6m 6W FT8 (Thursday)

My IC-705 at 6W to the vertical omni V2000 antenna was turned on shortly after 1000z.

UPDATE 2214z: 41 stations including two Germans, one Portuguese and one Swede have spotted me. QRT.

10m 500mW WSPR (Thursday)

My stand-alone QRP 10m WSPR beacon was turned on at about 1000z.

UPDATE 2210z: Just spots by EA8BFK (2880km) and TA4/G8SCU (3010km) today. Nothing from the USA. QRT.

River Cam yesterday - NOT amateur radio

 This was the River Cam in Cambridge yesterday.

Thursday plans

 Probably 10m QRP WSPR and 6m QRP FT8.

Pussy footing? - NOT amateur radio

It would seem that politicians in the UK are doing everything possible not to offend President Trump. Perhaps he will, at a whim, increase tariffs. 

Yes, the world order has changed and Europe should never again depend on the USA as a backstop. 

However, Europeans are not fools or freeloaders.

Sepura portables - NOT amateur radio

For almost 17 years now I have been retired.  Work seems a very long time in the past. In my professional life I was a project manager at Sepura involved in the design of TETRA portables, widely used in public safety.

It would appear many generations of products have been designed and sold since I left. For example the SC20 portable has sold 500000 units.

See https://sepura.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/0064_0622_V18-SC20-brochure_ONLINE.pdf .

Sunspots - Thursday March 27th

 Solar flux is 152 and the SSN 63. A=46 and K=4.

Goshawks - NOT amateur radio

My son rang up from his car to say he was very excited having seen a goshawk from the car in Thetford Forest.  

These are very rare, so he was very lucky to see one.

See  https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/goshawk .

Spring here? - NOT amateur radio

After what has seemed like a long, cold, dull winter, today feels warm and sunny. Certainly there were lots of spring flowers out in Cambridge.

10m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

At about 1546z, I decided to stop my WSPR beacon and turn on the IC-705 at 6W FT8.

UPDATE 2034z:  Spotted by 339 stations with the furthermost YE4LWU (11246km) in Indonesia. See map. QRT now.

Slow decline? - NOT amateur radio

 As far as I am aware there is nothing wrong with me, apart from the after-effects of my 2013 stroke.

However, I am now in my mid-70s and starting to feel old. Every step I take I am careful not to fall, I can no longer run, sex used to interest me, but no longer does, my energy levels seem to be declining and I am hopeless at remembering the names of people! Things seem to have gone downhill in the last 24 months.

I fail to see how someone old like me would want to be president of the USA!!

The approach to King’s College, Cambridge , UK - NOT amateur radio

 

This was the path up to King’s this morning.

10m 500mW WSPR (Wednesday)

 My beacon was turned on at about 0745z. EA8BFK (2880km) has already spotted me 11 times at 0850z.

UPDATE 1530z: 6 stations have spotted me. See table.

Swallows returning - NOT amateur radio

To me, spring is traditionally heralded by the return of migratory swallows from southern Africa.  

Here we see far fewer than we used to although swift numbers seem to be holding up, despite there being fewer natural nest sites. We don't usually see swifts here in East Anglia until May. Often you can hear screaming feeding parties and then look up and see them.

Apparently some swallows have already been spotted in Devon. 

There was a December record in South Devon, so this one may have attempted to over-winter. I don't know if it survived. With climate change and milder winters some might attempt it and survive.

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/swallow .

Sunspots - Wednesday March 26th

 Solar flux is 156 and the SSN 58. A=15 and K=4.

10m as the sunspot count declines

It is probably the case that I am rare in quite looking forward to the quieter solar years when propagation on 10m becomes more difficult. 

At the moment a few watts of 10m FT8 seems to get all over the planet. It is quite easy at the moment. 

At sunspot minimum it will be far harder, but it will be interesting to see how 10m FT8 QRP behaves then. It is my view that as long as monitors continue to look at 10m FT8 we will find paths open far more than we thought. 

As I have said many times before, people move to lower bands as it is easier. Sticking with 10m we will be doing real research. It would not surprise me to see N-S paths possible right at sunspot minimum with FT8.

Direct to smartphones from space? - NOT amateur radio

OFCOM is to permit satellites to communicate directly to smartphones if the terrestrial links are poor. I have no idea how feasible this is as traditional satellite phones needed big antennas. 

Perhaps OFCOM is doing this "just in case" it becomes feasible in the future?

MUF

The Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) is a good guide to the highest frequency to use on a given path. This map, although not always correct, is a useful guide.

See https://prop.kc2g.com/ .

Tower of London - NOT amateur radio

At the weekend we treated our daughter-in-law and her children to a trip around the Tower of London. She thoroughly enjoyed it and wants to go again! 

It has an important part in English history and dates back about 1000 years.

Breakfast - NOT amateur radio

 😂

A friend recently stayed at a hotel and was overwhelmed by the size of the breakfast. 

I have fry-ups 3 times a week, but not like this!

If faced with this, I would make a good try 😋 . 

10m 6W FT8 (Tuesday)

My IC-705 at 6W was turned on just before breakfast on FT8.

