Way back, one of my (many!!) projects was this simple AM transceiver for local natters on 10m, such as at sunspot minimum or at night. The RX is very sensitive, but quite broadband, so not really suitable for DX.
Because of my 2013 stroke, it never got finished. It was based on the 2m Fredbox. I just wish someone would do a PCB and finish it. It could make a nice club project.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10m-am-tenbox .
The latest COP meeting (mostly of world leaders) has opened in Dubai. We are on target for a far warmer world. Hopefully renewables, like wind and solar which are now far less expensive, will help. We need a low cost way of storing this energy. We also need a much better way of powering cars with far more range.
All these could be transformational if they come soon. There was a point when everyone swapped to digital cameras and flat screen TVs. If this happened with energy, it could make a huge difference. Investment is needed and fast.
Nuclear fusion may help in the future, although people having been trying to make this commercially viable since I was in infant school!
Although my beacon, with the PA off, has been on all morning, no spots today. Output is about 0.5mW (500uW).
UPDATE 1429z: Still no spots.
My 8m 2.5W FT8 was turned on about 1240z. Just local G4WSZ (12km) spotting me so far today.
UPDATE 1505z: 4 stations have spotted me (3 in the Caribbean) on 8m FT8, with one QSO with a station in the Cayman Is.. At the moment, my 2.5W and dipole seem to cross the Atlantic most days.
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| Stations received on 8m FT8 today |
It looks like the peak of solar cycle 25 may have been reached. November 2023 was the month shown as the predicted peak of this cycle. This has not changed for months on my favourite site for solar data.
We can expect conditions to be for several more years.
The following have been notified to me. As I always say, check before travelling any distance.
Sunday December 3rd - Bishop Auckland Radio Amateur Club Rally Spennymoor Co. Durham, DL16 6DB. Contact bdingle@hotmail.co.uk .
Sunday December 3rd - Royal Wootton Bassett Swapmeet and Auction, , Swindon, Wootton Bassett, SN4 8EN. Contact not given, but check website http://www.bvws.org.uk .
My 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground was turned on about 1830z. So far, at 1848z, 6 stations have spotted me.
UPDATE 2212z: 11 stations have spotted me this evening.
My 2.5W 8m FT8 was turned on after lunch. So far (at 1442z) local spots by G4WSZ (12km), but no DX.
UPDATE 1500z: First transatlantic 8m spot today by WW1L (4976km).
For several days, my beacon, with the PA off, was operating without an antenna because of a coax fault. Today, I repeated the 500uW WSPR test (with the beacon PA off), but with the antenna! I was copied, quite well, in Italy. According to my TinySA spectrum analyser the power is 500uW. According to the report I could have been copied at 100uW or less with a low RX noise floor. My beacon is hard programmed to report 0.5W, even though it was producing 0.5mW for this test.
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| Even though the beacon is hard coded to report 0.5W, it was actually 0.5mW |
My 10mW ERP WSPR was turned on at about 1715z. So far, at 1746z, 4 stations have spotted me. On recent nights, I have not had spots from really distant Europeans. I wonder if this conditions?
Today, we had our first real frost. We had one the day before, but not as cold. We are more used to mild weather these days, but today is bitter for us. It is about +2 degrees Celsius maximum, which is cold for here in the daytime. I can hear readers in Canada and Scandinavia saying," you think that is cold?". It is sunny and bright, so I don't mind the cold.
My 2.5W was turned on at 0916z. So far spots from local G4WSZ (12km).
UPDATE 1201z: Spotted by G7PUV (158km) too.
UPDATE 1425z: 6 stations have spotted me including 2 in Florida, USA and 2 in the Caribbean.
My beacon is back to full power (500mW). It was turned on at 0914z. So far (at 0919z) no spots.
UPDATE 1230z: No spots at all, despite a reset on timing. I am suspicious.
UPDATE 1345z: My coax was open circuit - now fixed. It means my 500uW tests these last few days were invalid, so I may repeat these.
UPDATE 1348z: 5 immediate spots. The PA has been working into an open circuit all morning!
