Lightning risk

 Although there are no thunderstorms locally at present, the risk exists. Accordingly, I shall probably give the radio a miss today.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=;ts=0; .

Oscar 100 narrowband transponder

Every few weeks (if I remember!) I try to give an update on activity through the narrowband transponder of this geosynchronous satellite. 

It has now been up for several years yet activity is tragically low considering it allows DX QSOs with much of the planet at any time without QSB with small fixed antennas.

The activity on this satellite says a great deal about our hobby and does not bode well for the future.

My last peek was mid-afternoon, mid-week in Europe. There was hardly anybody on. 

My theory is that unlike the few that rise to the challenge of assembling a ground station, most find this just too hard and instead just get out their credit cards so the dealer can buy a flashier car.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ .

QTH

 

This photo shows the windmill and my QTH. It was taken last weekend from the church tower. 

Our bungalow is the one immediately in front of the windmill. If you look carefully you can see my V2000 vertical (look for the white vertical).

Back of the garage 2012

 This was the back of my garage at the old QTH where most of my building was done . Since moving to my new QTH in the following year I have a dedicated room for building and operating.

Sunspots - Thursday September 26th

 Solar flux is 174 and the SSN 160. A=32 and K=3.

Most from the least

This has always been a challenge for QRP operators. We know we can span the globe with a Japanese transceiver, a linear, a beam and a tower all costing thousands, but what may be done for the cost of a coffee in town?

There are many answers to this. It usually involves some element of compromise (usually with the receiver), but time and again people have shown that really simple gear works. I guess the "holy grail" is the rig that has the fewest compromises, yet gives you plenty of contacts. I am still looking!

One of the rigs I have tried is the Micro80 and the Pixie. A few years ago (possibly still) 40m Pixie kits could be bought with airmail from China for a few pounds. I have built versions for 80m and 40m and they have all worked. Albeit, the RX was far from perfect but they worked and resulted in QSOs.

The circuit is a typical Pixie.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/8040m-pixie-and-micro80-transceivers .

Crab apple jelly - NOT amateur radio

Every autumn I harvest my crab apples and make crab apple jelly, which is delicious on some meats. 

This was the harvest from our single tree today.

Faroes - NOT amateur radio

 

As mentioned before, one of my friends on 365project lives in the Faroe Islands. This was one of his photos from a few weeks ago.

10m 500mW WSPR TX ( Wednesday)

My beacon has been on for about 40 minutes. So far, just spots by local G4KPX (14km).

UPDATE 1356z: EA8BFK (2880km) has spotted me 14 times.

6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

 My 2.5W 6m FT8 was turned on at about 1045z after we returned from shopping. So far, 6 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1225z:  7 English stations have spotted me today. See map.

National Hamfest (UK)

The National Hamfest is this weekend September 27/28th at the Newark and Nottinghamshire Showground, NG24 2NY. See nationalhamfest.org.uk .

Sunspots - Wednesday September 25th

 Solar flux is 172 and the SSN 123. A=17 and K=4.

AA1TJ - fit and well

This afternoon I got an email from Michael Rainey AA1TJ.  It sounds like they have just emerged from a long crisis with his partner's health and things are getting back to normal after a long, hard, time. I am so pleased.

Buddleia - NOT amateur radio

Buddleia is supposed to attract butterflies, so we have planted one in our front garden. 

The one in the picture was not in our garden.

Cherry picker - NOT amateur radio

Our local windmill volunteers have hired a cherry picker (aerial hydraulic platform) to inspect the windmill sails. 

A cherry picker is so named as such devices were used originally to harvest fruits.

Hacking - NOT amateur radio

 At the moment I am watching a drama series on BBC TV in which (I think) state actors take complete control of the UK train network.

The scary thing is that many things could be hacked. Take for example power networks, oil and gas distribution, banking, air traffic control, sewage systems etc.. The threat to undersea cables is real, although thankfully there is a lot of redundancy meaning things are likely to be slower rather than totally non-functional.

