Solar flux is 115 and the SSN 87. A=15 and K=4.
9 Jun 2025
8 Jun 2025
6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)
At about 1510z, I decided to go on 6m FT8 with my 5W to the V2000 vertical omni antenna.
10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)
As I decided to try 4m FT8 RX using the V2000 vertical omni, I decided to try 10m QRP WSPR with my beacon on the endfed antenna.
UPDATE 1705z: No spots of me.
4m FT8 RX (Sunday)
Apparently the FT8 frequency to monitor on 4m is 70.154 MHz. So, using my endfed antenna used 10m-17m I have set my IC-705 to 70.154 MHz RX to see what happens.
No idea at all how this antenna performs on 4m! It may work or may be incredibly lossy!
UPDATE 1337z: G3YHM (168km) spotted so it must be doing something.
15m QRP FT8 (Sunday)
For a total change I tried FT8 at 5W on 15m. It was too easy with spots on RX and TX from across the planet.
Station rationalisation
At the moment my main activities are 6m and 10m FT8, 2m and 70cm SSB in the UKAC activity sessions, 2m FM in the local net and 10m QRP WSPR with my W5OLF beacon.
It occurred to me that all could be done with the IC-705, although the stand-alone 10m WSPR beacon (500mW) is useful when I am on 6m FT8.
So, for now, I have rationalised my set-up.
27 MHz CB
When CB was first legal in the UK, it was very busy. I seem to recall monitoring, but don't think I ever transmitted on CB.
I still have pair of 1 channel CB handhelds that I used once many years later. These were going to be converted to 10m FM on 29.6 MHz, but never were. A range of 1 km back-to-back was achieved that surprised me.
These days I think it is much quieter with advent of the internet and 446 licence free. In the last century we also had a 934 MHz CB band in the UK!
These days there are far fewer users as these alternatives exist for chatting, leaving the CB frequencies for farmers and any enthusiasts left.
CB gear is low cost as there is lots around ....and probably not selling!
FT8 on CB?
Is FT8 legal on CB in Europe including the UK? I gather there is some activity around 27.265 MHz.
When solar conditions decline there is often far more activity on the CB frequencies than on the 10m amateur band suggesting it is a lack of activity rather than poor conditions.
In the UK I believe you do not need a licence to operate CB gear, but I think you must use CE marked gear? It is a bit vague if you use compliant gear that is not marked. Also, I presume you can make up a call!
I doubt CB is policed and I know many use beams and (illegal) high power. I am just wondering if I should monitor and possibly TX?
10m QRP FT8 (Sunday)
My 5W was turned on at about 0900z.
UPDATE 1034z: 50 spots of me on TX and 24 stations spotted on RX. Mostly Es?
10m QRP WSPR yesterday
In all, 31 stations spotted my 500mW WSPR yesterday. All were European, probably mostly via Es.
7 Jun 2025
6m pirates?
Earlier, when I went on 6m FT8, I was supposed to have spotted stations in Somalia, Asiatic Russia and North Korea.
Somehow I don't think so!
10m 500mW WSPR TX (Saturday)
My beacon was turned on about 1014z.
UPDATE 1020z: No spots.
UPDATE 1106z: If helps if you turn on the PSU too. Doh!! PSU turned on at 1104z.
6m QRP FT8 (Saturday)
At about 1012z I QSYed from 10m to 6m FT8.
UPDATE 1641z: 101 spots of me with the furthermost the Canary Is..
Leaving the market?
SteppIR, who are famous for their automatically adjustable beams, have announced they are leaving the amateur radio market in August. They made high-end products I have never owned.
Now I know this is not true everywhere, but it is probably mostly true that ours is a hobby of "mature" people. Indeed this is one of the reasons SteppIR has quoted for leaving the amateur radio antenna market.
It is my view that many who have been in the amateur radio market for many years as manufacturers or dealers are wondering if this is really for them.
It would not surprise me at all if we see a shake-out in the coming years.
Did Yaesu release a product too early?
This podcast seems to back up my assertion that the FTX-1 was launched in a hurry.
Many are very happy with it, but I still think it is far too expensive. It is even more expensive when you add features the IC-705 has had for years!
At £999 I might have considered it. As it is, like many, I will stick with my IC-705. With the recent price reduction the IC-705 looks far better value.
I am puzzled that the Yaesu FT710 is far far less that the FTX-1. On the first Sherwood tests it is way down on the FT710 performance. Personally I think Yaesu is struggling and finding it hard to stay in the amateur radio business. If they were hoping the FTX-1 would be their saviour, I hate to disappoint them!
It is normal to see software bugs that are corrected, but this product look like it was released far too early. Some of these issues will be fixed in software updates. I hope they haven't got to do hardware changes too.
10m 5W FT8 (Saturday)
At the moment I am om 10m QRP FT8. The gear was turned on at about 0822z.
UPDATE 0855z: 16 spots of me. See map.
UPDATE 0949z: 35 spots of me with the furthermost South Africa.
UPDATE 1004z: 43 spots of me.
6 Jun 2025
10m QRP WSPR (Friday)
My 500mW W5OLF beacon was turned on at about 0645z.
