Cambridge art gallery window

This painting was in the window yesterday. It captures the atmosphere. 

10m 200mW WSPR TX (Tuesday)

My beacon was turned on at 0926z.

UPDATE 0940z:  2 stations spotting me (EA8 and OH)

UPDATE 1040z:  Spotted by 5 stations. See map by VK7JJ.

UPDATE 1236z: Spotted by 11 stations. With 6 spots so far, I have concluded that MO04SW is a Russian SWL.

UPDATE 1529z:   Spotted by 44 stations including many in North and South America. See map by VK7JJ.

UPDATE 1951z:   Spotted by 56 stations. QRT soon.

Sunspots - Tuesday February 3rd

 Solar flux is 174 and the SSN 131. A=6 and K=1.

Portable operation

Many get lots of pleasure from operating in the great outdoors. 

In some countries the Elecraft KH1 is popular. As far as I know, this is not sold in Europe including the UK. It is also very expensive. 

People have had great success on CW using just a small whip antenna on CW. I think it has a built-in auto ATU too. If you operate CW, it means you can be operational in a few seconds.

See https://elecraft.com/products/kh1-transceiver

Soon be spring

These aconites were seen at Anglesey Abbey a few days ago.

You want cheering up?

 

This was found earlier. After all this dull and wet weather in the UK we need cheering up!!

10m 200mW WSPR TX (Monday)

My beacon was turned on just before breakfast.

UPDATE 1634z:  44 stations have spotted me including North and South America.

UPDATE 1845z:   55 stations have spotted me.

Sunspots - Monday February 2nd

 Solar flux is 162 and the SSN 97. A=4 and K=2.

AI historical reconstructions

 AI sometimes gets a bad press.  

In the case of historical reconstruction videos some are very good. Occasionally the AI get things very wrong e.g. the reconstruction showing Edinburgh in the 1880s with British Railways engines post 1948!

On the whole I am very impressed.

6m 5W FT8 (Sunday)

 My gear was turned on late morning.

UPDATE  1616z:  Spotted by 24 stations  See map.

10m 200mW WSPR (Sunday)

 My beacon was turned on around breakfast.

UPDATE 2021z:  Spotted by 48 stations including quite a few in the USA. See map by Phil VK7JJ.

6m FT8 yesterday

Yesterday was quite a good day with spots by 49 stations across Europe spotting my 5W to the omni vertical. See map.

Sunspots - Sunday February 1st

 Solar flux is 141 and the SSN 126. A=5 and K=1.

The future of our hobby

For a long time I have expressed my concerns for the future of amateur radio. 

The things that appealed to us years ago no longer appear as the magic they did to us long ago. 

Various suggestions have been made to correct this and get more people into the hobby and retain these. It is very hard to generalise and in some places the hobby is growing. 

It was interesting to read on Amateur Radio Weekly one person's "take" on this.

See https://ke9v.net/2026/01/24/your-fault.html

In my view, despite everything, I expect amateur radio  to be very different in less than 20 years.

6m 5W FT8 (Saturday)

 My IC-705 at 5W to the V2000 omni was turned on late morning.

UPDATE 1525z:  spotted by 11 stations with the best OE6JCG (1256km).

Sunshine!!

 

Apart from the first few days, we’ve had a miserable January with rain and dull weather. Today the sun shone, so we enjoyed a walk.

Internet Archive

Just out of curiosity, I put my callsign into the Internet Archive to see what appeared. It looks like my YouTube videos are archived along with my Scrapbook.

See https://archive.org/details/sbjuly22/page/22/mode/2up

Everything I have ever done is free to be shared. 

10m 200mW WSPR (Saturday)

My beacon was turned on at 1123z.

UPDATE 1155z: Spotted by EA8BFK (2880km).

Sunspots - Saturday January 31st

 Solar flux is 128 and the SSN 112. A=10 and K=2.

Long UK winter?

Apart from a few sunny, cold, days in early January in the UK, it has been dull, rainy and miserable. This year more than most, I am looking forward to lighter evenings and better weather. 

All seasons have their beauty, but I am fed up with this misery!

The birds seem to have got the message, with several singing this morning. Things are heading in the right direction in the northern hemisphere.

The photo shows the windmill next door this afternoon when the sun came out. The photo was through the lounge window.

6m 5W FT8 (Friday)

 My gear was turned on at about 1020z.

UPDATE 1136z: So far, spotted by 7 English stations and 1 in Wales.

UPDATE 1211z:  Spotted by 10 stations. See map.

UPDATE 1352z:  Spotted by 11 stations.

