Sunspots - Friday January 24th

 Solar flux is 205 and the SSN 169. A=10 and K=1.

Rally reminder

This Sunday the following rally takes place:

Sunday January 26th - Lincoln Short Wave Club Winter Radio Rally, Market Rasen, LN8 3HT. Contact m5zzz@outlook.com .

Propagation guide

This may not be perfect, but it gives a general guide to HF conditions. It shows the F2 MUF goes way above 30 MHz at times in certain places.

See https://prop.kc2g.com/ .

Previous intelligent civilisations on Earth? - NOT amateur radio

There was a post on Facebook earlier that got me thinking. 

The Earth is probably 4 billion years old and humans have maybe been around maybe 500000 years. What if intelligent civilisations existed in the distant past and then destroyed themselves without a trace? This is very unlikely as we would probably have found some evidence such as tool remains.

However, this could have occurred elsewhere in the solar system (Venus,Mars?) or on other planets in the universe.

Church tower (unusual angle) - NOT amateur radio

This is a view of the church tower in our village from an unusual angle. In places it is almost 1000 years old.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Thursday)

My 500mW 10m WSPR beacon was turned on at 0932z.

UPDATE 1842z: 29 stations spotting me. Now QRT.

8m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

My QMX+ (2W) to the low dipole was turned on at about 0934z.

UPDATE 1850z:  HI0SDR (7062km) has spotted me again. No other spots of me. Now QRT.

Sunspots - Thursday January 23rd

 Solar flux is 214 and the SSN 158. A=10 and K=1.

Refused pardon - NOT amateur radio

It amazes me that the USA president has pardoned so many people who stormed Capitol Hill 4 years ago.  I see one woman has refused the pardon admitting that wrong was done that day.  

I have no right to interfere with politics in the USA. However, I observe how the rest of the world looks on. The USA does not look like a role model for democracy.

In these troubled times everyone in power must project honesty, kindness and a concern for the greater good.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvged988377o .

Kindness - NOT amateur radio

Each year, the Oxford English Dictionary chooses a word that sums up the year. Their most recent is KINDNESS. In these troubled times, we could all do with a lot of this.

Quiet village corner - NOT amateur radio

This is our local church with a fairly recent house (designed to blend in really well) with snowdrops in the foreground.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Wednesday)

My beacon has been on for a bit under an hour. 

UPDATE 1343z:  Spotted by 14 stations so far.

8m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

When I got back from Cambridge I turned on my QMX+  on 8m FT8.  Spotted by HI0SDR (7062km) in the Dominican Republic. Another 2W 8m transatlantic.

Why? - NOT amateur radio

 Allegedly the USA president has used an executive order to overturn a conviction of a man who sold drugs on the dark web. This puzzles me.

Sunspots - Wednesday January 22nd

 Solar flux is 225 and the SSN 251. A=10 and K=2.

Village quiet corner - NOT amateur radio

This is a quiet corner of our village with a fine display of snowdrops. To me, snowdrops are a promise of better days ahead.

8m FT8 TX (Tuesday)

At about 1130z I QSYed to 40.680 MHz QRP FT8 with about 2W from my QMX+ into a low dipole. At 1551z 

UPDATE 1916z:  Just LX5JX (468km) spotted me. Now QRT.

6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

My 6m QRP FT8 was turned on at about 0935z. At 1112z 39 stations have spotted me.

10m 500mW WSPR (Tuesday)

My beacon was turned on at about 0930z. At 1100z, 9 stations had spotted me with the furthermost ZD7GB (7607km).

UPDATE 1915z: 26 stations have spotted me today. Now QRT.

That Yaesu FTX-1F

It is interesting to read the speculation surrounding the Yaesu FTX-1F. 

It was announced last summer and due to be released "early 2025" yet no specs have been forthcoming leading some to speculate if it will ever appear.

Certainly since the early 2000s market conditions are very different. Back then Yaesu had most of the market with almost no competition. ICOM and others are already in the market and the Chinese are coming up strongly with very keen prices. Yaesu more than ever know this could be their saviour or that it will soon be time to get out of this market.

In  my mind it has to be a market leader in features and price, much better than the IC-705 at a much better price.

At one time Yaesu were way out front. Not any more!

In the past I have had many Yaesu transceivers. They have made some excellent products, but I remain skeptical about this product, knowing that in the end all they are asking is one question, "will it make us money?".

See https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/1hs9jwj/yaesu_ftx1f_is_it_real_or_is_it_vapor/

Tuesday plans

 Assuming the QMX+ initialises in a reasonable time, my plans today are to go on 10m QRP WSPR and 8m QRP FT8. If I have problems still with the QMX+, I shall try 6m QRP FT8 with the IC-705. 

The QMX+ is excellent once it initialises. I hope this is fixed in a software release.

Sunspots - Tuesday January 21st

 Solar flux is 230 and the SSN 277 (is this an error?).  A=20 and K=1.

11 years ago - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows me with my brother when I came out of hospital in 2014.

I was in hospital for 3.5 months with a brain bleed. My brother came to see me regularly from Devon. He also raised lots of money for Headway, a charity for brain injured people.

Unlike many I made a pretty full recovery. Apart from giddiness and poor speech most of me still works!

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/non-amateur-radio/stroke .

US presidential elections - NOT amateur radio

The people of the USA have elected their president for the next 4 years in an election. 

The outgoing president has, allegedly, issued preemptive pardons to prevent the incoming president "going after" those who opposed him in the past. 

I truly hope the incoming president is above such things and continues to uphold all that is best about democracy and sees peace around the world as an honourable aim.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8r5g5dezk4o .

Pititico 1 transistor transceiver

You may be interested in this (and other) videos on the Pititico transceiver on DX Explorer. 

As there is no amplification of the audio on RX I imagine it is not very sensitive so probably safer to call stations you can hear. Putting out a call you might squash another station already there that you cannot hear!

Norway - NOT amateur radio

 

One of my friends on 365project posted this photo of a Norwegian lighthouse.

6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

At the moment I am on 6m FT8 with the IC705 (10W) and the V2000 vertical omni antenna. At 1200z, just 9 English spots of me.

UPDATE 1258z:  Currently being spotted by 19 stations in 5 countries.

UPDATE 1543z: 28 stations in 7 countries have spotted me today on 6m QRP FT8.

8m QRP FT8 with the QMX+ (Monday)

Once my QMX+ has initialised (with software -019 it can sometimes take ages! I was holding off upgrading software until SSB is available) I intend to go on 8m QRP FT8.

UPDATE 1140z: As my QMX+ failed to initialise (is this just a problem with -19 software version?) I shall not be on 8m FT8 today.

10m 500mW WSPR (Monday)

 My stand-alone beacon was turned on at about 0930z. So far (at 0947z)  no spots of me.

UPDATE 1244z:   19 spots of me.

Sunspots - Monday January 20th

 Solar flux is 234 and the SSN 143. A=15 and K=3.

LED Christmas Tree

Over Christmas we had a multicoloured fibre optic small tree in our lounge. 

With January in the UK being generally cloudy and dull, we had withdrawal symptoms, so we bought a small LED tree.

World Radio Television Handbook (WRTH)

When I first started my journey into shortwave, I was a keen listener to broadcast stations. Many were propaganda outlets, but I remember getting some great gifts! 

At that time the WRTH was a great help. It is still going strong, but I have not seen a copy for many years. I would imagine it is now far thinner.

8m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My QRP 8m FT8 was turned on at about 0955z. Yesterday my QMX+ was spotted by 4 stations including one in the Caribbean. On 8m I run about 2W to a low dipole.

UPDATE 1433z:  So far just a single spot of me by EI3KF (574km) today.

UPDATE 1910z:  QRT soon.

10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)

My QRP WSPR beacon was turned on at about 0950z. No spots of me yet.

UPDATE 1047z:  Spots of me by EA8BFK (2880km) , EW1LN (1812km) and OH3FR (1756km).

UPDATE 1731z:  Spotted by 28 stations so far today. Map courtesy of WSPRrocks by Phil VK7LL.

UPDATE 1905z:  The last spot of me was at 1818z so QRT soon.

Evil - NOT amateur radio

 With all that is happening in the world I can only conclude that evil is alive and well. We can argue about why it is there, but it IS there.  It would seem evil is part of the human condition.

Sunday plans

 At the moment my plans are to go on 10m QRP WSPR and 8m QRP FT8.

Sunspots - Sunday January 19th

 Solar flux is 222 and the SSN 128. A=10 and K=3.

10m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

At about 1600z, I swapped to 10m QRP FT8 with my QMX+ rig.

UPDATE 1652z:  Spotted by 60 stations including many in the USA. In the last few minutes I have been spotted by ZD7GB (7607km).

UPDATE 2008z:  Spotted by 102 stations. QRT now.

Our local windmill - NOT amateur radio

We are lucky to live right next door to a fully restored windmill. We can see it from the lounge and breakfast table. 

The windmill is part of our local museum, which is probably one of the best local museums in the whole country.

Wayback machine

Amateur Radio Weekly reminded me that the Wayback Machine has loads of stuff of relevance to radio amateurs. For those unfamiliar with this, the Wayback Machine archives old websites and much old material such as magazines.