My fears are growing. I have written to Jay twice and not had a response.
He may just be on a long vacation, but I have heard no news. In the past Jay has been very helpful to me and I owe him a lot.
If he is around and reading this, please be assured that I wish him well.
Has anyone had any news please?
Now that I am home again, I am on 10m WSPR with 500mW from the W5OLF WSPR beacon. Several F2 spots, but none that look like Es.
As I am now home again, I hope to be on 8m TX on 40.680 MHz USB dial FT8 after breakfast. I have not been on 8m for a week.
UPDATE 0902z: Been on 8m FT8 QRP TX for about 45 minutes, but now RX only on 40.680 MHz USB dial FT8. Spotted by EI9KP (649km). Nobody spotted on RX.
UPDATE 2117z: My 8m FT8 QRP signal was spotted by stations in Portugal, Spain and Eire today, and I spotted 1 G station on RX.
In my bones I am not a monarchist.
Personally, I find rank and status simply because of who you are, or your ancestors were, is totally wrong. Having said all that, I cannot think who a UK president could be. Nobody springs to mind who is liked by many and has integrity. Most politicians fall at the first fence as many are in it for personal gain and are born liars.
Queen Elizabeth of the UK has been monarch for most of my life. I cannot remember anyone else. By comparison, her son Charles has a lot of respect to gain.
No, Queen Elizabeth is not perfect, but during her long reign she has commanded respect.
The following rally is due to take place on Sunday May 29th. As always in these strange times, it is advisable to check with organisers first if travelling far.
Sunday May 29th - Durham District ARS Radio Rally, Bowburn Community Centre, DH6 5AT. Contact dadrs@gmx.com .
All being well, I intend to be on 40.680 MHz USB dial FT8 TX on Friday after a week away. It would appear there were some good Es openings that I missed!
As you know I take a regular peek at activity on the narrow-band transponder of this geosynchronous satellite. Today's peek was at 0610am central European time. 30 minutes later there was nobody active at all!
Now, this seems to show that outside Europe, e.g. India and the Gulf states there is very little interest. OK, it is a work day and very early in Europe.
My over-riding impression is that activity levels are very low. In some ways I am surprised, but in other ways I am not.
Our hobby has largely evolved into "appliance operators" who buy an HF rig, and maybe a linear, tower and HF beam. There are far fewer real experimenters. With no real "black boxes" available there is a certain threshold to have success with Oscar 100. For most, this threshold is just too hard. Based on recent evidence, I cannot see geosynchronous amateur satellites having a bright future.
Solar flux is 137 and the SSN 93. A=6 and K=1. The sunspot number has dipped below 100 for the first time in a while. The number is still pretty high.
Now is not the usual time to think about projects. The usual time is as the nights start to draw in and winter approaches.
I am still hoping my G3XBM Scrapbook will be available as a free PDF download by the end of May, but June is next week!!
In the meantime, take a look at my main G3XBM website. Hopefully you will find some ideas there.
As soon as that book is ready, I shall post a link here. At this rate, I suspect the book will be available mid June unless May is extended by Royal decree!!
For 60 years I have been an RSGB member, but I feel I am being failed. Let me explain.
OFCOM is on record as saying they will NEVER allow UK radio amateurs on 8m. Why?
The RSGB has (it would appear meekly) said "OK" to this. Wouldn't it have been nice if, for once, they had said "rubbish!!"?
In my view they should have said a very few kHz wide band at 40.680 MHz USB dial, narrow digital modes only, by NoV, strictly non-interference would have actively encouraged self training and propagation research. Personally I would happily lost a few kilohertz off any band for a few kilohertz around 40.680 MHz.
Instead we can talk about hernias and potted plants with 400W and commercial gear on 80m! Absolute madness!!
RSGB and OFCOM please wake up.
See the 10FT8R webpage for details.
I am sorry that the link was initially wrong. Hopefully it is now correct!
OFCOM has made it easier for mobile operators to trade spectrum around 3.6 GHz. See the OFCOM website for more details. Me a cynic? Surely not!!
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| W5OLF 1 inch 10m ferrite rod antenna |
As long as the ferrite is suitable for the frequency and does not saturate it should work. This usually means very low power.
