160m FT8 RX overnight

317 stations spotted overnight on 160m FT8 RX with the indoor Wellgood loop. Furthermost was UA9MA (4598km) in Omsk. No USA stations last night.

Will it catch on?

This was a Facebook memory from last December. 

Sunspots - Thursday December 9th 2021

 Solar flux is 77 and the SSN 0. A=5 and K=1. 

160m FT8 RX (Wednesday)

 A few moments ago I QSYed to 160m FT8 RX. So far, 48 stations spotted with the indoor Wellgood active antenna.

15m FT8 RX (Wednesday)

Since about 0930z, I have been on 15m FT8 RX will the indoor active loop. So far today, 29 stations already spotted with the furthermost 5Z4VJ (6858km).

UPDATE 1130z:  149 stations spotted so far today on 15m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1900z:   415 stations spotted before I QSYed.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Wednesday)

 Since about 0930z, I have been on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW using the W5OLF 10m WSPR beacon.

UPDATE 1430z: 4 unique stations have spotted me so far today.

Crowded Devon beach 2012 - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows a Devon beach in 2012 on this December day. My brother and I went for a walk around the coast. 

160m FT8 RX overnight

Apart from a short while on 2m (I gave up as there was an activity contest on) I was on 160m FT8 RX with the active loop antenna. In all 177 stations spotted.  One USA station spotted - KA2HTV (4839km). 

Sunspots - Wednesday December 8th 2021

 Solar flux is 79 and the SSN 13. A=5 and K=1.

Active RX loops

Some months ago I swapped my little used X80 multi-band vertical for a Wellgood RX active loop. This is essentially the same as the Wellbrook RX active loop.

I just use mine stuck to the shack window. It cannot even be turned! It has been used from 2200m to 15m. It may even work at 10m, but I have not tried it. The convenience of not having to swap or tune antennas is great. As far as I can tell it is every bit as good as my alternative antennas.

Christmas cards earlier? - NOT amateur radio

Perhaps as we all need cheering up, it seems Christmas cards are arriving earlier this year. I don't think this is my imagination. 

15m FT8 RX (Tuesday)

At about 0950z, I turned on my 15m RX using the Wellgood active loop on the shack window. At 0954z,  27 stations already spotted with the furthermost ZS6AF (9156km).

UPDATE 1434z:  334 stations spotted so far today on 15m FT8 RX (see map).

UPDATE 1727z:  446 stations spotted.

10m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

I keep forgetting that if I an RXing using the Wellgood active loop, my 10m antenna is free and I can go on 10m WSPR TX with the W5OLF 10m WSPR beacon! This puts out 500mW 100% of the time, but randomly moves the TX in the 200Hz WSPR window on every TX period to avoid being clobbered by a strong station. It was turned on about 0950z.

UPDATE 1816z: 3 unique stations have spotted me. I still have some doubts about the authenticity of FY5KE (7110km).

Start them young

This photo may have been on a few months ago. I post in several places and forget! 

It shows one of our grandsons building a radio. He loved it and was good at soldering very quickly. I had forgotten the thrill of hearing stations on something you had built.

10m Tenbox

With 10m again becoming a good DX band, it does not seem right talking about a simple cross-town natterer for 10m!  Mind you 10m is often a daylight DX band and there are plenty of times when it is dark when the band is totally unused.

Derivatives of this simple radio might make an ideal 10m cross-town natterer. Just above 29MHz would be an ideal spot with plenty of space and very low chances of causing anyone else problems. This receiver has heard USA AM stations with just a base loaded whip on the car, although I would not recommend it for serious DX work.

In my mind I see a rig a bit like a tiny Heathkit Twoer (remember these?) with a tunable RX and crystal controlled TX. On a suitable PCB it could make a nice club project. Improvements would include an AF amplifier to drive a loudspeaker and maybe a very simple linear to bring the power up to a few watts of RF.