The Trump Report

This was an interview with a Politico journalist about some alleged private reports from EU leaders on President Trump.

10m 200mW WSPR (Friday)

My beacon was turned on at about 0730z.

UPDATE 0926z:  5 stations spotting me with the best R9SA (3658km).

UPDATE 1220z:  Now spotted by 9 stations with the best HZ1SF (4939km). No stations from "across the pond" reporting me yet.

UPDATE 1604z:  Now 39 stations have spotted me with several in North and South America. See table.

Sydney-Sussex College, Cambridge, UK

We live about 15km from Cambridge and go into the city free on the bus a couple of times a week. This was Sydney- Sussex College earlier in the week in the sunshine.

Banggood products

 In the past I have bought a few products from this company and have not had any issues. 

The goods originate in China.  

If the goods have been copied or cloned I avoid them.  Usually the goods are low cost and arrive very fast. 

Up to now I have never had to pay any duty. Usually the price is so low that even if they were faulty you would simply write it off and not bother to complain.

Sunspots - Friday January 30th

 Solar flux is 129 and the SSN 117. A=22 and K=3.

Increased air activity?

We live about 15km from airbases used by the USAF. In the last couple of days these appears to be an increase in air traffic.  

In the shack

My radio shack overlooks the back garden. 

Last weekend was the Big Garden Birdwatch organised by the RSPB in the UK. 

The aim is to watch your "patch" (in my case the back garden) for an hour and record the highest number of bird types seen. 

It is done annually by millions and gives a good snapshot of birdlife in the UK. 

It was interesting how few small birds were seen. 

This is my worst year and I have been doing this for many years.

Clickbait

In recent years, YouTube has migrated to the TV screen. I guess there are now millions of things to entice us including some full length films and some historical recreations made using AI.  Some of these are very good.

Unless you can be absolutely sure of origins, it is now safer to assume it is made using AI and very well might be untrue.

Many YouTube items are clickbait. The creator gets paid by clicks on the content. Often the voice is created using AI.

Caveat emptor.

10m 200mW WSPR (Thursday)

My beacon was turned on at 0910z.

UPDATE 0945z:  11 spots by EA8BFK (2880km). At times he was getting my 200mW WSPR beacon at incredible strengths suggesting that even if I was running just microwatts he might have copied me!

UPDATE 1436z:   37 stations have spotted me including many in the USA and Canada.

UPDATE 1706z: 39 stations have spotted me me. QRT soon.

Is the USA putting itself out of world trade?

 Although traditionally the US has been a very important market, it would appear that many countries are increasingly looking to each other rather than the USA.   

It could take many years to happen, but at the moment the USA seems to be "kicking itself in the teeth".

Cambridge in the sun

In the last few weeks, the sun has been in short supply. This was St John's College in Cambridge, UK. Yesterday we had some sun, even though it was cold.

6m 5W FT8 yesterday

 

Only 9 English stations spotted me yesterday. See map.

Sunspots - Thursday January 29th

 Solar flux is 133 and the SSN 135.  A=24 and K=3.

Mondays at 8pm RSGB video talks

There was a recent talk about sunspot cycle 25 by Steve Nichols G0KYA. As the RSGB does not allow the video to be viewed on other websites, please find the RSGB's channel on YouTube.

136kHz experiments

Before my 2013 stroke, I did some experiments on 136kHz using modes like QRSS3 and WSPR.  As my garden was small, huge antennas and ground systems were just not possible , so I wanted to see what was possible with QRP and small antennas. I got as far as the Netherlands with uW ERPs with QRSS3.

Things might be harder now with increasing noise floors, especially in urban areas which might limit what some can hear.

This was my weak signal spotted by G3WCB at 101km. I think G3WCB is now in Devon.

10m 200mW WSPR (Wednesday)

My beacon was turned on just after 0900z.

UPDATE 0916z:  Just 4 spots from EA8BFK (2880km).

UPDATE 1611z:  28 spots of me. See table.

Sunspots- Wednesday January 28th

 Solar flux is 144 and the SSN 100. A=10 and K=3.

Reverse Beacon Network

If this has been on already, please accept my apologies. 

If you are a CW user, this is very useful, even when your CQ goes unanswered. By monitoring the RBN you can see where your signal is reaching.

Nothing really changes

 About 8 years ago we visited Pompeii. I was struck by how similar the people were to us now in many ways with cafes, street food, take-aways, etc.

The quote in today's Knowledge was by the Roman Marcus Aurelius about 2000 years ago:

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth"