Solar flux is 131 and the SSN 79. A=25 and K=2.
4 Sept 2023
3 Sept 2023
10m QRP FT8 (Sunday)
At about 1555z, I went on 10m FT8 instead of WSPR. One of the issues with QRP FT8 is you do not know if you are being swamped out by a much stronger signal you cannot see. You can choose a clear frequency here, but you have no idea what it is like 1000s of kilometers away. My technique is to choose a clear frequency (I hope!) but move if I get no spots. This is a real problem on the busy HF bands.
UPDATE 1618z: 40 stations spotted, but just 1 spot of me. I am being swamped! QSY called for!
UPDATE 1653z: Now QSYed and more stations spotting me (see map).
UPDATE 1855z: 24 stations have now spotted my QRP.
UPDATE 2046z: 83 stations have spotted me. Now QRT. Furthermost was PY2BL (9531km).
Belgian 8m AMATEUR band
Since September 1st, Class A amateurs in Belgium have now got access to the 8m band. This is an additional AMATEUR band.
I hope this is a model that other PTTs soon follow.
PSKreporter
When I go on FT8, I usually check PSKreporter maps to see if anyone has received me. Some people report spotting, but these sometimes do not appear on PSKreporter. There can be a number of reasons.
PSKreporter might be down, the internet link from the reporter to PSKreporter may be down, PSKreporter may have a delay. There may be other reasons too.
All I am saying is PSKreporter is not infallible. Just because you are not reported does not mean you are not being received far away.
Blackberry picking - NOT amateur radio
For breakfast this morning I picked some fresh, wild blackberries. They are on some bushes about 20m away. With other fruit they were delicious. I guess there are enough for several days.
Later we hope to go to the next village. With luck these blackberries should be ripe ..... assuming nobody else has picked them all!
Beautiful sky - NOT amateur radio
8m QRP FT8 (Sunday)
My 8m 2.5W FT8 was turned on about 20 minutes ago as there are several people monitoring across Europe. No spots yet.
UPDATE 1345z: No spots.
10m QRP WSPR (Sunday)
My 10m 500mW WSPR TX beacon has been on since before breakfast. 3 stations have spotted me. These look like Es.
UPDATE 0914z: Now spotted in the Canary Is as well. 6 stations spotting me.
European Es (Sunday)
At the moment, there is quite good Es in Europe. It is 0823z. I hope it lasts!
See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/
6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)
2 Sept 2023
Sunday plans
At the moment, it would appear most propagation on 10m is F2. Just occasionally there is a burst of Es, but it is far rarer than a few months ago.
My plans for tomorrow are 500mW beaconing on 10m WSPR TX and 6m QRP FT8. If thing look really promising, I may try 8m QRP FT8.
Incidentally, Belgian Class A stations have now got access to 8m. I hope to be copied in Belgium and spot some Belgians, probably by tropo. I hope many administrations follow suit.
September swift - NOT amateur radio
Today, with lots of young swallows, I saw one late swift. I think this is the latest I have ever seen one in the UK. Most have now gone.
8m QRP FT8 (Saturday)
At 1103z I QSYed to 8m FT8 QRP on 40.680 MHz. No spots.
UPDATE 2042z: QRT with no 8m spots all day. I think I shall concentrate on QRP 6m FT8 unless there are clear signs of Es about. 8m has too few monitors, which is a shame.
10m QRP WSPR TX (Saturday)
4 stations spotting me today on my 500mW 10m WSPR TX.
UPDATE 2052z: 10 spots of me today. Now QRT.
1 Sept 2023
OFCOM publications
A reminder that every week OFCOM updates the data it holds on licences etc. They also have some new publications. See the OFCOM website.
Changing interests?
At one time, I got very excited about working new DXCC countries. A 2-way QSO with a DXCC entity with QRP was important to me. In recent years this aspect of our hobby has become far less important. 2-way voice QSOs are hard for me nowadays as my voice is poor following my 2013 stroke.
However, I suspect I am not alone, especially with those of "advancing years". To me, I am far more interested in beaconing using WSPR or FT8 and seeing where my signal is picked up. My favourite bands for this are 10m, 8m, 6m and 2m.