UPDATE 1356z: At 1354z I turned the beacon PA off so the output is about 500uW. This time, I have an antenna connected!!
UPDATE 1530z: No spots with 500uW. I shall run at this power if I am around. Interesting test.
After several days without success, I shall end my experiment later today. I have had success in the past, but not this time.
Tomorrow, if I use my 10m WSPR TX beacon, I shall turn the PA on again and run the full 500mW.
My 2.5W 8m FT8 to the low dipole has been on since mid-morning. Yet again, my signal has been spotted in the Caribbean. In the last 2 days I have had 8m FT8 exchanges with both ZF1EJ and PJ4MM. In all today, my 8m FT8 signal has been spotted by 7 stations with 5 "across the pond".
Whilst I am sure a small beam, higher up, and more power would help, this proves to me that even 2.5W can make it when F2 conditions are good.
In the UK there is a row growing about the return to Greece of the Elgin Marbles . These were originally in the world famous Parthenon.
In my view these should be returned.
Although I stand to be corrected, these were essentially stolen! My suggestion is a copy of these should be made and displayed (this has been done before e.g. the Alfred Jewel in the Ashmolian Museum in Oxford). Their proper home is in the Parthenon in Athens, which is visited by millions.
Around the sunspot maximum we can see the MUF going much higher than we are used to. Take for example the 8m band, which is allocated to the Amateur Radio service in some countries and available to some on an experimental basis. Quite regularly, my 2.5W 8m FT8 is copied in the Caribbean, USA and Canada. This is on 40.680 MHz USB dial. This suggests the MUF is probably at 41 MHz quite often even on E-W paths. The MUF is usually higher on N-S paths.
For a long time, I have been advocating that 5 kHz at 8m be made available to the Amateur Radio service, narrow digital modes only, strictly non-interference, secondary, in the ISM band, low power, by application only. I can see this only really appealing to true experimenters. It would appear the FCC and OFCOM (and the RSGB) are dead against, but I struggle to understand why when so much propagation research could be done. Even it permits were limited to around the solar maximum it would be useful. Instead, in the UK we have to pay to do research - total madness and stupidity.
This was the selfie we took last Saturday with my wife, son and grandson.
My son had Asian Eggs Royale, which is like Eggs Benedict, but with gin and salmon (see photo).
Overnight I was spotted by 12 stations when using my 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode “antenna “ in the ground.
Around teatime, I QSYed to 630m QRP WSPR with my 10mW ERP from my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. At 2030z, 7 stations had spotted me.
The BBC reports that New Zealand is to reverse moves which (hopefully) would have phased out smoking. They have supposedly done this to fund tax cuts. This would appear to be a step backwards. I do not know all the facts.
My 2.5W 8m FT8 was turned on at about 1025z. So far, spotted by nobody.
UPDATE 1208z: Spotted by EI9KP (649km) and G4WSZ (12km).
UPDATE 1338z: ZS3/V51PJ (9081km) has just been spotted.
My 10m WSPR TX beacon remains on with the PA turned off. According to my TinySA spectrum analyser the power is about 500uW. After several days I have still to be spotted.
UPDATE 1100z: It worked at 50mW and has worked in the past at 500uW, but I think conditions have to be exceptionally good for it to work at this power level, especially with higher RX noise floors these days. I shall probably return to QRO for me tomorrow (500mW!!).
This morning I received another (near incomprehensible) email from Google. It was about video policy on AdSense. As with all things Google why use 3 words when 23 will do!! I think those in charge of communications at Google need to go on a plain English course.
I look like a Far East tourist, but they have their uses when trying to get everyone on.
Where did 2023 go?
Earlier this year I bought a 2W 23cm transverter and my intention was to go /P in some UKAC activity contests. I have not been out /P once! Maybe in 2024?
On EI7GL's blog, there is some encouraging news about the 23cm band.
My 10m WSPR beacon is again on with the PA turned off. Unsurprisingly, no spots.
My gear was turned on about 1225z. So far ZS3/V51PJ spotted on RX and G4WSZ (12km) on TX.
