Sunspots - Wednesday March 6th

 Solar flux is 142 and the SSN 121. A=7 and K=3.

630m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

My 10mW ERP has been on since about 2100z. At 2204z, 18 stations have spotted me (see table).

2m activity contest

Tonight is the 2m activity contest organised by the RSGB. I usually go on for a short while with my 10W pep to the big-wheel omni antenna. I usually give up soon as I find it very hard on my poor voice. I called a station in a rare square, but gave up.

Faroes - NOT amateur radio

These islands are located between the UK and Iceland. It must get very windy and cold. On 365project, one of my friends posted this view of the capital (Torshaven) on a sunny day. There is absolutely no association of 365project with Microsoft.

University concert - NOT amateur radio

Most Tuesdays we go into Cambridge on the bus. As we are old, it is free with our bus passes. We grab a bite to eat then walk through the grounds of King's College to West Road concert hall. Every week they feature different students and different sorts of music.

Today, it was the final of the concerto competition. The standard is very very high! The concerts are free with a retiring collection.

There is no doubt that Cambridge University has some excellent musicians and we are lucky to be able to enjoy them for free.

The photo shows me having a bite to eat.

6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

My 6m 2.5W FT8 and V2000 vertical omni antenna have been on most of the day. 11 stations spotted me and 5 stations spotted by me. All these (TX and RX) were English with no DX.

10m 500uW (0.5mW) WSPR (Tuesday)

Despite being on all day, no spots of my QRPP 10m WSPR signal. It looks like conditions have to be very settled and good for this tiny power to work. 

My 500uW (0.5mW) 10m WSPR has now been spotted in 7 countries and 3 continents. Antenna remains the low Par end-fed.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the Es season.

630m WSPR overnight

Overnight, 26 stations spotted my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR.

Sunspots - Tuesday March 5th

 Solar flux is 140 and the SSN 113. A=10 and K=2.

137kHz QRSS3 test - aborted

Last night I tried some local 137kHz tests using my 137kHz beacon. Then it blew up!!  I could smell burning and the transmission stopped. 

This means I cannot do my test unless I can repair my beacon. Also, to be so badly damaged it suggests the match is poor and the heatsink inadequate. 

I think this puts an end to my tests at 137kHz.

UPDATE 0929z:  In a vain hope, as my FT817ND was widebanded when I bought it, I tried directly TXing on MF and LF. It said "TX err", so no luck!

10m QRPP WSPR (Monday)

 All day, I was trying with 500uW (0.5mW) on 10m WSPR. No spots.

630m QRP WSPR (Monday)

My 10mW ERP  from the earth-electrode "antenna"  in the ground was turned on about 1900z.

UPDATE 2004z:   So far spotted by 13 stations - all the usual stations and nothing special.

UPDATE 2318z: 20 stations have spotted me so far.

Floods - NOT amateur radio

Last month was the wettest on record in this part of the UK. I have never seen the ground so wet. 

This photo is of a local road.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

21 stations spotted my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR overnight. No amazing DX, but satisfying.

First cut - NOT amateur radio

The lawns were cut yesterday for the first time this year. I need some weed killer and lawn feed!

Amateur VLF

Amateur operation at VLF is very different from commercial VLF. In order to be detectable with "back garden" antennas and amateur powers, very high stability is needed and very long integration times. The latter may be hours or even days!  

Some years ago I was quite active on amateur VLF. On TX I experimented with 5W earth-mode and on radiated VLF I concentrated on RX and copied several Europeans below 10kHz. The photo shows G3XIZ (45km) although I regularly spotted German stations at far greater range.

Antennas were an 80m loop or my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground at home and a portable multi-turned tuned loop or earth electrodes in the ground out portable. Out portable, the loop on the ground was the most successful.

Sunspots - Monday March 4th

Solar  flux is 146 and the SSN 90. A=29 and K=2. 

630m QRP WSPR (Sunday)

My 10mW ERP WSPR from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground was turned on at about 2114z. 7 stations have spotted me.

10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)

At 1443z, the 10m WSPR beacon had its PA turned on, so after that time it is running the full power of 500mW again. 

UPDATE 1456z:  5 spots received already including 2 stations in the USA. It is much easier at 500mW than 500uW!!

UPDATE 1504z:   It is far easier at 500mW!

UPDATE 1722z:  23 stations have spotted me at 500mW 10m WSPR (see table).

Spring sounds - NOT amateur radio

Judging by the sounds, spring has come. This morning I can hear several people cutting their grass for the first time since the autumn. Ours is too wet. Maybe later?

6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna was turned on at about 1240z. 

UPDATE 1437z:  8 English stations have spotted me.

10m 500uW (0.5mW) WSPR

Today, I was going back to 500mW 10m WSPR (QRO for me!!), but I decided, after the success yesterday, to stick with real QRPP instead.  

So, I am trying again with the beacon PA off at 500uW.

UPDATE 1437z:  No spots.

Over the peak?

My best site for solar data has been updated as it always is at the start of a month. It shows us just over the solar cycle peak. Unless we see a second peak (possible) we could be on a long decline to solar minimum. We can expect good conditions on the higher HF bands for some years yet. 

I remember working South America on 10m QRP SSB (10W pep and a dipole) right at the solar minimum and zero sunspots. With FT8 this should be even easier. 

Stick with the higher HF bands!

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

630m QRP WSPR overnight

25 stations spotted the 10mW ERP 630m WSPR from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.  No astounding DX, but a good haul of stations spotting me.

