15m FT8 with 4W and the indoor loop

Since 1300z, I have been on 15m FT8. No spots given or received yet. 

UPDATE 1430z:  No spots still on RX or TX. I may try 20m FT8.

Solar Cycle 25

According to spaceweather.com, solar cycle 25 has started.  At the moment it is hard to believe as we have had no sunspots for several weeks. 

The latest NASA/NOAA predictions show the next cycle just a tiny bit better than the last one. They are forecasting a weak cycle and peak.

See https://www.weather.gov/news/201509-solar-cycle

See also https://blogs.nasa.gov/solarcycle25/

Village magazine - NOT amateur radio

Although I don't think that this has been posted before please accept my apologies if it has! Since 1975 we have had a village magazine free every 2 months. It is a mix of local news and adverts. 

Our political leaders

Certainly in the UK, Russia, Belarus and the USA it would appear our leaders are out of touch with reality. I am not a political animal, but it would help if they were honest. Honesty and the ability to admit mistakes seems in very short supply.

As mentioned before, I find it very hard indeed to find anyone in politics these days who is there for anything other than their vested self interests. We desperately need real leaders with backbone and integrity. 

Oh, there's another pig flying by......

Beach Huts - NOT amateur radio

 

These colourful beach huts were photographed earlier in the week at Sheringham,  Norfolk. We spent 5 nights at Sheringham.

2m FT8 (10W and big-wheel omni antenna)

For about an hour I have been on 2m FT8 with 10W to the big-wheel omni antenna. 50 stations in 7 countries have already spotted me. It is now 0955z.  

On 2m FT8 RX 36 stations in 6 countries spotted the furthermost being DL3TW (655km) not far from Denmark. One G QSO so far.

UPDATE 1211z:  67 stations in 10 countries have spotted me with 2 QSOs. On RX 57 stations in 8 countries spotted. 2m dead?

Joint Zoom meeting

Last evening, the Cambridge and Antrim clubs held an informal meeting and quiz by Zoom. It was a resounding success. 

One of the positives of lockdown is the proof that clubs can come together even though they are miles apart. Someone from the Antrim club mentioned that they had had a speaker from the USA on a recent Zoom meeting. 

Sunspots - Wednesday September 16th 2020

 Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0. A=7 and K=0.

2m FT8

My 10W to the big-wheel omni on 2m has been spotted by 31 stations already (after about 20 minutes) in 6 countries. So far, just one Welsh station spotted on RX.

Although this could be aircraft scatter, I suspect some other sort of scatter as it seems to work at almost any time. 

UPDATE 2140z:  59 stations in 10 countries have spotted my 10W to the big-wheel 2m omni today.  Now QRT. Although not shown on PSKreporter, the most distant station copied was in Sweden.

Home again

For the last few days we have been in north Norfolk on holiday. I am about to turn on 2m FT8. 

2m activity contest results published

The 2m UKAC activity contest results for September have been published. In the low power section I came 62nd out of 204, despite being on for under an hour with an omni antenna. 

Zoom quiz

This evening the Cambridge and Antrim radio clubs are joining forces by Zoom for a quiz at 1830z. This is one of the positives of the current odd times as people are brought together. Certainly I have seen far more lectures by the Cambridge club by Zoom than I would have if I had had to journey into Cambridge at night. 

Simple pleasures - NOT amateur radio

When in Norfolk we eat at the Old Reading Room in Kelling. This is a second hand bookshop and tea room. The food is nothing special, but it has been run by the same people for many years. These are simple Norfolk folk who are just themselves. One of the pleasures is it never changes. 

Sunspots - Tuesday September 15th 2020

 Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0. A=11 and K =3.

Old fashioned seaside holiday - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows the ice-cream my wife bought for just £1 in Cromer earlier. 

Cromer Crab Lunch - NOT amateur radio

Lunch today was Cromer crab as the photo shows. It was very good. 

Solar predictions

The forecasts for the next solar cycle maximum varies from smaller than the last cycle to a huge high! All we can say is no-one really knows. I hope it is a decent one. 

Narrow band TV

We have a very diverse hobby and there is only so much we can enjoy. One of my interests, although I have never tried it, is narrow band TV. This is how the first TV was sent with 30 lines on ordinary radio channels. These days there are digital scan converters to make NBTV from wideband signals. There certainly used to be a net on 80m where NBTV was sent. I suspect there are systems and software that allows NBTV to be watched on a PC. 

Warning! NOT amateur radio

This photo appeared as a FB memory today. It is 10 years old. I remember being amused at the time and thinking people at the time would be pleased they did not drink!! :-) 

Gnarled tree - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows a tree in Sheringham Country Park yesterday. The red berries are on a different plant. 

Still no sunspots!

For several weeks now we have had no sunspots. By now I was expecting a few. It is not uncommon for this to happen, but we have seen no significant unturn yet. 

Where I come from - NOT amateur radio

This aerial photo shows where I was brought up as a child - Salcombe, Devon. 

Sunspots - Monday September 14th 2020

 Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=6 and K=3.

Beginning of the end?

According to Southgate News, the Brazilian authorities are considering abolishing all exams for radio amateurs. I think they are treating amateur radio as CB. I can see this happening around the world. From an administrative perspective you can understand that amateur radio is too much hassle. 

North Norfolk Railway NOT amateur radio

A walk today took us to Waybourne station on the North Norfolk Railway. This was a 4.4 mile walk though Sheringham Park. We heard steam trains running. 

Sunspots - Sunday September 13th 2020

 Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0 still. A=5 and K=1. 

