Original 10m Chirpy transceiver?

Looking through my old photos, I came across this one. 

I think it is the original Chirpy 10m transceiver. 

This was later replaced by the Lesser Chirpy as it suffered far less from chirp as if you can't guess from the name! 😉 

Amateur radio projects book?

Some time ago someone suggested I write a book summarising all my amateur radio projects. 

Sorry to disappoint, but this is very unlikely. Writing a book is a lot of work. All my projects are on my website and G3XBM video channel. 

It is nice idea to compile a book, but quite a commitment.

UPDATE 1500z: I didn't realise quite how many projects I had done (at least 25). Maybe I should do a book.  Maybe this should be my winter project?  😉

More Cambridge Market - NOT amateur radio

This was another view of Cambridge Market yesterday.

15m FT8 RX (Saturday)

Since about 0908z, I have been on 15m FT8 RX with the Wellgood active loop. It is now 0949z and, so far, 130 stations have been spotted with the furthermost E25ETT (9673km) in Thailand.

UPDATE 1327z:  521 stations spotted with the furthermost ZL4AS (18995km) on 15m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1730z:   612 stations spotted today. QSY soon.

Sub 9kHz amateur radio

In 2010 I managed to see DK7FC on 8.970kHz using my earth-electrode antenna in the ground. Notice this took hours! Just a faint line. After this, several signals across Europe were copied. Note that each marker is 0.1Hz!! Very narrow bandwidths, very good stability and long integration times are essential.

South Devon in winter

Many see holiday locations at good times of the year. This was some years ago in winter. 

Sunspots - Saturday December 4th 2021

 Solar flux is 85 and the SSN 29. A=8 and K=3.

160m FT8 RX (Friday)

It is now 1958z and I recently QSYed to 160m FT8 RX using the indoor Wellgood active loop antenna. So far,  45 stations spotted. with the furthermost RA3GDV (2654km).

10m FT8 RX (Friday)

 At 0923z, my gear was turned on. At 0930z 16 stations spotted so far.

UPDATE 1750z: 162 stations spotted today.

OFCOM and protecting radio astronomy

OFCOM is consulting about how best to protect radio astronomy just below 26GHz. See the OFCOM website for details.

Best ever QSO?

My best ever QSO was probably in 2007 when I had a 1W CW QSO on 6m (50MHz) with a station in the USA by E layer propagation. It was a very good 6m opening. My antenna was just the V2000 vertical omni. The other station was well equipped, but we had a solid QSO and I have the QSL card to prove it.

Burgh Island , Devon - NOT amateur radio

This is a photo of Burgh Island in Devon taken a few years ago. The hotel on the island has had some famous visitors including a future king and the authoress Agatha Christie. 

The island is connected to the mainland by a narrow sand strip at low tide. At other times access to the island is by a sea tractor made locally.

136/137kHz - which modes?

A few days ago I tried spotting on 137kHz WSPR. Nothing was copied. 

I am wondering what modes are used mostly these days on this band?   Perhaps WSPR is less popular on 137kHz than it once was.

Shack 1970s

The photo shows my "shack" in the late 1970s. It was a desk in a bedroom. Looks like I used a Liner-2 2m SSB rig and an Eddystone EC10 receiver. Between the EC10 and Liner-2 is my VXO controlled 10m TX.

Sunspots - Friday December 3rd 2021

Solar flux is 87 and the SSN 45.   A=10 and K=1 .

OFCOM and terahertz spectrum

OFCOM is seeking views on how best to use spectrum above 100GHz. 

The cynic in me says they are really looking for how to make yet more money from licences. See the OFCOM website for more details. 

Just think a few more 5G licences could bring in a few billions.....What a good way to make a bit more.

Sinclair Micromatic MW reflex RX

These were basically tiny pocket receivers for medium wave broadcast.  I was reminded of this recently. Some were converted to 160m RX picking up AM stations which were quite common in the late 1960s when this kit was available. 

Reflex circuits originated in the valve era when valves were expensive.  Reflex circuits allowed valves to be used as RF and AF amplifiers. The same idea can be used on transistor circuits. Although I have not tried it, this maybe a way of making a 10m AM RX with a narrower bandwidth than a super-regen? Sensitivity should be good.

I have the honour of me being asked by Clive Sinclair for advice!! Yes, he asked me for advice! This was in the 1970s when he was after an antenna for his pocket TV. I can remember this like yesterday. Quite an honour.

Peter has kindly given me permission to use his images.

Solar cycle 25 latest

 At the moment it looks like the current solar cycle (25) will be very similar to the last one and that a big peak is unlikely. At the moment, it is very slightly better than the last one.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/images/comparison_recent_cycles.png .