I cannot imagine the rig costing much more than £10-20. Put it another way, how many cups of coffee or beers will that be?

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10m-am-tenbox .

40m FT8 overnight

Gradually yesterday I went to lower bands ending up on 40m FT8.  In all cases I was using the Wellgood active antenna on the shack window.

In all, 389 stations spotted on 40m FT8 RX with the furthermost YC9FZ (12452km) on Java.

Sunspots - Tuesday December 7th 2021

Solar flux is 80 and the SSN 14.  A=7 and K=1. 

40m FT8 RX (Monday)

Since 1844z, I have been on 40m FT8 RX using the Wellgood active loop. At 1931z, 12 stations had been spotted.

UPDATE 2158z:  62 stations spotted on 40m FT8 RX this evening.

Before our bungalow was built - NOT amateur radio

This photo was taken well before our house was built. Our home (today) is in front of the windmill (see top right). When this photo was taken it was fields. It would be so good to take a peek at what our village was like at several points in the last few thousand years.

More Mildenhall - NOT amateur radio

 

Yesterday, I put a photo of the river at Mildenhall. Here is another.  It shows the swans and ducks swimming towards us hoping to be fed.

17m FT8 RX (Monday)

It is now 1410z and I have been on 17m FT8 RX with the Wellgood active loop for about 30 minutes. So far today, 112 stations spotted (see map).

UPDATE 1447z: 169 stations spotted so far today on 17m FT8 RX. Plenty from the USA.

UPDATE 1651z:  278 stations spotted this afternoon on 17m FT8 RX with the furthermost PY3DXM (10518km).

160m FT8 RX overnight

Overnight I was on 160m FT8 RX using the tiny Wellgood active loop on the shack window. In all, 306 stations spotted in the last day .

15m FT8 RX (Monday)

For about 30 minutes I have been on 15m FT8 RX using the Wellgood active loop. At 1000z 62 stations have been spotted.

UPDATE 1305z:   327 stations spotted. Furthermost is LW2EDM (11776km).

Sunspots - Monday December 6th 2021

 Solar flux is 80 and the SSN 36. A=8 and K=2.

160m FT8 RX (Sunday)

 Since about 1930z, I have been on 160m FT8 RX using the Wellgood active loop on the shack window. So far this evening 85 stations spotted with the furthermost R9CS (3779km).

UPDATE 2216z: 168 stations spotted with the furthermost RK9UN (5430km). 

Setting sun, Thurlestone, Devon - NOT amateur radio

 

Tonight's sunset at Thurlestone in Devon. 

Mildenhall - NOT amateur radio

In the UK, Mildenhall is famous as a base for the US airforce. Actually it is a very nice place with some fine old buildings and church. This photo shows my wife with one of our grandchildren by the river. 

VK3DXE on the EI7GL blog

On EI7GL's blog is a guest post which makes very interesting reading. This makes the point that newcomers are unlikely to be excited by old timers on repeaters, but might well be excited by EME and aircraft scatter.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/12/guest-post-vhf-uhf-operation-by-alan.html .

Bells? - NOT amateur radio

One of our grandsons lives in London. When he is with us we seem to have got into a groove of visiting local churches so he can record the bells ringing. At first, the videos were a bit jerky, but they are now much better. 

He has a YouTube channel called "Ringer Luke". Today we went to Mildenhall (not ringing) and Freckenham that was (surprisingly for a small church) ringing. This tower has 5 bells, but 3 were being rung today, by one man!

15m FT8 RX (Sunday)

 At about 1115z I turned on my 15m gear using the Wellgood active loop on the shack window. So far (at 1137z) 104 stations already spotted.

UPDATE 1455z:  275 stations spotted.

Sunspots - Sunday December 5th 2021

 Solar flux is 88 and the SSN 35. A=8 and K=3.

Back of the garage

 

This photo was taken many years ago and shows my grandson at the back of my garage at the old QTH.

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 .