ATU

 This manual ATU is available from AliExpress at low cost. This video shows it in action.

Sunspots - Sunday November 23rd

 Solar flux is 119 and the SSN 74.  A=6 and K=1.

8m FT8 receive (Saturday)

My 8m dipole was taken down some months ago. This afternoon, just for fun, I am on 8m FT8 receive with my end-fed long wire. I have no idea at all how this works on 8m. Let's see if I get any spots. Also, I have no idea how sensitive the IC-705 is at 8m.

UPDATE 1621z:  G8VER (66km) spotted. It works.

I remain extremely disappointed that so many PTTs seem to have a very negative attitude to 8m. A few PTTs have granted access to 8m, some for a limited time. As far as I know there have been NO reports of interference caused by those granted access. I object to having to pay to do valuable research especially when my own PTT (OFCOM) seems so negative.

UPDATE 1935z:  I shall probably try 8m FT8 RX again tomorrow.

Bullies?

It appears to me that Ukraine is "between a rock and a hard place". 

It looks like they are being offered a very poor deal over their heads by Russia and the USA. 

If they do not accept the USA is likely to stop intelligence sharing and just walk away.

The world seems to be run by selfish individuals who are more interested in their own enrichment rather than that of their citizens. 

Where are the leaders who put the interests of the common person ahead of rich billionaires?

10m 500mW WSPR (Saturday)

My beacon was turned on at about 1008z. 

UPDATE 1932z: 14 stations so far spotting me. See table and map.

6m 5W FT8 (Saturday)

 My gear was turned on at about 1010z.

UPDATE 1014z:  So far,  6 English stations have spotted me.

Saturday plans

Today will probably be a repeat of late yesterday with 500mW 10m WSPR and 5W 6m FT8, but I have not decided yet.

Sunspots - Saturday November 22nd

 Solar flux is 121 and the SSN 75. A=8 and K=1. 

10m 500mW WSPR (Friday)

 

My beacon was turned on mid-afternoon.

UPDATE 2200z:  Spotted by 6 stations. Now QRT.

6m 5W FT8 (Friday)

My gear was turned on mid-afternoon.

UPDATE 2150z: 19 stations have spotted me. QRT. See map.

View from the kitchen

We had our first heavy frost this morning. It was cold, but it is now sunny. We are lucky to look out of the kitchen and lounge on to a windmill and village museum.

See https://burwellmuseum.org.uk/ .

Hope Cove, Devon, UK

My family can be traced continuously back to the mid 1500s in this Devon village. Most days I look at the webcam at the Cottage Hotel there to see the weather.

See https://hopecove.com/the-cottage-hotel/webcam .

10m 2W FT8 (Friday)

My gear was turned on just before breakfast.

UPDATE  1520z:  249 stations have spotted me in 5 continents.  Now QSYed to 6m FT8.

The nature of consciousness

We live in a world where of space and time where time seems to flow from the past into the future. What  if time is an illusion and everything we have ever experienced is always there? We have a lot to learn!!

Friday plans

 Today I shall probably try 10m FT8 at 2W.

Sunspots - Friday November 21st

 Solar flux is 121 and the SSN 51. A=7 and K=2.

6m 5W FT8 (Thursday)

My gear was turned on at about 1300z.

UPDATE  1825z:  18 stations have spotted me. The furthest is ZS4TX/6 (8766km). See map.

10m 500mW WSPR (Thursday)

My beacon was turned on at about 1300z.

UPDATE 1646z: 8 stations spotting me with several in the USA.

Thursday plans

 Later I hope to go on 6m 5W FT8 and 500mW WSPR .

London theatre trip yesterday

 

As mentioned before, we  went to London with our theatre group by coach.

Sunspots - Thursday November 20th

 Solar flux is 123 and the SSN 60. A=3 and K=2.

London trip

We went to London on a coach with our village theatre group to see the musical "The Devil Wears Prada". The coach dropped us and picked us up quite close to the theatre. It was a good, happy, performance. We always have time before the performance to get a meal.