With modes like WSPR great distances can be covered with very low power.
Looking back at past blog posts I saw that Jay W5OLF achieved good results on 10m WSPR with a 1 inch ferrite rod antenna and 500mW RF.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/ferrite-rod-tx-antennas.
There is a growing interest around the world in the 8m band for propagation research.
The band is between 10m and 6m, at the transition between HF and VHF. Sadly, the few beacons there are there are on different frequencies and modes.
In my view, they would be far more use if they all included an FT8 sequence and were all on a single USB dial setting (different audio tones so they are not on top of each other). They could be on 24/7 and widely monitored with ease by many.
Personally, I think we would all benefit from this. Propagation research would be greatly advanced.
FT8 works with weaker signals than CW, WSJT-X software is free, and even very brief openings get spotted.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/80m-or-40m-regen-rx .
My wife had sea bream caught in the morning and I had slow cooked lamb shank.
Both were perfect as was the tzatziki Greek starter of yoghurt and cucumber.
Results for this activity contest organised by the RSGB have just been published.
See https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfresults.pl?Contest=432MHz%20UKAC&year=2022 .
John's blog always seems to have interesting stuff on it. He has news of the 40 and 60 MHz bands as well as much more. On the web version of my blog is a link to the EI7GL blog is on the right.
This is a video of the ICOM stand at the Dayton Hamvention. I am underwhelmed.
The VHF transceivers look "same as", the linear looks big, and the SHF concept looks like it will never happen. Where is the truly handheld version of the IC-705?
If Yaesu is similar I can see them both leaving this market within 5 years. I suspect they both can see the writing on the wall.
OFCOM has announced consultations on licence proposals affecting 5G and updates to its weekly updates. See the OFCOM website for details.
It is now early Saturday in central Europe. The big (huge) Dayton Hamvention is on its middle day of 3. I have not yet heard any announcements of new commercial gear in the offing. Have you?
The Dunstable Downs RC rally is in Stockwood Park, Luton this Sunday May 22nd. Check before travelling if there is any uncertainty.
Well, someone has to do the hard tasks!! 😉😉
The recent solar data (flux and sunspots) are better than expected. Does this point to maximum greater than we expected? I hope so. Are we heading for a peak higher than 200?
The better equipped 8m stations have been getting spots from a very long way away such as Argentina, Chile, South Africa and off Angola. With my low ERP I think this will be well beyond my expectations.
My experiment is to find out what is possible with low ERP QRP and modest, low wire dipoles. So far, my conclusions on FT8 and WSPR is that locals and Es stations can spot me, but I have had no success, so far, with other G stations on 8m.
By the way, FT8 or WSPR were used for these DX spots.
The favourite spot seems to be 40.680 MHz USB dial and the favourite mode FT8.
In my view, it seems a pity that all beacons don't have FT8 as part of their cycle and were all at 40.680 MHz USB dial so they all could be monitored 24/7. Of course they would all be on different audio spots so they were separated.
Imagine the excitement of seeing the spots after you'd been out of the shack for a while! I suspect if they were all on a single dial setting then more would be spotted at unusual times.
Many will have bought components from John Birkett in Lincoln. Sadly he has died at aged 93. I have no news about the shop, but I saw it in Lincoln last September. I hope his family carries on the business.
See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2022/may/john-birkett-g8opp-sk.htm#.YoYAHo7MLrc .
Although I have tried to email him on 3 occasions, I have not had any response. Does anyone have any news please?
I guess a PA could be added to reach a higher power out for a beacon for example.
See https://www.rfzero.net/ .
Now in its 70th year Dayton Hamvention, Ohio is this weekend May 20-22nd. This is massive with trade stands and flea market.
Later this morning I shall be on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW from the W5OLF TX WSPR beacon.
UPDATE 0640z: Turned on.
UPDATE 1004z: Spotted by 12 unique stations via Es.
Later today I expect to be on 8m FT8 TX on 40.680 MHz USB dial. Yesterday I was spotted again by EI9KP (649km). If the Es is like yesterday I may be spotted by others.
UPDATE 0637z: TX turned on.