UPDATE 2000z: 844 stations have spotted my 6W 10m FT8 today with the furthermost Antarctica. See map for spots.

Sunspots - Tuesday March 25th

 Solar flux is 156 and the SSN 85.  A=19 and K=3.

Quiet village lane - NOT amateur radio

 

This is a quiet lane in our village. With blossom and daffodils there are plenty of signs of spring.

Covid-19: lab leak accident? - NOT amateur radio

Five years after the whole world suffered the effects of Covid-19, there are still debates over its origins. 

Increasingly it appears this was an accidental lab-leak in China. People do not want to say this in case it offends China. In truth, we can never be sure.

UPDATE 2110z:  This really does look like an accident.  They may have been working on a bio weapon, but the virus that escaped (if indeed it did) was not the strongest that could have been created.

Yaesu FTX-1F latest news

Basically, as far as I can tell there is none, at least available to Jo Public. 

No doubt dealers have been told the selling price and any features. There is a video bemoaning the fact that "early 2025" looks more like the end of June.....or never.

Signs of spring - NOT amateur radio

 

There are definite signs of spring in our village. 

All the snowdrops have been replaced with yellow daffodils.

10m QRP FT8 (Monday)

I went on 10m QRP FT8 with my IC-705 at 6W at about 0650z.

UPDATE 1405z:  290 stations have spotted my 10m FT8 QRP. See map.

UPDATE 1413z: Just for fun I have reduced my IC-705 to 500mW FT8.  It will be interesting to see how this goes.

UPDATE  1502z: Already 37 spots of my 500mW 10m FT8 with the furthermost N4LR (7277km).

Stations spotting my
500mW 10m FT8

UPDATE 1817z: 104 stations have spotted my 10m 500mW FT8. Furthermost is HK4R (8498km). See map.

Sunspots - Monday March 24th

 Solar flux is 168 and the SSN 110. A=10 and K=3.

Intelligent life in outer space - NOT amateur radio

One of the points which I picked up from my recent University of the Third Age course in Cambridge was about the advances in AI. 

Within a few years AI is likely to exceed the intelligence of human beings. When we scan the skies for intelligent life elsewhere we may come across civilisations (e.g. via SETI) that may not be sentient. 

What is consciousness? I think it is beings that are self-aware.  Although vast computers may have vast amounts of knowledge, this is not the same as self-awareness and consciousness. 

I can imagine some planets even slightly more advanced than ours which have AI far more advanced than ours.

Interesting viewpoint - NOT amateur radio

This was an interesting direction to view Tower Bridge in London. 

On the right of the photo you can see part of the Tower of London.

6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My IC-705 at 6W to the vertical omni V2000 antenna was turned on mid-morning. 

18 British Isles stations have spotted me so far. 

UPDATE 2155z: 24 stations have spotted me today on 6m FT8. This includes some in mainland Europe. See map of stations spotting me up to teatime.  QRT soon.

10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)

My beacon was turned on after breakfast. Three stations spotting me.

UPDATE 2150z:   15 spots of me today. QRT shortly.

New life - NOT amateur radio

After what has seemed a long, dull winter there are signs of spring and new life. There are lots of daffodils, nest building and fresh green leaves appearing,

2m QRP FT8

 

Yesterday late I decided to go on 2m QRP FT8. I was on the vertical V2000 omni antenna. Quite amazing.

Sunspots - Sunday March 23rd

 Solar flux is 178 and the SSN 177. A=33 and K=1.

Salcombe, Devon, UK - NOT amaeur radio

In my early childhood, I lived by the sea in Salcombe, Devon. A look on YouTube had loads of videos of the town. 

It is now a rich man's playground with many second homes. In my day, although we had plenty of tourists, it was still a town for locals.

AI lectures - NOT amateur radio

On Friday, I finished a 10 week course at the Cambridge University of the Third Age about AI. It was an excellent course and got me thinking.  It is generally known that AI will well exceed humans in the next few years. 

This morning I watched an AI generated video imagining life in late Victorian times. If I had not known it was AI generated, I would never have known. It was amazingly good. This is just one of the negatives of AI. It is already hard to tell what is fake and what is real. Imagine how this will be in just 10 years' time!

In many ways AI will benefit mankind. It is also very dangerous in the wrong hands. I imagine that the military in the USA, China and Russia are already working hard to counter each other. I imagine they are all working on the idea of mutually assured destruction (MAD) remembering what ever you can do to me I can do to you. It is like nuclear weapons.

Am I in favour of AI?  It is here and we have to live with it whether malign or benign.

Sunspots - Saturday March 22nd

 Solar flux is 165 and the SSN 178. A=25 and K=5.

Ad-(non)sense - NOT amateur radio

As part of running this blog I get stats on visitor numbers from Google Adsense. Basically this is rubbish!  Sometimes visit numbers are high, whereas other times I am supposed to get very few visits. It is best ignored.

WSJT-X 2.7

This happened about a month ago, but I have only just noticed! WSJT-X is now at general release 2.7.  WSJT-X has many of the common digital modes and may be downloaded for free.

See https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx.html