Sunspots - Sunday September 29th

 Solar flux is 195 and the SSN 148.  A=7 and K=3.

Dying of cancer - NOT amateur radio

 My wife has been to see her old work colleague and friend several times recently. 

After a long battle with stage 4 cancer she has come home to die. They gave her less than 5 years, but she has lasted 8 years. She probably only has days left. It is all so sad. She sleeps a lot of the time and is confined to bed. 

It is odd. In some ways this experience has dulled the fear of death. For her husband it must be unbelievably sad knowing that your wife is dying and there is no prospect of her getting better.

Apple day 2024 - NOT amateur radio

Our next door neighbour has a large orchard and far too many apples, so he organised an apple day so we could pick some for the winter. 

For once the weather was sunny and bright.

It was a lovely social occasion too.

10m 500mW WSPR (Saturday)

My stand-alone 10m WSPR beacon by W5OLF was turned on at about 0835z.  No spots.

UPDATE 0848z: Just a couple of spots by local G4KPX (14km).

UPDATE  0855z:  Just G4KPX spotting me.

UPDATE 1556z:  33 stations have spotted me with many in the USA and Canada.

UPDATE 1603z:  The map (see WSPRrocks by Phil VK7JJ) shows the stations spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR TX beacon today.

UPDATE 1629z:  36 stations have spotted me today.

8m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

My 2.5W 8m FT8  was turned on at about 0835z.  

UPDATE 1317z:  QRT.  No spots all day on RX or TX on 8m FT8.

UPDATE 1703z:  On again, but still no spots. So far, I have been disappointed with 8m FT8 this autumn.

Crab apple jelly - NOT amateur radio

A few days ago I collected the crab apples from our single tree. 

Yesterday, I turned them into crab apple jelly as the photo shows. It is delicious on some meats.

I have no idea why they are called crab apples. They are tiny compared with more usual apples. I would guess 2cm diameter or less would be more typical.

See https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/crab-apple-jelly .

8m later

 Now my 8m dipole has been re-erected, I intend to try the band again later.

Sunspots - Saturday September 28th

 Solar flux is 186 and the SSN 122. A=6 and K=0.

'Our' tree - NOT amateur radio

We keep an eye on this tree at Anglesey Abbey throughout the year. At the moment it is turning into its autumn colours. After a few weeks of strong winds, it will be bare until the spring.

10m 500mW WSPR (Friday)

 My 10m 500mW WSPT TX beacon was turned on at about 1630z.  EA8BFK (2880km) has spotted me.

UPDATE 2035z:  In the end 2 stations in the USA spotted me (see table).

Anglesey Abbey yesterday - NOT amateur radio

 

Yesterday we met some friends at Anglesey Abbey. There was rain overnight and rain this afternoon, but we chose a dry patch in between luckily.

Back on 8m

 My grandson helped me re-erect my 8m dipole. At about 1600z, I restarted my 40.680MHz 2.5W FT8.

Late swallow - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday as well as seeing a couple of house martins I saw a late swallow. 

This is probably the last I shall see until the spring. I am pretty sure this is the latest I have ever seen one up here in East Anglia.

Sunspots - Friday September 27th

 Solar flux is 181 and the SSN 169. A=13 and K=2.

Cyber attack? - NOT amateur radio

 I heard yesterday that all the major UK rail station WiFi systems had suffered what was thought to be a cyber attack. If these can be attacked what else could be done?

Autumn and winter project

During the dark evenings this autumn and winter I intend to update my PDF Project Scrapbook. There have been a few changes to rigs that I should include. Also, there is more to say about 8m and 23cm.

6m QRP FT8 yesterday

Despite the main Es season being now well over, there is still some DX to be found. Yesterday with 2.5W FT8 my 6m signal was spotted in several places in mainland Europe. See map.  It is not the same as at the peak of the "season" yet monitoring can yield results.

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.