I guess all cyber security services have to be mindful of threats and keep "ahead of the game".  Also, any states contemplating such action knows they could suffer the same fate. A bit like the policy of "mutually assured destruction" with nuclear weapons, we hope these threats never come to pass.

In this day and age war could well be in the form of cyber warfare rather than conventional weapons.

6m 2.5W FT8 (Tuesday)

 My gear was turned on at breakfast. So far, 6 spots (all English apart from EI3KD (583km)).

UPDATE 0930z: Now spotted by F5PSR (1020km) and 2 Iberian stations. Is this F2 backscatter?

UPDATE 1210z:   17 spots of my QRP FT8 including several in mainland Europe.

UPDATE 1725z:   19 spots of my QRP 6m FT8 today. See map.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Tuesday)

 My beacon was turned on at breakfast time. In the first hour, spots by EA8BFK (2880km) and local G4KPX (14km) only.

Yesterday was very successful with lots of stateside spots of my QRP WSPR.

UPDATE 1730z:  14 spots of me so far today. See table.

Sunspots - Tuesday September 24th

 Solar flux is 167 and the SSN 224. A=13 and K=2.

SPAM? - NOT amateur radio

Just now, I got an email that was not automatically put in my SPAM fold telling me I had won an emergency pack from the AA.  

I got suspicious when the sender was in the USA and it was set in EDT time. To me, it looks like a SPAM.

The links to claim "the prize" will go unclicked. 

If a SPAM, I expect others will have had one too.

AA1TJ Mike Rainey

Often it is some time before you realise someone is not around. You just realise they are not there. Often there is a simple explanation, but you are never quite sure. Are they away on a long trip,  have they lost interest in the hobby, have they been, or are they, seriously ill or have they died?

Yesterday, I sent Mike an email asking him for just a quick ping back, but nothing was heard. This afternoon I contacted some of his friends in the USA hoping they have some news.

If you know what has happened to Michael Rainey AA1TJ, please let me know.

Falling asleep - NOT amateur radio

This is very odd. When you fall asleep, you are not aware of it. At some point you are awake, then you drift off into sleep. Usually I fall asleep quite quickly, whereas at other (rare) times it can be hours.

Haggling - NOT amateur radio

One of my pet hates is having to haggle over things like car insurance and broadband prices. 

Having just spent about 2 hours on a web messaging service (chat) to my ISP I have managed to reduce my package costs nearly 50%. Why is this necessary?  Why not just offer existing customers a contract renewal at a competitive price in the first place? I guess they assume many people are too lazy and just accept the new (higher) price. 

I am now paying FAR less for a better package!  At one point I was promised by the BOT that the agent "would be with me in a flash" not realising the BOT had sent the very same message an hour before!!

At least, being retired, I normally have the time. I was dreading the internet going off for just a few seconds and losing everything.

6m 2.5W FT8 (Monday)

Just 9 English stations spotting me so far today. No sign yet of anything further.

UPDATE 1315z:  Now 14 stations spotting me including CT1EEB (1452km).

UPDATE 1730z:  Spotted by 16 stations today. See map.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Monday)

Initially, just spots from EA8BFK (2880km) and local G4KPX (14km) so far today.

UPDATE 1420z: Lots of stateside stations stations spotting me. See table and map.

Map of spots care of https://www.wspr.rocks/ Phil VK7JJ.

Autumn is kicking in - NOT amateur radio

Evenings are getting darker, trees are starting to change colour, "Strictly Come Dancing" is on TV. We are entering the gloomy part of the year. 

Luckily we have compensation in the form of beautiful colours, ripe fruit and, later, Christmas (although looking at many shops you could think Christmas is already here!). 

We must not forget the migrant birds who think we are warmer than some places! Included are waxwings from Scandinavia.

Plans for Monday

Currently my plans for Monday are to go on 6m QRP FT8 with the V2000 vertical (2.5W) and 10m 500mW WSPR with my stand-alone TX beacon.

Sunspots - Monday September 23rd

Solar flux is 163 and the SSN 114. A=5 and K=1.

Reach walk - NOT amateur radio

Last week we did a walk around the next village of Reach and picked some blackberries. 

It is a very sleepy village.

Fake news - NOT amateur radio

It is very easy to believe in news that is faked as some fakes are very easy to create. 

I am particularly concerned in the lead up to the presidential elections in the USA this November. There is already a rumour going around that the recent assassination attempts on Donald Trump were faked to gain votes. In the weeks ahead we can expect many more fake news stories.

In my view we have to gather news from multiple sources and treat 1-off stories with a pinch of salt.

8m via my ATU

 Just now, I tried to match my V2000 vertical and 2m big-wheel antennas to 40.680MHz. My ATU is only supposed to work up to 30MHz. My efforts were unsuccessful. 

Hopefully my grandson will help me erect my 8m dipole. This needs a bit of ladder work (not high), but I am too wobbly for ladder work these days.

10m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

Although it is dull outside, the thunderstorms seem to have missed us by several hundred kilometres, so I am again on 10m FT8 with my 2.5W FT8. 

After just a few minutes, I am being spotted by 11 stations.

UPDATE 2014z:  Spotted by 314 stations with the furthermost a station on the USA west coast. When 10m is good (as it is at the moment) just a few watts of FT8 seems quite enough. See map of stations spotting me mid afternoon on 10m QRP FT8. Now QRT.

Wise saying - NOT amateur radio

 Recently, I was told this. I think it is quite profound. 

Before we communicate with anyone, think (1) is it true?, (2) is it necessary?, (3) is it kind? If not, we better saying nothing at all.  TNK: true, necessary, kind.  Cruel words can hurt.

Lightning risk

 Today looks like a dull day with the risk of thunderstorms. At the moment I have heard no thunder but it is probably not a great idea to go on the radio.

8m with 10mW ERP under ISM rules

 In many countries stations may legally operate in the 8m ISM allocation with a limited ERP without a special permit or even a callsign. Several stations have tried this and been amazed. 

In the UK we are limited to 10mW ERP, but this is quite enough to make some great DX spots or even contacts if permitted on FT8. 

It is surprising that more have not tried this. In the end I remain surprised more PTTs have not permitted legal access by radio amateurs. Some enlightened administrations have.

Give it a go!!

Lesser Chirpy 10m QRP CW transceiver

This dates back to 2012, but represents a very simple transceiver circuit for 10m CW. Please treat it as a starting point for your own ideas. I was amazed how well such a simple circuit could work.

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

Sunspots - Sunday September 22nd

 Solar flux is 158 and the SSN 117. A=6 and K=1.

V2000 on 8m?

I have an QRP ATU that is supposed to go to 30MHz. Maybe it can be persuaded to go to 40.680MHz? Tomorrow I shall try it with my V2000 and 2m big-wheel antennas. You never know until you try. Even if it does match, I have no idea what the polar plot looks like.

Stick to the day job!! - NOT amateur radio

Our pear 🍐 crop this year is one tiny pathetic pear. 

To be fair, it was smothered by a neighbour’s honeysuckle that climbed over the fence. 

Actually the honeysuckle smelled wonderful.

Perhaps my wife should eat it as she likes conference pears. I must tell her to eat it very slowly! 😁

Changing nature of amateur radio

At one time, the only way we could talk across the world by amateur radio was by HF contacts. Things are changing.  

These days, there are many alternatives such as DMR, D-STAR and Echolink. Many use the internet as the backbone, whereas in the past we had to rely on HF propagation and the ionosphere. 

Even with a VHF or UHF transceivers worldwide contacts are possible. I remember being amazed that with a DMR portable sitting on the bookshelf DX from across the planet could be heard.