Although I still use FM (for local nets) and SSB (for 2m and 70cm contests) these aspects are now less important to me. I am far more interested in propagation research.
Fuel Prices - NOT amateur radio
Certainly in the UK, and I suspect elsewhere, fuel prices have been climbing up. Members of OPEC+ including Saudi Arabia and Russia are cutting production in the hope of stabilizing prices. Earlier this year prices were falling.
Those who use cars and vans for work are the hardest hit. Personally, I hope there is a competitive price war and prices are driven down.
Solar cycle peak still this year?
My favourite site for solar data was updated today. It still shows the peak of solar cycle 25 as November 2023. This is early and conditions of late were on the slide. Unless we get a higher peak we could already be on the downward slopes. As mentioned before, solar conditions could be good for several years still.
10m 500mW WSPR TX (Friday)
My beacon has been on since before breakfast, but no spots yet.
UPDATE 0959z: Just a single spot of me from Italy so far today.
UPDATE 1245z: Just 14 spots of me in total today. The Es season is well and truly over!
UPDATE 1604z: No further spots.
6m QRP FT8 (Friday)
My 2.5W 6m FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni was turned on just before breakfast. Already spotted by 8 stations with the furthermost DK8NE/6 (702km). Was this random MS? All the other spots were G.
UPDATE 1845z: 24 spots of me. I suspect the OH stations are Es.
UPDATE 1955z: OH7EBY (2107km) spotting my 2.5W to an omnivertical is not bad for September. QRT soon.
Sunspots - Friday September 1st 2023
Solar flux is 140 and the SSN 77. A=6 and K=3. Are we over the peak already?
31 Aug 2023
How NOT to - NOT amateur radio
Last night we were treated to a very rare blue super moon. I tried to take a photo. What a dismal failure!
10m 500mW WSPR TX (Thursday)
Most of the day, I have been on 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW WSPR TX beacon. 4 unique stations have spotted me, but no Es I think. It is now 1601z and the beacon will be on for several hours still.
Rallies and Conventions this weekend
The following should take place this weekend. As always, I strongly recommend checking the information is correct.
- Saturday September 2nd - GQRP Club plus Telford and District ARS Convention. Telford, TF10 8NB. Contact 01952 255416 or 07824 737716.
- Sunday September 3rd - Annual Telford Hamfest and continuing GQRP convention. Contact and postcode as above.
6m QRP FT8 (Thursday)
UPDATE 1608z: 12 stations spotted .
UPDATE 2118z: QRT.
30 Aug 2023
10m 500mW WSPR TX (Wednesday)
Although I have been on for about an hour, no spots so far. I get the impression Es is very marginal today.
UPDATE 1643z: 7 spots (mainly F2) today. Spotted in Antarctica 6 times in the last few days. DP0GVN/3 (13685km) just spotted my 500mW.
6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)
After about an hour plenty of spots of my 2.5W to the vertical omni antenna including Italy and Northern Ireland.
Solar activity
In the last month, apart from today, solar activity has been poorer than the month before. As the last solar minimum was only in 2020, I cannot believe we have already gone past the peak of solar cycle 25. In the last cycle there was a bigger peak after the first.
What is certain is that solar activity can remain good for several years after the peak. Even if this was a very early peak and not a blip, we can expect solar activity to remain good for several years yet. If the peak really is a way off, this means we can expect solar activity to be pretty good until at least 2026.
It is my belief that it is often low activity rather than conditions that make the higher HF bands seem dead. With modes like FT8, we may well find 10m, for example, is "open" far more often than we once thought.
Like - NOT amateur radio
At one time I would have been appalled by the overuse of "like" and the fact that younger people tend to go up at the end of sentences.
You have only to observe how much speech has changed in the last 100 years. I expect if we heard speech from 500 years ago we would struggle to understand it.
And to think how languages have evolved in the last 1000-2000 years! No, we have to accept that speech and language will be forever changing.
"Like" is the new ""er", "um","hmm" or "ah".
I never fail to be amazed how many different languages there are (in Europe alone) and in how few generations these happened. In the last 2000 years there are, perhaps, 80 generations only!
29 Aug 2023
Late swifts - NOT amateur radio
We went for a walk around the village this afternoon. Much to my surprise I saw a swift on two separate occasions. It is possible this was the same bird. Most swifts fly south weeks ago, so this was a straggler(s). As far as I remember, this is the latest date I have ever seen swifts in the UK.
