At about 1900z, I QSYed to 630m WSPR RX with the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. Just G1GKN (54km) spotted so far this evening at 1917z.
UPDATE 2015z: 4 stations have been spotted.
28 Sept 2023
Wicken Fen lunch - NOT amateur radio
6m QRP FT8 (Thursday)
At about 1250z, my 6m QRP FT8 was turned on. So far, at 1255z, spotted by just 1 local G6KWA (22km).
UPDATE 1333z: Spotted by OH7PS (1698km) a burst of Es or even F2? I suppose it could have been random MS.
UPDATE 1417z: 2 locals have spotted me, 1 G further afield and one OH.
Rally Sunday
Sunday October 1st - Welsh Radio Rally, Newport, NP18 2YE. Contact rackmone@aol.com.
It is always worth contacting to confirm details.
European Conditions
At the moment, conditions in Europe do not look too promising. At the moment, I am inclined to try 6m FT8, although I suspect most or all of the reports of my 2.5W to the V2000 will be from England.
Wicken Fen - NOT amateur radio
My wife took this photo of an old boat at Wicken Fen. We usually walk there, have a break in the cafe there and walk back.
We usually see Konik ponies, but we saw none.
Christmas bookings - NOT amateur radio
It is only September, but I am inundated with emails urging me to book pubs meals for Christmas.
To me the Christmas season does not start until December. This is pure commercialism. I have deleted these emails.
One of the major retailers in Cambridge often puts up Christmas decorations in October. I boycott them!!
630m WSPR RX last night
Last night, 6 stations were spotted. I think I have spotted 8 unique stations on the band this autumn. I must get back on TX!
10m QRP WSPR TX (Thursday)
My 500mW beacon was turned on at 0726z. So far,just spots from local G4KPX (14km).
27 Sept 2023
630m WSPR RX (Wednesday)
Once again, I have QSYed to 630m WSPR RX with my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. So far, no spots.
UPDATE 2020z: The spots so far this evening are shown in the table.
Storm Agnes - NOT amateur radio
OFCOM and mm wave 5G spectrum
OFCOM has announced that it will issue city-wide licence allocations at 26 and 40 GHz for 5G services that will last 15 years. See the OFCOM website for details.
Amazing Ali-Express deal
In case you missed Keith's comment on a post yesterday, you can now buy a complete 40m Pixie CW transceiver kit for just 42p with free shipping!! They cannot make any money on this at all.
10m 500mW WSPR TX (Wednesday)
As I am not using the 10m antenna, I am on 10m WSPR with my QRP TX beacon. So far local G4KPX (14km) and the 2 monitors in the Canaries.
UPDATE 1035z: More spots by the same stations.
UPDATE 1249z: 5 stations have spotted me today. Mostly F2 I think.
UPDATE 1351z: Spotted in Antarctica yet again on the German research station DP0GVN (13685km). I think this is the third or fourth time this has happened. USA (SE) spotting me now.
6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)
This morning, I am on 6m QRP FT8 with my 2.5W and the V2000 vertical omni antenna. At 0831z, I have been spotted by 2 stations and I have spotted 1 station. All these were in England.
UPDATE 0927z: Still just 2 UK stations spotting me. I have spotted 2 stations on PSKreporter and I spotted EI2CN working a French station.
UPDATE 1037z: 3 English stations have spotted my 6m QRP. No further spots on RX.
UPDATE 1250z: No further spots.
Our garden - NOT amateur radio
The windmill is right next door, about 15m from our house.
630m WSPR last evening
As I have still to fix my 630m transverter, I went on 630m WSPR RX last evening. 4 different stations spotted.
26 Sept 2023
630m (472 kHz) WSPR RX (Tuesday)
At about 2015z, I QSYed to 630m WSPR RX with my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. So far (at 2027z) just G1GKN (54km) and DC0DX (467km) spotted.
DC0DX is stronger than I have ever spotted him so far this autumn.
10m QRP WSPR TX (Tuesday)
UPDATE 2020z: 10 stations have spotted me. Now QSYed to 630m WSPR RX.
