8m WSPR, but I think there are fewer monitors? I expect many are also fighting high local noise levels that make decoding weak signals hard.

UPDATE 1550z:  No spots. Are there many monitoring 8m WSPR?

UPDATE 1610z:  Trying 8m QRP WSPR near 40.680 MHz in the WSPR window. TXing 30 %.

UPDATE 1651z:   No WSPR spots so back on QRP FT8.

UPDATE 1743z:  No spots, so QRT on 8m soon. I think QRP 8m stations are unlikely to get too far now until the Es season.

On guard - NOT amateur radio

This heron was opposite King's College in Cambridge earlier. Punts were going by within a few metres. 

Sunspots - Monday March 27th 2023

Solar flux is 159 and the SSN 125. A=8 and K=0.

481 THz tests

I have resurrected my optical gear. It had stood largely unused for 10 years.

As yet, I have not got Spectran working with the optical RX so I can only do optical tests with continuous carrier or CW and not QRSS. Tests so far are a reflected (off a wall) signal on CW. Good copy over a reflected path of just 100m. At least the optical gear works again!

UPDATE 2020z:  Expections were well exceeded. I set up my 481 THz beacon firing out of our lounge double-glazed window at a wall of a house at the very far end of our close. I walked with my RX to the other end. So the path distance was about 0.25km with one reflection. Signals were S9+ even by ear. The gear really works well. I must get Spectran working and try some NLOS tests. with G4HJW. I suspect we will have greater success with cloudbounce. My main issues are exhaustion and giddiness.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/optical-nanowaves/over-the-horizon .

2m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

For a change, I am on 2m QRP FT8. No QSOs yet, but copying G3MLO.

Watching my signal on G0LRD's grabber. This is a very useful resource if you are in the Cambridge area. A part screenshot of this is shown here.

Already 12 spots of my QRP with the furthermost F6EGD (472km) in Brittany. Not bad with the FT817ND and omni big-wheel.

UPDATE 1554z:   One thing to watch with WSJT-X V2.6 is a new feature. You can chose just to send CQs, reply to the first that calls you, or reply to the most distant. Inadvertently you can operate as just a beacon and wonder why you had no contacts!

UPDATE 1710z:   19 stations in 5 countries spotted so far with the furthermost MM0ABM (502km) and 14 spots of my 2.5W and omni.

UPDATE 1810z: 15 stations have spotted me today.

Lode village - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday, we did a walk with 2 of our grandchildren at Lode, which is a village near us. The photo shows them outside a thatched cottage. As you can tell, they were not keen on the photo!

630m WSPR RX (Sunday)

At 1046z I QSYed to 630m WSPR RX. I am not sure how many people are on during the day, so this is an experiment.

UPDATE 1120z: PA3GSH (396km) spotted. It would appear his signal is right on the edge of being copied.

UPDATE 1138z: G0VQH is getting signals far stronger than I am on 630m WSPR. I am not sure what Jennie is using, but it certainly works better than my system currently!

UPDATE 2130z: Went back on 630m WSPR RX for the evening. 3 stations spotted. QRT soon.

10m FT8 RX (Sunday)

At the moment, I am on 10m FT8 RX. At 1014z (must always remember that in the UK we are now British Summer Time!) 388 stations spotted as the map shows. It is too easy! 

UPDATE 1038z:  501 stations spotted.

I might QSY to 630m WSPR RX soon.

Sunday plans

Getting the optical gear working 

As today looks dull and wet, these are my plans :

• Email G4BAO to set up a sked on 23cm SSB.  Email written and sent.
• Try to get the optical gear working. All gear assembled. Spectran installed. 
• Go on 10m FT8 daytime. RX on morning. Off late morning.
• Go on 630m WSPR RX this evening. Went on late morning. 

Doing anything these days is so much harder. After getting my 481 THz gear together I feel exhausted. I cannot remember how I interfaced from the optical RX to the PC. I must find out. It was 10 years ago!!

I may try a local CW test after dark this evening bouncing off a wall about 200m away - small steps.

The other Burwell - NOT amateur radio

We live in Burwell in Cambridgeshire. There is another Burwell in Lincolnshire that is much smaller. It is shown in the photo 

Sunspots - Sunday March 26th 2023

Solar flux is 160 and the SSN 105.  A=15 and K=2. 

Magnolia - NOT amateur radio

 

Magnolias in bloom are a sure sign of spring. We saw this in the nearby village of Lode. There were at least three.

630m WSPR RX (Saturday)

Rather earlier than normal, I have turned on 630m WSPR RX. So far spotted PA3GSH (396km), so my system is working. 

Again my "antenna" is the coax to my 2m big-wheel omni antenna tuned with a ferrite rod on the bench.

UPDATE 1930z: 2 stations spotted so far this evening with the furthermost DB8BG (498km).

UPDATE 2220z:  QRT soon. 6 stations spotted this evening. Furthermost was SM6BGP (981km).

Progress

About a week ago, I outlined the projects that I hoped to tackle in the next 4 weeks. So far, I am making progress. 

• My FT-710 now works with FT8 .
• I have had a QSO on 4m FT8, albeit with my 2m big-wheel and coax via the auto-ATU in the FT-710.

Next week, I hope to re set up my optical gear and do some local tests and arrange a 23cm SSB sked with G4BAO. 

Progress!

10m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

At the moment, I am on 10m FT8. So far, 3 stations have spotted me after about 5 minutes and 5 stations have been spotted on RX.

UPDATE 1152z:  6 stations have spotted me today so far with the furthermost RA9CIN (3701km). On 10m FT8 RX 78 stations as the map shows.

UPDATE 1225z:  12 stations have spotted me, 1 QSO and 123 stations have been spotted on 10m FT8 RX.

Spots of my QRP 10m FT8 today

UPDATE 1725z: 354 stations spotted on RX and 18 spots of me today on 10m FT8 QRP TX.