With the FT817 they "owned" the QRP market, then they gifted it to others. In business terms it was unbelievably stupid.
I hope they really will launch an SDR QRP rig soon, or they might as well give up.
4 Apr 2023
Yaesu FT818
Walk - NOT amateur radio
3 Apr 2023
Family day
Our son and grandson have been here for a few nights and went to see a cousin and his son today. The first photo is with my wife in our garden. The rest are with our son's cousin and his son.
Spring - NOT amateur radio
Although still quite cold (12 deg C) it was sunny and spring like. There are buds on the trees.
This is our front garden. We had coffee on the bench just out of the photo on the left.
6m FT8 (Monday)
At about 1035z, I turned on my 6m FT8 using the FT-710. Almost immediately, 2 UK spots of me.
UPDATE 2056z: Spotted by 35 stations today on 6m FT8 TX.
UPDATE 1053z: Already 9 English spots of me on 6m FT8 TX.
UPDATE 1146z: 12 spots of my 6m FT8 TX so far.
UPDATE 1254z: Spotted so far by 15 stations. All were in the UK. No spots on RX.
 |
| Stations spotting me today |
2 Apr 2023
6m FT8
Already 18 spots of me (I have been on for about 30 minutes) with the furthermost SP9LJE (1259km). Only G3XDV spotted on RX so far.
UPDATE 0949z: 20 stations in 4 countries have so far spotted me on 6m FT8 TX with the omni V2000 vertical antenna.
Plans for Sunday
Currently, I hope to be on 6m FT8. It is still a bit too early for the big Es openings but, despite this, I seem to be widely spotted.
I think I shall give 8m a miss until a bit later in the spring. Then I hope to monitor both FT8 and WSPR at just above 40.680 MHz.
"Our" windmill - NOT amateur radio
This photo was taken in 2016 and shows our windmill next door. The windmill is part of the very impressive Burwell Museum that opens next weekend after the winter. It is open Thursdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays Easter until late October. The views from the fully restored 200 year old windmill are impressive.
15m Pipit transceiver
This photo of my homebrew 15m QRP CW transceiver was found when I was looking through some old stuff. This was an 800mW transceiver. It worked very well and was the only rig used for several months.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/15m-qrp-cw-pipit .
1 Apr 2023
4m EI4RF beacon - 70.013 MHz
Currently I am on 70.013 MHz FT8 RX, hoping to see the EI4RF beacon, that I believe has some FT8 sequences. I am not hopeful. They say tune to 70.012 for FT8.
See https://www.qrz.com/db/EI4RF
UPDATE 2050z: Nothing seen. I shall try for another 20 minutes or so and then call it a night.
UPDATE 2116z: Still nothing. QRT.
6m MSK144
At the moment I am trying MSK144 on 50.280 MHz in a test with OZ9FZ.
UPDATE 2122z: Nothing so QSYed to 4m FT8 RX.
Bicone antennas
Sometimes people want a wideband antenna covering several bands. One to consider is the bicone. these can be quite large, but can cover several bands.
Solar maximum?
The site I always look at for the latest data is still showing the peak of this solar cycle in November 2023, i.e. this year. The information was only updated today.
Sign of the times - NOT amateur radio
We have had more cold weather this winter than for a long time. We have also had lots of potholes in the roads! I suspect that councils are trying to save money, perhaps by using inferior materials. As they are finding out, this is quite short sighted as potholes are reappearing in the same places!
4m FT8
Perhaps I am a sucker for punishment! Once again, I am on 4m FT8 on 70.154 MHz. No spots. Last weekend I was spotted by a few stations and had a contact on 4m FT8 with a station in Wales.
UPDATE 1627z: Still no 4m FT8 spots! I find it hard to believe that days have passed and nobody, absolutely nobody, spotted. Looking on PSKreporter, there look to be very few monitors as well.
UPDATE 1757z: Just G3SHK (200km) spotted, but he could not copy me sadly.
Rain - NOT amateur radio
Usually this is a dry part of the UK with very little rain. February was exceptionally dry, but March was exceptionally wet. I think we had more rain in March than the whole winter! We needed the rain, but March was very dull.
31 Mar 2023
23cm SSB sked with G4BAO
This was very successful. John gave me an RS58 report which was very satisfying for 2W indoors to a 2 el yagi indoors. John suggested an FT8 test at some point in the future, which I shall do. Aiming the small beam in all sorts of directions made little difference on John's signal.
Home deliveries - NOT amateur radio
Since the pandemic, many people have turned to home deliveries. We have used these services for many years. You cannot beat looking at goods in shops, but for some things the convenience of home deliveries is great. The downside is shops find it hard to compete and close. It is a very difficult decision.
