Konik ponies - NOT amateur radio

These were at Kingfisher Bridge nature reserve near Ely UK as well as water buffalo. They’re wild ponies used to keep the grass short.

Ut I Vorid - NOT amateur radio

Many years ago when we were on holiday in Iceland we went, by chance, to a concert in a small church in northern Iceland and heard some of the best singing we have ever heard. 

It was a singing group called Ut I Vorid. I have just chanced upon them on YouTube. I have no idea if they still exist. We have several of their CDs.

10m 500mW WSPR (Saturday)

 My QRP WSPR beacon was turned on about 1016z. No spots of me yet.

UPDATE 1052z:  10 spots of me by EA8BFK (2880km). 

UPDATE 1515z:  Spotted by 24 stations. See table.

6m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

My IC-705 at 6W was turned on at 1017z. Just 7 English spots so far.

UPDATE 1514z:  Spotted by 19 stations. See map.

Faroes - NOT amateur radio

 

One of my friends on 365project posted this photo recently from the Faroe Islands.

Optical Communications

 Before my 2013 stroke I enjoyed doing experiments at 481THz (red light). Although my main interest was "over the horizon" digital communication, I had one line of sight AM QSO over about 11km. 

On YouTube is a video of a German optical communicator that was used in WW2. As the beam was very narrow it was ideal for secret communication up to 5km. Mechanically it was a work of art.

Sunspots - Saturday March 15th

 Solar flux is 180 and the SSN (still shown as March 8th on my source) 90. I am sure this is wrong. A=24 and K=3.

I went looking for today's sunspot number. It was very hard. Please tell me the best source!

UPDATE 1646z:  A Google AI search said the SSN today was 147.

Treeless beauty - NOT amateur radio

As mentioned before, one of my friends on 365project lives up in Shetland Islands. Up there it can be very beautiful, although there are few trees and it can be very bleak and windy.

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

My IC-705 at 6W was turned on at about 0915z. So far just 3 English stations spotting me.

UPDATE 2118z: 22 stations have spotted me. See map.  QRT soon. .

10m 500mW beacon (Friday)

My beacon was turned on about 0915z. EA8BFK (2880km) is spotting me.

UPDATE 2128z: Spotted by 31 stations today. QRT soon.

Sunspots - Friday March 14th

 Solar flux is 175. My source for sunspot data has not been updated since March 8th for some reason and is still showing SSN=90 which must be wrong!  I have no idea why it is not being updated. I shall try to find today's figure from somewhere else.  A=42 and K=3.

New homes - NOT amateur radio

It would appear that any patch of land is being used in our village for new houses. Someone has a terraced house with a very long garden. The owner has sold the land and the developer has built 6 new homes. These look nearly finished now. No doubt the builder and terraced house owner will have made plenty.

10m QRP WSPR (Thursday)

My 500mW was turned on at breakfast time.

UPDATE 1325z:  17 spots of me by EA8BFK (2880km) plus TA4/G8SCU (3010km).

70cm FT8

Last evening was the 70cm activity contest. It never fails to amaze me what I can spot with just a 144MHz big-wheel omni antenna. 

The map shows the stations received here last evening.

6m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

My IC-705 at 6W was turned on at breakfast time.

UPDATE 0940z: 9 English spots of me.

UPDATE 1054z: 15 spots of me including some in mainland Europe. See map of stations spotting my QRP.

Sunspots - Thursday March 13th

 Solar flux is 160 and the SSN 90. A=32 and K=5.

70cm QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

Although the activity contest does not start until 2000z, I think there is a European 70cm FT8 contest earlier. I put my IC-705 on 5W FT8 at about 1900z. Already my station has been copied as far away as 150km has spotted me and I have spotted 2 stations on RX in Germany at 479km.  All this was with just a 144MHz big-wheel omni antenna!

UPDATE 2025z: My signal has been copied in Holland by PI4VPO (263km).

8m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

For most of the afternoon I have been on 8m QRP FT8 with my FT817ND.

UPDATE 1745z:   No spots of me. I suspect I will get no 8m spots today. It would appear that my 8m ERP is just too low most of the time.

70cm activity contest (UKAC)

 

Every month I put an entry in for this contest. Because of my poor voice, I usually stop on for about 30mins. Even this is hard with 10W and a 144MHz big-wheel omni antenna. I am always surprised to work anyone at all. 

If my voice was better and I stayed on longer I am sure a lot more stations would be worked. 

The map shows the stations worked.

Spring sun - NOT amateur radio

 

Yesterday we did a walk around our village. It was much colder with some showers. In between, the sun appeared.

6m QRP FT8 with the IC-705 (Wednesday)

My IC-705 is on 6m FT8 at 5W. It was turned on at 0900z.

UPDATE 1655z: Before QSYing to 8m early this afternoon my 6m QRP  FT8 was spotted by 20 stations including several in mainland Europe. See map of where my 5W was spotted.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Wednesday)

My QRP W5OLF 10m WSPR beacon was turned on at 0900z.

UPDATE 1718z: 5 stations spotting me including the German research base DP0GVN (13685km) in Antarctica.

