At about 0820z, I turned on my 10m FT8 system. At first I was on TX of a very short while, but now am RX only. Nobody copied me. On RX, at 0831z, 3 stations have been spotted, with the furthermost ES5QA (1753km).
UPDATE 1411z: 103 stations spotted so far today on 10m FT8 RX.
Yesterday's University of the Third Age lecture was by a Cambridge professor on the ethical reasons for a basic wage. It was very good.
Perhaps surprisingly, trials around the world have shown that this increases people willing to work and makes sound economic sense. The professor was Guy Standing, who is well respected across the world.
We are lucky to have a huge selection of courses in Cambridge.
Next week the speaker will be Jonathan Porritt.
8 stations spotted me today on 10m WSPR with my 500mW WSPR beacon by W5OLF.
Recently, I attended a University of the Third Age lecture on China. There is little doubt that China will once again become a major world power in the 21st century.
There is always a tendency to judge China by western standards. In many ways we question their records on human rights. At the same time it was the UK that started the opium wars, and gun crime and treatment of ex-slaves in the USA is hardly great!
We have to be very careful not to judge by our western standards: we have been, and still are, far from perfect. Culturally, China differs from us in many ways. The Chinese are far from perfect, but so are we in the west.
It would be good if we could all strive for a better world, but not preaching as if we are perfect, when we in the west are not.
My favourite website for solar data usually updates early in the month. The last I heard was the forecast for the next solar peak was slightly better than the last peak. We seem to be slightly ahead of predictions. Solar activity forecasting is becoming better as time goes by, but predictions vary wildly.
This is a band I have not tried with the Wellgood active RX loop, so I am giving it a try. It has been on about 15 minutes and so far 39 stations spotted on RX. As far as I can tell, it works well.
UPDATE 1107z: 124 stations spotted with the furthermost BG0CHC (6142km).
UPDATE 1927z: 605 stations spotted today om 17m FT8 RX with the Wellgood active loop.
As an experiment I was on 137kHz WSPR overnight with the Wellgood active loop RX antenna, but spotted nobody!!
At the moment I am on 137kHz WSPR with the Wellgood active loop. It will stay on overnight. It would be a miracle if I copy anything! As usual, lots of stations on RX, but very few on TX.
UPDATE 2044z: Still no spots, although I am not surprised.
For a very long time I have been puzzled by scale. One the one hand the universe seems immensely vast. On the other hand at the atomic scale things are immensely small. We experience things at our scale.
What I wonder is this: does something link these two? Is the universe actually within us? Our brains cannot begin to comprehend, but our thinking about both the macro and micro scales has radically changed in 200 years.
In another 200 years people may look back at us in amazement.
See https://burwellmuseum.org.uk/ .
Every few weeks I give an update on activity levels on the narrowband transponder on this satelllite by looking at the web SDR at Goonhilly Downs in Cornwall, UK. Activity levels were low when I looked at 1100z today. Activity levels can change very quickly, but remains well below capacity. There is plenty of space.
At the moment I am on 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW W5OLF beacon. Two spots by local G4KPX (14km) only so far.
UPDATE 1120z: Plenty of spots from G4KPX, but nobody else yet.
I see it also supports beacon modes like WSPR. It is tiny.
They are also working on a tiny digital transceiver. I hope they make a 10m version. These days I mainly use FT8 and WSPR.
See https://www.qrp-labs.com/qcxmini.html .
UPDATE 1647z: Just received a reply to my query. Hans is planning a version for the higher HF bands, but wants to catch up on the current version first! Parts supply is very difficult recently.
My gear has been on for about 40 minutes. At 1008z 67 stations had been spotted on RX with the furthermost ZS5TC (9604km).
Since about 1840z, I QSYed from 15m to 160m FT8 using the Wellgood active loop on the shack window. It is now 1852z and so far 25 stations have been spotted with the furthermost ES5MG (1786km).
UPDATE 1915z: So far this evening 46 stations spotted with the furthermost EA7HY (1829km).
UPDATE 2008z: 68 stations spotted so far with the best DX UT1FT (2204km).
UPDATE 2217z: 130 stations spotted.
In the past, I got lots of information from Clint KA7EOI's Optical Pages, that have many links. One of the most sensitive receivers by K3KCP was linked to from Clint's optical pages.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/optical-nanowaves/over-the-horizon .
My 15m FT8 RX with the active Wellgood RX loop on the window was turned on at 1006z. So far today (at 1217z) 248 stations spotted on RX with the furthermost YD1FRU (11796km).
One of the joys of retirement is learning for fun. One of my blanks is early medieval history, so I am doing a University of the Third Age course on Medieval History.
We are now well through the autumn term, so I thought it would be a good thing to make a note of the main things that I have recently been made aware of. Not all relate to Medieval History.
As 10m was poor here, I QSYed 30m FT8 RX, which I had not yet tried on the Wellgood active loop. I QSYed at about 1527z. So far, 18 stations spotted (all EU) at 1520z.
UPDATE 1803z: 77 stations spotted.
UPDATE 1952z: 92 stations spotted.
At about 1230z, I QSYed to 10m FT8 RX with the indoor Wellgood active loop. No stations spotted as yet.
UPDATE 1510z: Still no spots on the Wellgood active loop. Now QRT on 10m. Not sure if this is conditions or the loop NF being too high.
Last night the Cambridge Radio Club (CDARC) has another very successful Zoom talk. This time it was about sunspots and given by Martin G3ZAY who has written the HF column in RadCom for some years. Being on Zoom we were joined by a member in Canada. I am a great fan of Zoom lectures, which are far better than I ever expected.
Cambridge has one. I think it is now a brass rubbing centre.
So far today, 276 stations spotted on RX with the furthermost VK4ZC (16530km) in Australia.
Even as high as 15m (21MHz), the Wellgood loop on the shack window works really well and I have made no attempt whatsoever to optimise it. It is just stuck on with Blutak! I shall have to try it on 10m!
UPDATE 1225z: 359 stations spotted on 15m FT8 RX.
Since about 1935z, I have been on 160m FT8 RX with the Wellgood active loop on the shack window. Furthermost is UX0KR (1795km). So far, 37 stations have been spotted. It is now 1944z.
As you can see, I have used this quite a bit in the last week. It was designed by George Smart M1GEO after he accidentally cooked his Wellbrook active loop!
Overall, it works very well, but I wonder if it is less good with weak signals on the higher HF bands. Mostly, EU stations are copied, but where the RX noise figure dominates, maybe it is less effective?
See https://www.george-smart.co.uk/projects/wellgood_loop/ .
It is now 0913z. I am monitoring 20m FT8 RX will the Wellgood active loop antenna. So far, 33 stations have been spotted.
UPDATE 0927z: 62 stations spotted.
UPDATE 1616z: 620 stations spotted on 20m FT8 RX with the Wellgood loop.
As 15m is getting pretty quiet here, I have QSYed to 40m FT8 RX using the Wellgood active loop antenna. I QSYed at 1933z. At 1945z, 26 stations spotted. Furthermost is CU3AK (2586km) in the Azores.
If you know who sells the "real deal", please let me know.
At around £63 this looks excellent value, especially as it can also be used as a signal generator.