8m in a few years?
OFCOM (and the RSGB) and the FCC seem to be dead against allocating even a tiny, low power, amateur allocation at 8m. There must be a very good reason for their position, but they seem unwilling to share their reasons. As an outsider, the position seems stupid and illogical.
It is my hope that, over time, many administrations will allocate 8m to amateurs. As I understand things, most on 8m now, in any country, are interested in propagation and research, not chatting. By restricting modes to narrow digital only (modes like FT8, WSPR and CW) it is extremely unlikely this band would ever be used in this way i.e. for chatting. I cannot see why every administration cannot make, say, 5 kHz in the ISM section available to radio amateurs that apply, especially if secondary, low power, and assuming interference must be accepted and not caused to other services.
Will many more administrations grant amateurs access to 8m? I hope so.
QSYed to QRP 8m FT8 (Tuesday)
10m FT8 was too easy, so I have QSYed to 8m QRP FT8 hoping to catch some F2 propagation. I QSYed at 1423z to 40.680 MHz first period TX.
UPDATE 2043z: No spots. QRT.
10m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)
This afternoon, I am on 10m QRP FT8. It is now 1250z and I have spotted 37 stations across the planet and my 2.5W has been spotted by 1 station.
UPDATE 1414z: 21 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 166.
How do they do it?
630m WSPR TX
In the end I located my antenna current meter but it was broken and soldering the toroid on again was very hard. Still not on TX.
I have ordered some more 50 ohm patch leads and more PL259 to BNC adaptors.
Fault finding (despite the difficulty) continues. I hope to be on 630m WSPR TX by the weekend.
Sunspots - Tuesday September 26th 2023
Solar flux is 170 and the SSN 164. A=23 and K=4. Sunspot count still good.
25 Sept 2023
Fixing my 630m transverter
My very old transverter used a 28.060 MHz local oscillator. I obviously went to 3.2 MHz in my newer design to reduce start-up drift.
My antenna current meter is still missing. It is somewhere in the shack, probably in a drawer somewhere.
My first step is to see if I can detect my 3.2 MHz oscillator on the newer transverter.
By some means, I want to be on 630m WSPR TX this evening!
10m 500mW WSPR TX (Monday)
My QRP beacon has been on since about 0814z. Just local G4KPX(14km) has copied me this morning so far. HF conditions appear a bit disturbed?
UPDATE 1006z: Since 0910z, I have been spotted in the Canary Is.. I remain amazed at how strong these F2 signals can be at times. I have received -4dB S/N at times despite running just 500mW.
Repair Cafe - NOT amateur radio
Plans for Monday
My current plan is to go on 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW beacon and fix my 630m transverter so I can TX on 630m this evening.
Well that is the plan!
630m WSPR yesterday
Sunday evening 6 stations were spotted as the chart shows.
I must get back on TX soon! Thinking about my transverter, I guess the first thing to try is see if I can receive the 3.2 MHz oscillator on another RX. If this is not going, it would give me a very good clue where to start looking. My problem these days is it is like fault finding in a brain fog! Somewhere I have my very old transverter which I used on 500 kHz years ago.
2012 back of the garage
In the old house most of my building was in the back of the garage as this photo from 2012 shows.
24 Sept 2023
630m WSPR RX
At about 1845z I QSYed to 630m (472kHz) WSPR RX. So far just G1GKN (54km) spotted.
I have found my old transverter, but not the current meter yet. I hope to mend the transverter this week.
UPDATE 1932z: DC0DX (467km) spotted.
UPDATE 1946z: SM6NOC (1056km) spotted.
QSYed to QRP 8m FT8
Even though my chances are small, I have QSYed to 40.680 MHz FT8. At this time of year Es openings are possible, but rare. Aircraft reflection is possible, as I suppose are random MS and tropo. I live in hope! F2 is unlikely at this time of year with my low power.
UPDATE 1829z: No spots. I see there are 3 stations in Belgium on. I hope I can get spotted by one or spot them.