What a long way we've come

When I was a teenager I wanted a Codar AT5. This was a 160m and 80m 12W AM TX. Today the IC-705 is about the same size and covers 160m to 70cm transceive with all modes, plus D-star, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and much more. The AT5 is featured on my main website. 

Baconsthorpe Castle Norfolk - NOT amateur radio

Just outside the sleepy village of Baconsthorpe in Norfolk is this hidden gem - Baconsthorpe Castle. It is about half a mile north of the village down a tatty farm track. There was hardly anyone there! It is maintained by English Heritage. 

Blickling Norfolk - NOT amateur radio

Today we visited Blickling Hall in Norfolk. It is owned by the National Trust and has extensive gardens and a lake. 

IARU preparation for WRC 2023

The IARU is already getting ready for the next World Radio Conference in 2023. It would be good if the first steps were taken leading up to an allocation at 8m.

See https://iaru-r1.org/

 

Sunspots - Saturday September 12th 2020

Still no sunspots! Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0 still. By now I was expecting some sunspots. A=3 and K=2.

Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk - NOT amateur radio

Felbrigg Hall remains closed, but the gardens, grounds, café and toilets were all open. The photo shows the plants mostly in the walled garden. 

North Norfolk Railway - NOT amateur radio

This must be aa very British thing, but we have loads of preserved railways mostly run by volunteers. The NNR has trains running from Sheringham to Holt. At £35 each for the round trip, I will give it a miss! 

Towers and beams

We have a very diverse hobby. My "thing" is getting around the world with simple, low power gear and simple wire antennas. Luckily we are all different and different aspects appeal to different people. Some like chasing DX and like high power, towers and big beams. My neighbours would have a fit! 

10m WSPR TX

A number of years ago I designed and made this very simple TX for 10m WSPR based on low cost GQRP Club crystals on 14.060MHz. If you have suitable crystals you could easily duplicate it. There is still plenty of WSPR on 10m. If you want more power just add more PA transistors in parallel! 

On my main website is the circuit (untried as I recall because of my stroke) of the full transceive version. 

Castle Acre - NOT amateur radio

This is a delightful village on the way to North Norfolk. We stopped here for a coffee and bite to eat. 

Sunspots - Friday September 11th 2020

 Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 0. A=2 and K=1. 

Rose Crescent - NOT amateur radio

Rose Crescent is a car free street in Cambridge. Usually it is thronged with foreign visitors at this time of year. This year many are staying away. It still looks good. 

Sunspots - Thursday September 10th 2020

 Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=1 and K=0.

Covid-19 videos - NOT amateur radio

Some months ago I was recommended the YouTube videos made by Dr John Campbell as a good source of data on Covid-19. Although I have only watched some, these do seem to be a good place to find decent data. As an example see the latest video.

 

17m FT8 RX

At the moment (0812z) I am on 17m FT8 RX using the small indoor loop antenna. One spot of a station in European Russia so far RA9DZ (3795km).

UPDATE 0952z:  13 stations spotted so far with RW0CR (8024km) in the Far East as best DX.

UPDATE 1837z:  42 stations in 4 continents spotted today on 17m FT8 RX so far.

UPDATE 2052z: 50 stations in 4 continents spotted on 17m FT8 RX in the last day. QRT soon.

D-star internet access?

OK, I admit my ignorance. 

My question is, "can I access D-star using a computer only?". 

At present I have no D-star equipped radios and was wondering if, like Echolink, one can access it using a computer? If you know the answer, please let me know. 

As far as I know for DMR this is not possible.

Hard times ahead?

For a long time I have expressed my concern about the future of our hobby. One of the first things could be dealers stopping adverts. This may already be happening (see link). 

With fewer adverts, national magazines will struggle. Amateurs will (on average) get older still and buy fewer radios. More dealers will close. Some will leave the amateur market. Magazines will get fewer and those that remain will be smaller.

The very nature of our hobby will change. It has already started.

One thing to be aware of is warranties. If a company ceases trading will warranties still be valid?

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/september/waters-and-stanton-advertising.htm#.X1imeWjYq00

Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

A few days ago we went to Cambridge shopping. Compared with normal there are few foreign visitors. Streets that are normally busy with Far Eastern visitors are quiet. Let's hope this get back to normal in 2021.

North Norfolk Railway - NOT amateur radio

One of my Facebook memories today was this photo of 11 years ago at the North Norfolk Railway in Sheringham. It shows my wife with one of our grandchildren who becomes a teenager in a few weeks. 

Sunspots - Wednesday September 9th 2020

 Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=1.

Decorating - NOT amateur radio

We are having 3 rooms decorated. Our intention is to do a few rooms every year. The worst thing is clearing things away in readiness like all the photo albums shown in the photo.

432MHz activity contest

Every month there is an activity contest on 432MHz (UKAC). Activity is mainly SSB. Running 10W to my 2m big-wheel omni for an hour I managed 6 QSOs as shown on the map.  This is a friendly contest.

After an hour I had enough according to my voice!

137kHz transverter

A few moments ago I found this photo of my 137kHz TX transverter. It must date from 2012.  ERP at the time was 140uW, although the transverter put out about 24W in to 50 ohms. The antenna was not very efficient. Mind you, it proves that even <1mW ERP can span useful ranges.

20m FT8

Overnight I left the 20m FT8 RX on. There were no spots during the night. Since breakfast there had been 10 spots of eastern European stations at 0648z. Still using the indoor loop antenna. 

UPDATE 1245z:  So far today, 110 stations spotted with 2 in the USA.