137kHz QRSS3 test

One of the aims for this week is to carry out that 137kHz QRSS3 test with my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground with my FT817, E-field mag-mount on the car roof and SpectrumView software on my iPhone. To do this needs the coax fitting to my mag-mount. I must have "stolen" it for some reason.

Before going out in the car I can check things locally.

This software allows about 2 minutes of audio to be recorded as a spectrogram view. I hope to do this by just placing the iPhone next to the FT817's speaker. The photo of the SpectrumView screen is attached.

See  https://oxfordwaveresearch.com/products/spectrumviewapp/   .

8m decision time

My current 8m TX permit runs out early next month. My choice is to apply for a new permit (probably a similar one requested). This will cost me £50. Although I can afford it, I object to having to pay to carry out genuine research. For this stupidity I have issues with the RSGB and OFCOM.

The alternative is to run 10mW ERP using ISM rules. This is free.

Most active stations on 8m have either spotted my FT8 or worked me.

Radio science might benefit from me running very low power in the Es season which mainly starts in May. At the moment I am inclined to run 10mW ERP 8m WSPR whenever the 8m band looks promising. As long as there are people across Europe monitoring 8m WSPR, I have every confidence of being spotted.

HF QRP FT8

It is some months since I have given HF FT8 a try. I have a QDX which can give 5W FT8 from 20m to 10m. My end-fed Par antenna has a lowish SWR from 17m to 10m. 

Assuming I can get it working, one thing to try as the sunspots decline (not yet we hope!) will be to send FT8 in sequence on all bands from 17m to 10m.  I have no idea of the antenna pattern on various bands, but it might give me some indications of band openings. 

One of the things I have noticed in the past is people leave the higher HF bands. Maybe with FT8 now, some may stay around. Often it is a lack of activity and not poor conditions. On SSB an isolated call may be missed. Not so with FT8 with lots of people monitoring. 

Incidentally, I can highly recommend the QDX. It is tiny (about the size of a pack of cards) and can run all the modes on WSJT-X.

A very nice addition would be a QDX covering 10m, 8m, 6m, 4m and 2m. Even 10m-4m would be very useful.

See https://qrp-labs.com/qdx.html .

Sunspots - Sunday March 3rd

 Solar flux is 152 and the SSN 91. A=5 and K=1.

Getting to sleep - NOT amateur radio

Usually I sleep well, but have you noticed how hard it is to get to sleep when you try to? 

Sleep is odd as you are not aware when you actually drop off: you are awake and then you must be asleep! Waking up very early is very hard.

Saturday plans

One more day on 10m WSPR at 500uW (0.5mW). Probably go QRO tomorrow with 500mW! I might also give 6m FT8 another try.

UPDATE 1918z:   Spotted twice by LZ1UBO (2039km) with my 500uW (0.5mW) on 10m WSPR.  Maybe I shall stick with QRPP tomorrow! Note, the beacon is pre-programmed to report 0.5W, even though with the PA off it is actually 0.5mW.

UPDATE 1717z:  8 stations in England have spotted me on 6m FT8 today. No DX today.

Dalham, near Newmarket - NOT amateur radio

 This is a village near Newmarket.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

 

My 10mW ERP WSPR was spotted by 23 stations including OH1LSQ (1733km) yet again.

Spring - NOT amateur radio

According to the UK Met Office, spring starts March 1st. True to form, yesterday was cold, windy and wet! In many ways, spring came early in the UK. Daffodils that traditionally appear in March are well out and some are even dead. Blossom is well out. Last year we had blossom early on our pear tree. The frost killed it and we had no pears. Let's hope the same does not happen this year.

Sunspots - Saturday March 2nd

 Solar flux is 153 and the SSN 120. A=9 and K=1.

Village pump - NOT amateur radio

Most of us take plumbing and running water in our homes for granted. 

But there was a time when water had to be collected from the village pump. 

The pump in our village is shown in the photo.

Kenwood handheld TH-D75

MLS is advertising the new Kenwood 2m/70cm handheld for pre-order at £789.  In my view, why would anyone pay this much for a 2m/70cm handheld?  Kenwood makes some good gear and has a loyal following, but at this price I cannot see them staying in the amateur radio market for many more years.

My prediction:  the next 5 years will be a torrid time for Japanese manufacturers of amateur radio gear, dealers and magazines.

MLS call it a "game changer"  .....hmmm.

See https://www.hamradio.co.uk/thd75.

Is my software slowing down? - NOT amateur radio

I have had an Asus Chromebook since November 2019 and it has been simply brilliant. It was fast, responsive and did everything I needed. 

The free online support stops soon. In the last few days, it has become noticeably slower. I am wondering if the Chromebook OS has a timer that says after x years slow the machine down to encourage people to buy new machines?

My intention was to check all I need is saved on Google Drive, Google Photos or on a flash drive and then do a reset to factory conditions. I do not think it is bloatware or rubbish.

Quantum mechanics - NOT amateur radio

Many years ago (late 1960s) I did a course on quantum mechanics at university. If I remember correctly, everything can be thought of as a wave function that exists in all space and all time. What we think of as the "here and now" is the most probable.  Tunnel diodes only work because of quantum mechanical tunneling.

According to quantum entanglement, particles at opposite ends of the universe can have some sort of affinity, which would not conform with relativity.

What is certain is how little we know.

GE3XBM?

 One of the recent UK amateur radio licence changes mean I can use GE3XBM instead of G3XBM.

I doubt I shall bother!

Sunspots - Friday 1st March

 Solar flux is 164 and and the SSN 107.  A=4 and K=3.