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| Stations spotting me on 5W 6m FT8 this evening |
UPDATE 2107z: 116 stations have spotted me. Plenty of Es.. Most of my activity is now on FT8 or WSPR. I blame it on my poor voice, but generally there is a move away from other modes on HF and VHF/UHF. In the end I suspect we are moving into a future in which amateur radio may not exist or be very different. QRT soon.
Wimo has a video on YouTube about the FTX-1 Field. They did this before the radio arrived in Europe. It is quite a decent overview of the product.
It is quite a respectable radio but far too expensive in the UK and, I presume, mainland Europe. It comes without GPS and Bluetooth. If it was £999 or less I might have considered it, but at this utterly stupid price I am afraid, like many, I shall give it a miss.
For a long time I have said Yaesu has lost its way. They make some good products, many of which I have owned, but for some time they have appeared to have been drifting. I have serious concerns about their future in this market. I hope I am very wrong and the FTX-1 drops in price a long way!
These two leaders met in Alaska yesterday. They failed to reach an agreement on peace in Ukraine.
I gather the Ukrainian leader is travelling to Washington for talks with President Trump on Monday. I hope the president treats him better than the last time he went to Washington which won President Trump no friends around the world. It was utterly disgraceful.
We all want peace in Ukraine. I hope a settlement can be reached that is fair to everyone so all think they have won.
In my mind I think something like Germany after WW2 might work: clearly Russia has influence in the east of Ukraine and in Crimea. Maybe (for now) there is Western Ukraine and Eastern Ukraine. In 30 years time things could be very different as in Germany.
Whatever the final outcome Ukraine MUST be involved.
My 1W FT8 has been on since just after breakfast.
UPDATE 1747z: 73 stations have spotted me on 6 continents. 1W FT8 seems quite enough.
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| Stations spotted here on 10m FT8 |
Already some countries have switched off Band II FM radio totally and there are far fewer shortwave stations with English language broadcasts.
Many people do not receive realtime broadcasts preferring to select what they want to receive when they want from services such as iPlayer, Amazon Prime or Netflix. Much of what they want is via the internet rather than “over the air“.
What is clear is that things are changing.
I am not a great fan of EchoLink but chanced upon GB3HN-R which seems to link many repeaters (?) connected by Hublink. Every time I have connected it has been busy.
This peaks tonight I think. Often meteor showers are linked to good VHF propagation due to their ionised trails . Often signals are brief but strong.
Most years we spend a few days with our best man (1971!!) who lives near Liverpool. The photo is Liverpool Lime Street station . I
The second Tuesday in the month is usually the UKAC activity contest run by the RSGB starting at 1900z. Activity on SSB is good.
Last month alone I was supposed to have had about a third of my all time blog visits.
Also yesterday I was supposed to have had far more visits than normal.
Personally, I think this is total garbage.
Many of my best friends are Jewish and I hope I treat every human being the same whatever their faith or none. What happened on October 7th 2023 was despicable.
However, I cannot understand how the UK government still sells arms to Israel and is allegedly training IDF soldiers on UK soil.
I am appalled by the death and destruction in Gaza and, like many in Israel, see no point in carrying on. Hamas is no longer a threat to Israel and the longer the fighting continues the more hated the state of Israel will be around the world.
Also, surely continued fighting will persuade many to hate Israel even more. So, continuation is self-defeating.
Also, why are no journalists allowed into Gaza? Is Israel ashamed?
Although I have doubts it will do much good, OXFAM is organising a petition aimed at stopping the UK supplying arms to Israel. I urge you to sign it.
See https://www.oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-oxfam/end-uk-arms-sales-to-israel/
UPDATE 0749z: It appears over 500 people protesting against genocide in Gaza were arrested at the weekend. Their mistake was to have "I support Palestine Action" on their placards. Palestine Action is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK. A better wording would have been "I oppose genocide in Palestine". I hope all protesters are freed without charge.
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This was me operating /P at 1W SSB on 10m in my mother’s garden in Devon. I recall hearing a 6m beacon in Northern Canada on a whip antenna.
Judging by the hair, it must’ve been years ago!!
There was a lot of panic when the Chinese launched their AI model DeepSeek earlier this year.
The West would like to eavesdrop on countries they think could be a threat. I am sure there is a lot that goes on that most have no knowledge of. Perhaps it's best we don't know.
One thing we can be sure about: every major power is spying!
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My beacon was turned on before breakfast.
UPDATE 2024z: 21 stations have spotted me. The furthest is again V51RS (8481km). QRT now.
My gear was turned on just before breakfast.
UPDATE 2021z: 268 stations have spotted me. I assume this is Es still. Is the Es season longer this year? See map. QRT.
Unsurprisingly, MLS is singing the praises of the new Yaesu FTX-1. They clearly want to sell it, especially to the customers that put down a deposit.
In my view it was seriously over priced in the UK and lacks many features as standard. I decided not to bother.
My beacon has been on since about 1006z.
UPDATE 1435z: 20 stations spotting me by what seems like Es.
One thing is certain: we all die, whether born poor or rich and whatever country we inhabit.
Some with a strong faith will say they know, but most have no idea. Some believe we just die. Others believe we go to heaven or hell. Some believe we are reincarnated. The truth is we have no idea.
As a younger person, our death seems far away. As we get older we are more aware that our time is limited.
There is no way I would be climbing through narrow, dark, wet tunnels deep underground, but I have always been fascinated by underground c...