No radio today

 As were in London much of the day, I was not on the radio today, but hope to be tomorrow. Probably 6m 5W FT8 and 10m 500mW WSPR.

Kierkgaard quote about life

 There is a famous quote by the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard about life. It is pretty profound.

"Life can only be understood backwards. But must be lived forwards."

AI voice?

As many know, I had a stroke in 2013 that left me with a totally poor voice that many find hard to understand. Before my stroke I made quite a few YouTube videos, so I have quite a few samples of what I used to sound like.

My wife has suggested I use these to create an AI voice of me as I once sounded. I have never tried AI for this, but it sounds a good idea. The first stage will be to collect some audio samples from YouTube and then recreate my old voice using an AI tool.

If you know of suitable (preferably free) tools,  please let me know as soon as possible.

Sunspots Wednesday November 19th

 Solar flux is 120 and the SSN 66. A=5 and K=0.

More from Times Radio

This video was on YouTube earlier.  It includes a piece about the disappearance of Sergei Lavrov who is the Russia Foreign Minister who seems to have "dropped off the radar" in recent weeks. Apparently he is very bright and has been a real supporter of President Putin of Russia.

Search engine gripe

Have you noticed that when you search for something often the site at the top of the search (which many people click first) is NOT the main site you are looking for?  

Unless you are very careful, you are linked to some other site. I noticed this recently when I tried to donate to a charity. The first site was nothing at all to do with the site I was after.

Today, I was looking for another site and the first link (presumably paid for) was nothing at all to do with the site I was after.   Personally I find this morally wrong and sneaky.

AI and data centres

There is no doubt that AI consumes hugs amounts of power. We have some way to go to match the memory and processing power of the human brain. I am sure this will get better with time although we are a long way away at present. 

So far I have been very impressed with Gemini AI that renders old black and white photos in colour in just seconds.

This creates a moral dilemma: we all want the benefits of AI without its power-hungry nature.

10m 2W FT8 (Tuesday)

My gear was turned on at about 1020z.

UPDATE 1832z:  So far, spotted by 354 stations. See map.

FT710 and IC7300mk2

ICOM has announced the mark 2 version of the IC7300, which has sold well across the world. 100,000 units have been sold. 

The FT-710 scores very highly on the Sherwood tests. I do not think the latest ICOM rig has been tested, although the mark 1 was somewhat lower down. For most people most of the time these numbers are academic.

Both rigs cover up to 70MHz. I know the FT710 can be widebanded without uncasing. I am not sure about the IC7300mk2.

The Yaesu radio is considerably less expensive in the UK and comes with a Yaesu cashback. I think Yaesu offers a 3 year warranty.

I am sure both are good radios.

Sunspots - Tuesday November 18th

 Solar flux is 122 and the SSN 45. A=11 and K=2.

Another day off the radio

 As I was in Cambridge most of the day, I decided not to go on the radio today.

Sunspots - Monday November 17th

Solar flux is 122 and the SSN 66. A=12 and K= 2.

VHF magnetic loop antenna

VK3YE is a real experimenter. This is a recent video describing the use of a tin can as a VHF loop antenna.

Times Radio on YouTube

Most days I try to watch TimesRadio on YouTube.  I find watching these most informative. They tend to interview lots of different people who have views on the international affairs.

Day off radio

 This morning we went shopping and our son and grandson came for lunch, so I am having a day off the radio.

6m 5W FT8 yesterday

In all, 20 stations spotted me on 6m QRP FT8 yesterday.  See map.  This included several continental Europeans although I am not sure of the propagation mechanism.

Sunspots - Sunday November 16th

Solar flux is 132 and the SSN 97. A=9 and K=3.

10m 500mW WSPR (Saturday)

My beacon was turned on about 1645z.

UPDATE 1940z:  Spotted by 20 stations.