OFCOM updates

A reminder that OFCOM updates the data it holds on us every week. Check the OFCOM website for details.

Earth-electrode "antenna"

This has been used for many years from VLF-60m with great success. After cutting back some bushes, I want to replace this and try it on 630m, 160m and 80m. Although theories vary, I think it acts as a loop in the ground at MF. It certainly works remarkably well.

Most of the path is in the ground with just the return wire from the far electrode along the fence. Tests with the return wire on the ground at 630m made little difference, so most of the radiation is from the loop in the ground. 

If my theory is correct, the effective loop diameter gets bigger as you move LF. At 2200m it should be even better!

African migrant birds - NOT amateur radio

Swift

About now, I start to watch and listen for the returning migrant birds from Africa. Already swallows have been seen in Devon and even in East Anglia, although I have seen none. Last year I saw very few indeed. 

Locally swift numbers did not seem down on normal. Swifts usually arrive here in numbers mid May. Often they are heard screaming in the sky before they are seen. "They are back", goes out the cry and all is still well with the world. Not yet...

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/swift/.

Fresh green - NOT amateur radio

One of the great things about spring is the fresh green leaves. The trees in our garden are just coming into leaf. There is a sense of the earth "coming alive" again after a long, dark, winter. All seasons have their beauty.

10m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

Since about 0700z, I have been on 10m QRP FT8 with the tiny QDX transceiver, which runs just under 5W. At 0825z, 12 spots of me with the furthermost A61R (5589km).

UPDATE 0920z:  15 stations have spotted my QRP 10m FT8 today and I have spotted 22.

UPDATE 1025z:  26 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 42 with the QRP QDX.

UPDATE 1248z: Spotted by 79 stations so far with the furthermost PY1SX (9306km). 5W or less on 10m FT8 seems quite enough!

UPDATE 1324z:  Spotted by 90 stations.

Stations spotting me at
1434z on 10m QRP FT8

UPDATE 1434z:  Spotted by 124 stations in 5 continents. QRP reins!!

UPDATE 1733z:   Spotted by 171 stations.

UPDATE 1910z: 173 stations have spotted my 10m FT8 QRP today. Unlikely to get any more spots today.

Sunspots - Thursday April 6th 2023

 Solar flux is 137 and the SSN is 37. A=11 and K=1. 

Coffee in the garden

Our son came to stay with his son and we were able to enjoy coffee in the garden. 

Donald Trump - NOT amateur radio

 It is impossible to know if the ex president of the USA is guilty of the crimes of which he is charged. What I do know is unless he is found guilty, his chances of re-election in late 2024 increase. 

At the moment, the USA seems very polarised. I really cannot understand why the USA cannot find younger candidates. If either Biden or Trump stand and get in they would be very old men!

Finland joins NATO - NOT amateur radio

Although not a political animal by nature, I can understand why Finland has joined NATO. It is the 31st member state sharing a very long border with Russia. It feels safer as a nation within NATO, knowing that if it was attacked all the NATO countries are duty bound to support it. It looks like the invasion of Ukraine has had the exact opposite effect with even more NATO countries on its borders.

Personally, I just wish all countries could live in peace and harmony as defence spending is, ultimately, a total waste of money.

QDX on 10m FT8

This runs at less than 5W, but has been widely spotted again this afternoon. It would seem the tiny QDX is all that is needed to get around the world. Since the photo was taken, many more stations have spotted me today on 10m FT8.

Stations spotting my
QRP 10m FT8 TX today

UPDATE 1955z:  64 stations spotted my QRP 10m FT8 today with the QDX transceiver.

XBM80-2 transceiver webpage

As Jason M0NYW has kindly done a PCB layout and provided the Gerber files, I was hoping to add a link to these on my website, but I cannot create a public link to my Google Drive zip file. Not sure if this is a temporary issue. 

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/80m-xbm80-2 .

UPDATE 1700z:  I think I have solved the problem and the link to Jason's Gerber file is now on the webpage. 

Sunspots - Wednesday April 5th 2023

Solar flux is 136 and the SSN 44. A=12 and K=2.

At Lode - NOT amateur radio

 

As mentioned earlier, we did a nice walk earlier today.

2m activity contest (UKAC)

This evening is the first Tuesday of the month. The RSGB organised activity contest starts at 1900z. I usually go on for a little while with 2.5W and my big-wheel omni antenna. I usually make 5-10 contacts. FT8 is usually easier for me with my poor voice!

UPDATE 1936z:  After just 3 contacts, I just gave up. Some decent DX, but my voice was exhausted with too much shouting!  If I had more stamina, I am sure I would have had plenty of contacts.

Yaesu FT818

This was introduced in 2018 by Yaesu as a replacement for the FT817. It was a huge disappointment, being more for Yaesu's benefit (to overcome component shortages) than adding any new features. Several times over the years Yaesu could have led the world. 

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. 

Walk - NOT amateur radio

For once, the sun was shining. We did a lovely walk with one of our sons and our grandson.  My wife loves her photos!

Sunspots - Tuesday April 4th 2023

Solar flux is 134 and the SSN 56. A=15 and K=2.

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

For the first time this year, we enjoyed coffee in the garden. 

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 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

UPDATE 2056z:  Spotted by 35 stations today on 6m FT8 TX.

Sunspots - Monday April 3rd 2023

Solar flux is 127 and the SSN 54. A=15 and K=2.

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.

Amateur radio below 9kHz

 

This was 2011. It is a long time since I did experiments at sub-9kHz

4m Homebrew transverter

 

I came across this photo yesterday. 

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/homebrew/4m-transverter .

"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 .

Sunspots - Sunday April 2nd 2023

 Solar flux is 125 and the SSN 23. A=13 and K=3. 

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.

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

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.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

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.

Sunspots - Saturday April 1st 2023

Solar flux is 129 and the SSN 61. A=21 and K=2.

630m WSPR RX (Friday)

 At 1920z, my 630m WSPR RX was turned on.

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.