10m FT8 QRP (Thursday)

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.

UPDATE 1540z:   131 stations spotted so far today.

UPDATE 2230z:  174 stations spotted today.  QRT.

160m FT8 RX overnight

Since early last evening and overnight I was on 160m FT8 RX with the tiny Wellgood loop on the shack window. In all, 276 stations spotted on RX but nothing from the USA. 

U3A lecture about basic wage?

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. 

Sunspots - Thursday December 2nd 2021

Solar flux is 82 and the SSN 37.  A=18 and K=2.

10m FT8 QRP TX (Wednesday)

 8 stations spotted me today on 10m WSPR with my 500mW WSPR beacon by W5OLF.

China - NOT amateur radio

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.

Solar predictions

 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.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

10m QRP WSPR TX

In the last day, my 500mW 10m WSPR signal has been copied by 13 stations as shown. This morning I was getting local spots by G4KPX (14km) and spots again by EA8BFK (2880km).

17m FT8 RX (Wednesday)

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.

Two years ago - NOT amateur radio

 

This was nearby Anglesey Abbey in 2019. As you can tell, the sun was shining.

137kHz WSPR overnight

As an experiment I was on 137kHz WSPR overnight with the Wellgood active loop RX antenna, but spotted nobody!! 

Sunspots - Wednesday December 1st 2021

Solar flux is 90 and the SSN 61.  A=11 and K=4.

137kHz WSPR

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.

Scale - NOT amateur radio

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.

Kindness - NOT amateur radio

We live right next door to our village windmill and museum. We heard today that a very kind man from the USA who was evacuated into our village from London in 1941 has just made a very generous donation to the museum. He is now 88 years old and he still thinks Burwell is the nicest place in the world despite having widely travelled in his lifetime. What's more, one of the museum founders remembers sitting next to him at school!

See https://burwellmuseum.org.uk/ .

Long ago - NOT amateur radio

 

This is how farming was long ago.

Geosynchronous Oscar 100 activity.

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.

15m FT8 RX

At the moment I am on 15m FT8 RX using the Wellgood active loop on the shack window. So far today, after about 35 minutes, 116 stations spotted with the furthermost ZS4JAN (9386km).

UPDATE 1623z:  518 stations spotted on 15m FT8 RX today. Furthermost is VK4DW (14466km),

UPDATE 1857:  530 stations spotted today. Now QRT.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Tuesday)

 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.

Sunspots - Tuesday November 30th 2021

 Solar flux is 90 and the SSN 47. A=9 and K=0.

Cosy - NOT amateur radio

We like our bungalow to be cosy and inviting. It is not "posh", but we like it as it is. 

The photo shows the lounge. We draw the curtains at night.

QCX-mini 5W QRP

Sadly, this is probably beyond my fine motor skills to build these days, but this looks an excellent QRP transceiver. It is not (yet?) available above 17m, but with solar conditions improving, it would not surprise me to see kits for 15,12 and 10m shortly. It is also available built and tested.

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.

10m FT8 RX (Monday)

My gear has been on for about 40 minutes. At 1008z 67 stations had been spotted on RX with the furthermost ZS5TC (9604km). 

UPDATE 1301z:  166 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1626z:  Now QRT. 253 stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX.

Litter pickers - NOT amateur radio

Every Saturday a group of volunteers goes around the village picking up litter. This week it was leaves and not litter. They concentrated on clearing the fallen leaves on a popular walkway called the Causeway. Centuries ago this was the route used by monks going to Ely.

160m FT8 RX overnight

Using the tiny Wellgood active loop stuck to the shack window, 216 stations spotted on RX with the furthermost WA1NGH (5427km) in Connecticut, USA.

Sunspots - Monday November 29th 2021

 Solar flux is 92 and the SSN 53. A=9 and K=4.

160m FT8 RX (Sunday)

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.

Rowan berries - NOT amateur radio

We have several rowan trees in our garden. On some the berries get gobbled up by the birds. Others get left and are still on the trees. I guess different berries taste different and some are not liked and get left. Most leaves have gone, but many still have berries.

Optical communication webpage

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 .

15m FT8 RX (Sunday)

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). 

UPDATE 1749z:  So far today, 608 stations spotted on 15m FT8 RX. Certainly the Wellgood active loop is allowing me to copy all over the world on 15m FT8 RX.

Illuminated tree - NOT amateur radio

 

This is in our local churchyard.

30m FT8 in the last day

In the last day, 155 stations have been spotted on 30m FT8 RX with the Wellgood active loop on the shack window.