UPDATE 1833z: QRT soon on 8m after a hopeless day!
CQWW contests
Today is the CQWW RTTY contest. The SSB contest (the biggest in the world) is at the end of October and the CW contest at the end of November.
As my voice is poor, I do not get the same pleasure I used to get in the SSB contest. Also, I frequently forget!
Even if you are not a great contest fan (I am not!), it is a great opportunity to work some more countries. Exchange is, I think, report and CQ zone if you are outside of the USA. For example, if in the UK, 5914. Of course, there is no need to submit a contest entry. I have never submitted an entry to CQWW.
HF MUF
Recently, I was made aware of this website. As the MUF is creeping up, it is worth a regular look. It may give a clue to possible 8m and 6m F2 openings.
See https://www.sws.bom.gov.au/HF_Systems/6/5 - this gives the MUF for vertical incidence.
See also https://prop.kc2g.com/ .
10m QRP WSPR TX
My 500mW WSPR beacon was turned on about 0800z. So far, spots from the Canary Is.. I presume this is F2.
UPDATE 1048z: Still just the spots from the Canaries.
UPDATE 1835z: The usual USA stations spotted me, but going QRT very soon.
6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)
My 2.5W to the V2000 vertical was turned on at about 0800z. No spots yet. If things look promising, I may try 8m QRP FT8.
UPDATE 0849z: So far, spots of my QRP from 4 UK stations. I suspect some are by aircraft reflection with the furthermost GW4VXE (367km),
630m WSPR RX overnight
Once again I stayed on 630m WSPR RX overnight with the earth-electrode antenna in the ground. No further stations were spotted on RX overnight proving it is not worth staying on after midnight.
The shack some years ago
This was one of my Facebook memories today. It shows my shack 11 years ago.
Sunspots - Sunday September 24th 2023
Solar flux is 173 and the SSN 198 (I think this is the highest level this cycle. A=10 and K=0.
23 Sept 2023
630m WSPR RX (Saturday)
For the last few evenings I have been monitoring 630m (472 kHz) WSPR RX. After about 10 minutes, G1GKN (54km) and DC0DX (467km) were spotted. Still using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.
As Colin G6AVK suggests, I must try to find out what is wrong with my 472 kHz transverter and get back on TX.
UPDATE 1947z: SM6NOC (1056km) spotted. This is my furthermost so far and the first over 1000km.
UPDATE 2036z: 4 stations spotted.
Autumn cyclamen - NOT amateur radio
10m 500mW WSPR TX (Saturday)
My QRP W5OLF beacon was on all night. Clearly there is F2 propagation with several spots from the Canary Is.
UPDATE 1037z: Still just spots from the Canary Is..
UPDATE 1121z: Still just spots from the Canary Is.. At the peak these were -5dB S/N (27dB in hand when running 500mW) suggesting just uW would have been sufficient assuming a low local noise floor.
UPDATE 1744z: 22 stations have spotted me. Clearly there is E-W F2 to the USA.
6m QRP FT8 (Saturday)
Although I have been on for about 15 minutes, no spots have appeared on PSKreporter. I rechecked frequency, time sync and restarted WSJT-X. The internet connection works fine.
Either PSKreporter has a long delay, or is not working as there are plenty of monitors that usually spot me that are within range.
UPDATE 0920z: Darn Windows updates! Since doing the updates, I am being spotted. It is almost as if until the update was done, no spots could be seen. On my Chromebook, updates are done seemlessly, which is far better.
UPDATE 0950z: 3 spots of my QRP 6m FT8 with the furthermost DL3BUA (939km) near the Polish border. There is still life on 6m FT8.
UPDATE 1034z: Still just those 3 spots of me on 6m FT8.
UPDATE 1150z: Now 4 spots including G8EEM (208km).
UPDATE 1206z: 4 spots of others on RX with the furthermost OZ8R (819km).
630m WSPR overnight
My RX was on overnight, but just the 4 stations spotted in the evening copied. It is not worth staying on overnight.
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