UPDATE 1430z: 14 spots. Mostly Es I think although V51RS (8481km) was clearly not.
6m QRP FT8 (Friday)
My 6W 6m FT8 was turned on at about 0645z this morning.
I see that one of my 6m FT8 spots yesterday was a station in Brazil PY2RN (9551km).
UPDATE 1746z: So far, 239 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 171.
QDX transceiver
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This tiny digital transceiver amazes me. It is about the size of a pack of cards.
In my case I added a number of suitably rated diodes to drop the supply voltage so the power output is probably about 3W, at most, on 10m.
Despite this I have been copied all over the planet on 10m QRP FT8 with a simple, low, end-fed antenna. It is all you need really if you are only interested in digital HF. It is available as a kit or ready built. You can choose a version covering the lower or higher HF bands. There are also single band versions at a slightly lower price.
Excellent products and excellent value. I am highly impressed.
Baby squirrel - NOT amateur radio
Take this one from someone in the USA. You could imagine the baby squirrel was really frightened.
Also, the discipline of posting a photo a day is interesting, especially looking back many years.
Last Tuesday in the 2m activity contest
5 Jun 2025
6m 6W FT8 (Thursday)
My gear has been on since early morning.
UPDATE 1358z: 199 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 85 stations here.
Immigration - NOT amateur radio
Some people are fearful of losing their national identities in a flood of immigration.
However, in many countries we are seeing falling birthrates and a fear of how we will finance things in future.
Being seen as tough on immigration is a vote winner. This is being exploited in many countries by the hard right parties.
In the end I do not have an answer. As the planet warms up, we can expect more migration to milder countries from those that are very hot.
The answer in the end is probably to acknowledge that some controlled migration is a good thing.
It is important that people are well accepted by their new countries and that they learn to integrate. At the same time, they bring new ideas with them which we, in turn, must learn from. Think of the USA in past centuries and the Huguenots coming to England.
6m FT8 RX yesterday
This means I have spotted North and South America,The Caribbean, Africa, Asia and Europe on 6m FT8 RX in recent weeks.
Not bad for the vertical colinear via CB RG58 coax! See map.
Non-alcoholic gin and tonic - NOT amateur radio
So, I thought I would give the G+T a go without alcohol, so bought some at the local supermarket.
I couldn’t tell any difference.
End of the good times? - NOT amateur radio
Increasingly I am fearful of the future.
In the West we depend on long and complex supply chains chasing ever lower costs. Much of our energy (including electricity) depends on gas.
Just imagine if a terrorist or state actor seriously disrupted our gas supply or food supply chain. In the worst case, lots of things could fail: electricity for traffic lights, water pumping, sewage, internet, cash machines, banks, airlines, trains, etc.. Think about what happened in Spain!!
What I am saying is we are very vulnerable to a cyber attack, more so than we realise.
Is it all bad? No, a new realisation of how things work would, ultimately, be good. Humans do adapt. Longer term, we might realise just how inter-connected these things really are and how we need, as individuals, to build up some resilience.
What can we do now?
- Increase vigilance against cyber attacks
- Make sure batteries are charged.
- Have some emergency food stuffs.
- Grow some food.
- Have some cash.
Hopefully, we will be stronger in future.
630m (472 kHz) QRP WSPR
For a few years I have not been on 472 kHz. This video was made some years ago and shows the results using just my earth-electrode "antenna" in the garden.
Sepura portables
Since then, things have inevitably moved on. These days I am very out of touch with my old company.
4 Jun 2025
Kierkegaard or Descartes? - NOT amateur radio
This famous quote is, I think, written by Kierkegaard and not Descartes. Whoever said it was correct.
"Life can only be understood backwards but must be lived forwards"
6m 6W FT8 (Wednesday)
In the last hour 31 stations have spotted me on 6m FT8 quite early in the morning.
UPDATE 1336z: So far today, my 6W 6m FT8 has been spotted by 858 stations. Lots of Es. At this rate I could be spotted by over 1000 stations today. Not bad for QRP on a VHF band with an omni vertical.
10m 500mW WSPR (Wednesday)
In the last hour 3 stations have already spotted me. Overnight my beacon was running and it was surprising how many spots there were in the middle of the night, when most are asleep. My beacon is on.
UPDATE 1947z: 78 stations have spotted me with the best Brazil.
6m QRPP
Yesterday as an experiment I was on 10mW to the vertical omni antenna until about 1900z being spotted by over 80 stations. It proved beyond doubt that very little ERP is needed if there is a decent 6m Es opening. I went back to 6W after 1930z last evening.
A photo of my QRPP setup is attached.
It was a very worthwhile experiment.
6m to the USA and Canada
I suspect this was E layer but whether it was multi hop Es or some kind of chordal E layer I can’t tell.
Certainly Es was very good in Europe last evening with about 700+ spots of my 6W FT8 from all over Europe.
My 6W FT8 was spotted by 6 stations in the USA using the vertical omni and I spotted multiple stations on RX. See map showing the stations spotted here on the omni - quite a few!!
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