Peoples' shopping habits are changing. In my view, the shops that will still be here are those that adjust to this new model, perhaps acting as showcases for goods ordered online.
Activity levels
Today was an interesting experiment. I tried 6m and 4m FT8. The difference could not be more stark. On 6m I got plenty of spots, whereas on 4m none at all. Many modern transceivers in Europe include 4m, yet activity on this great band seems very poor.
I guess people are more interested in working new DX than chatting, not that you can chat on FT8! There is no doubt amateur radio is changing. In many ways this is for the worse.
Putting a RX on 6m FT8 is more likely to have something "new" than 4m FT8 outside of the Es season. Even so, I am surprised how bad 4m seems to be. I was expecting some activity!
Unless things change, amateur radio will be gone before 2040. At the very least, it will be radically different.
UPDATE 1336z: What will the future of amateur radio look like? The short answer is I do not know! I can see national agencies like the FCC and OFCOM tiring of amateur radio. Instead I can see the allocation of callsigns being delegated to the ARRL and the RSGB. I can see this spreading across the world. I can see a time when the amateur bands that remain become a free for all, without licences, as long as no interference is caused. I can see a merging of licence free bands and amateur radio.
Wicken Fen lunch yesterday - NOT amateur radio
This was our lunch at the cafe at Wicken Fen on our walk yesterday.
4m FT8 (Friday)
At 1140z, I turned on my 4m FT8 with my compromise antenna of the 2m big-wheel and coax tuned via the auto ATU in the FT-710 So far, no spots of me.
UPDATE 1235z: I decided to go back to 6m FT8 as I was getting no spots on 4m. Clearly few come on 4m outside the Es season.
6m FT8 (Friday)
At the moment I am on 6m FT8 with the FT-710. Several UK spots of me on TX, but no RX spots.
UPDATE 1056z: F4EGZ (668km) has spotted me.
UPDATE 1242z: Back on 6m FT8. 16 stations have spotted me.
UPDATE 1300z: Spotted by 17 stations on 6m FT8 so far today.
 |
| Stations spotting me today on 6m FT8 TX |
Brave New World?
As an experiment just now, I asked Chat GPT4 to generate me an essay about amateur radio. GPT4 is a form of artificial intelligence.
The essay looked remarkably accurate and was just as if a human being had written it. I stopped after about 30 lines. I also asked it to create a couple of poems about places I knew. These were amazing.
You can see both the good and bad here: the good is getting AI to do what humans find boring and hard. The bad is where does this stop?
Although I do not want to sound like a Luddite, I can see dangers ahead.
Wicken Fen walk - NOT amateur radio
Yesterday we walked to Wicken Fen. It tried to rain (briefly) on the way back.
19 set
Back in the 1960s these were quite common WW2 surplus radios often used on 80m AM. These days they are more difficult to get. At one time these were made by Pye Telecom.
30 Mar 2023
Red-legged partridges - NOT amateur radio
I heard it first. It is probably after a mate!
10m QRP FT8 (Thursday)
So far, 38 stations have spotted me and I have copied a lot more! 2 QSOs so far.
 |
| Stations spotting me today on 10m FT8 QRP |
UPDATE 2110z: 156 stations have spotted my QRP 10m FT8 today. 3 QSOs. It seems the world is there with QRP on 10m FT8. It is too easy! Currently not trying for QSOs. More like FT8 beaconing.
Death - NOT amateur radio
We have just heard of the death of the husband of my wife's old work colleague. They live in Australia. Although expected, it must be such a shock when it actually happens.
I guess it is also a wake-up call to our own mortality. I am reminded of this poem.
See https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44400/spring-and-fall .
23cm SSB sked
Assuming G4BAO confirms, my intention is to have a 23cm sked on 1296.2 MHz SSB at 1430z today. As yet, he has not confirmed!!
UPDATE 1650z: We are trying at 1430z on Friday March 31st on 1296.2 MHz SSB. 3.30pm BST.
Lesser Chirpy
Originally, this was called the XBM10-2. It is probably one of the simplest transceivers you can make. It really works! These days there is less CW activity as people move to modes like FT8, but it is fun to make contacts with ultra simple homemade gear.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10m-lesser-chirpy .
Plans for this afternoon (Thursday)
Assuming the thunder storms keep away, my plan is to go on 10m FT8 later.
Wicken Fen walk - NOT amateur radio
This morning we walked to Wicken Fen a distance of about 3.75 miles.
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