8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)
At about 0942z, I QSYed to 40.680 MHz FT8. I had already had plenty of QSOs on 6m and the band looked open in the direction of Iberia. As usual my gear on 8m is a modified FT817ND (2.5W) and a dipole.
UPDATE 1757z: No spots today. I suspect there are very few people monitoring.
UPDATE 2056z: QRT now. No spots all day. Disappointing.
10m QRP WSPR TX (Tuesday)
My 500mW WSPR TX beacon was turned on before breakfast. So far spotted by 9 unique stations.
UPDATE 0951z: I see my 500mW WSPR beacon has been spotted in Antarctica by DP0GVN (13685km). See the photo of this permanent German base.
UPDATE 2050z: QRT now. 19 unique stations spotted me today.
6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)
Today, the early start on 6m FT8 QRP resulted in 3 QSOs across Europe. My gear is 2.5W to the omni V2000 vertical antenna.
28 Aug 2023
That kiss - NOT amateur radio
The man in charge of football in Spain, Luis Rubiales, is at the centre of a media storm.
The fact that the media has created such a fuss has taken the focus off the women's team that won the world cup and onto this man instead.
Now, I do not have all the facts and stand to be corrected. My reading of the situation is that this is a story whipped up by the media. Yes, he was carried away by the excitement of the moment, made a mistake, but it would have been better just forgotten. He is also in trouble for scratching his crotch. This took about 1 second! I am pretty sure he just had an innocent itch.
The media has a habit of creating stories. Personally, I do not think he should be made to resign.
Tired, giddy and exhausted - NOT amateur radio
It is almost 10 years ago I suffered my brain bleed/stroke and was in hospital for 3.5 months. Thankfully, I made an almost complete physical recovery and was able to get back to an almost normal life. I was given a second chance, unlike many.
My main issues are my poor voice, being giddy nearly all the waking hours, and getting exhausted very quickly after physical or mental exertion. Whereas before I enjoyed going out in the car doing experiments, I no longer feel able. I still drive, but do not enjoy it. Driving seems to require so much more concentration for me nowadays. All the time I am reading the situation, looking for stupid drivers. It is almost as if my brain takes longer to process things. Driving at 50mph feels like 70mph.
The net result is trying to find ways to enjoy things differently. These days, my experiments are at home rather than "in the field".
Although I long to be as I once was, I know this can never be, so we have to make the best of life.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/non-amateur-radio/stroke .
6m QRP FT8 tomorrow?
As an experiment, I may try 50.313 MHz QRP FT8 tomorrow. The main Es season is over, but Es still occurs, but less often. FT8, which is better than CW, uses a 15 second TX period. If propagation lasts this long, one has a great chance of being detected. Often Es signals can be quite strong, if short-lived.
I like to experiment on 8m FT8, but there are too few monitors sadly.
Optical Experiments
With very low power and simple, homemade, gear I could detect my beacon on a PC way over the horizon. In Australia, the "over-the-horizon" (NLOS) distance record is way over 100km. With my own very modest gear, I can well believe this.
My tests were done on cloudless nights, suggesting the propagation was scattering off atmospheric dust. There was no sign of the light from the TX in the sky at all. This is definitely where everyone, licenced or not, may experiment. It would be good to find out how far we could achieve non line of site (NLOS) in the UK. Incidentally LEDs are generally considered better than lasers due to scintillation (look it up!).
My own beacon and optical gear were made in the back of the garage. If I was fit, I would be experimenting now.
My optical gear used LEDs bought off eBay. Far more powerful ones are available. I used 100mm lenses used in magnifying glasses bought at Poundland. Better equipped stations used Fresnel lenses. My tripod was hopeless. With better LEDs, lenses and tripods, ranges could be increased a great deal. Even with my system ranges could be considerably greater than the nearly 9km I managed.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/optical-nanowaves/over-the-horizon.
Isleham priory - NOT amateur radio
In my view the Reformation did a great deal of harm in England. Looking back, it seems pure vandalism.
In my view, we have to look at history, reflect on it, but not destroy it.
Rowan tree - NOT amateur radio
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