Sunspots- Wednesday March 12th

 Solar flux is 161 and the SSN 90. A=10 and K=3.

Trump upside - NOT amateur radio

In my view tariffs are a bad thing.  

What President Trump is trying to do against Canada wins him no friends. The USA is hardly seen as a role model any more by the third world, who will increasingly be attracted to China. Sadly, the Trump administration comes across as power hungry and greedy. These are not values that many in the world see as good.

Although I understand what President Trump is trying to achieve, this reminds me of King Canute trying to control the tides!!

It may encourage USA firms to make parts, e.g. for cars, in the USA, but I struggle to see how they can make them inexpensively, stoking inflation in the USA. Far Eastern manufacturing will always be less expensive unless they use robots thereby reducing US jobs.

One upside is the dollar is now far weaker against the UK pound, making oil (for us) less expensive.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cly412xwz44t .

Village walk - NOT amateur radio

 

Dodging the showers we did a 4.5km walk around our village.

10m 2W FT8 (Tuesday)

My tiny QDX was turned on at about 0923z.

See https://qrp-labs.com/qdx.html

UPDATE 1625z:  64 spots of me so far. 438 stations spotted here. USA starting to receive me now on TX.

Medieval masterpiece - NOT amateur radio

Ely Cathedral, UK, is a masterpiece of medieval engineering.  It was built about 1000 years ago, but the central tower collapsed in 1322 and was replaced by the octagon tower we see today.   

The whole cathedral was built in a time before CAD, lorries and cranes. I still marvel at the octagon every time I see it remembering that much of the cathedral is hundreds of years older!

No news?

Last night I looked on the Japanese website of Yaesu, hoping to find some clues about the FTX-1F such as price, recent specs, availability etc.. My Japanese is poor (well non-existent!) so I searched all categories. On the Japanese site I could see no mention of it at all!

These are the rumours (that I have seen so far):

• Price: around £1300. If correct, this would be far too much and would not dent the competition.
• Availability:  April 2025, waiting on FCC approval.
• Specs: Nothing at all since last summer!

The more I see, the more I think this is vapourware. All the clues suggest Yaesu was testing the market and is binning this before it is launched. 

I may be very very wrong, but I am surprised we have heard nothing factual since last summer. even though it was due to be released in "early 2025".  

Hmm.  

On present form I give Yaesu less than 5 years to quit the amateur radio market.

Sunspots - Tuesday March 11th

 Solar flux is 149 and the SSN is 90. A=10 and K=2.

Reducing the noise floor

One of the problems, especially in built-up areas is high local noise. This video is an attempt to make it better.

Shetland weather - NOT amateur radio

As mentioned before, one of my friends on 365project lives up in the Shetland Isles. 

They get plenty of weather up there interspersed with decent days. There is plenty of wind and just a few trees.

Ely, UK, High Street - NOT amateur radio

This was Ely High Street yesterday in the pleasant spring sunshine. 

The cathedral is next to it, dominating the fen countryside. 

Ely is an old island, famous for eels!

See https://www.visitely.org.uk/ .

10m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My QDX at 2W was turned on 10m FT8 at about 0723z. Quiet start.

UPDATE 1347z:  Spotted by 72 stations on 10m QRP FT8 TX. Furthermost is K5WBM (7359km). On RX I have spotted 303 stations. 

Stations spotted
here today on
10m FT8 at 1625z

UPDATE 1905z:  109 stations have spotted me and 640 stations have been spotted here.

Threads exhibition - NOT amateur radio

 

At Ely Cathedral is an exhibition of very intricate embroidery used in attire worn by the clergy.

Crystal sets

 

These can be very simple or, in some cases, very complicated. On my website is a page about crystal sets. No batteries are needed.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/crystal-set-dxing .

Sunspots - Monday March 10th

 Solar flux is 148 and the SSN 90. A=35 and K=2.

Ely, UK, market - NOT amateur radio

 

A drop of sun and everyone seems to come out!  This was Ely market a few hours ago.

World religions - NOT amateur radio

From a very young age I was brought up as a Church of England Anglican. In my late teenage years I had quite a strong belief, if unconventional!  

As an adult I am more aware of other belief systems, sincerely held by those who believe in them. I am sure if I was brought up in the Middle East I would probably be a devout Muslim. Likewise if I was brought up in the Jewish faith or in India I would have been equally devout in some other religion.

They cannot all be right or wrong.

What puzzles me is the holy books. In every world religion (I think) there is a holy book that is very thick, composed of writings written down for adherents to follow. What makes something sacred? 

It is only a few hundred years since we believed in witches and supported slavery. In the last century we put to death millions of Jews.

Although I still remain agnostic in my beliefs I prefer to think that all religions are attempts by humans to explain their place in the universe. Hints.  I think every religion has compassion and kindness at its heart.

No, religions puzzle me.

10m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My 2W from the tiny QDX was turned on at about  0915z.

Stations spotting my
2W 10m FT8 today

UPDATE  1907z:  114 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 559 stations here. QRT soon.

Not for me!!

This array of G0KSC antennas was seen earlier. It is not for me!! An impressive array nonetheless.