2m activity contest this evening?

 Usually this is on the first Tuesday in the month that is tonight although I have not yet received an email reminder.

Lunch in Devon - NOT amateur radio

We had Sunday lunch at the Cottage Hotel in Hope Cove. In the background is an Iron Age fort that was probably manned by one of my ancestors thousands of years before. 

Sunspots - Tuesday July 1st

 Solar flux is 128 and the SSN 158. A=11 and K=3.

Devon trip different - NOT amateur radio

 These last few days I have been in South Devon visiting my brother.

For some reason it feels different. For many years I have tried to recreate some memories from years ago. This time I have accepted these as good memories that I can never repeat, just accept. 

Sunspots - Monday June 30th

 Solar flux is 128 and the SSN 151. A=8 and K=2.

Friedrichshaven

This is the biggest gathering of radio amateurs in Europe. An old work colleague who lives in Devon goes most years. I was hoping to see him in Devon, so need to change when I come in 2026.

Devon view - NOT amateur radio

 This is the view from my brother’s in Devon. It is still very green.

Lancaster cockpit - NOT amateur radio

As I said several days ago, my dad was a flight engineer in a Pathfinder squadron in Lancasters in WW2. He was a very brave man who did not like to talk about the war. This is the cockpit.

Sunspots-Sunday June 29th

 Solar flux is 122 and the SSN 103. A=9 and K=2.

Kingsbridge,UK - NOT amateur radio

 

Most of my teenage years were in Kingsbridge in Devon shown in the photo. The Main Street is Fore Street, a steep hill that keeps you fit! 

The bunting is for Fair Week as there has been been a fair here for centuries.It’s at the head of an estuary and quieter than its neighbour Salcombe where I also lived long ago.

Sunspots - Saturday June 28th

 Solar flux is 122 and the SSN 111. A=12 and K=2.

Yaesu FTX-1

This new Yaesu radio has really disappointed me. 

It is far too expensive and lacks features the IC-705 has had for years. Before it was released I seriously considered trading my IC-705 in for this new radio. Like many, I shall stick with the IC-705.  

I really think Yaesu is floundering around.

It is not yet available in Europe and just a few weeks after launching it in the USA, they have released a firmware update. I am not at all impressed. Even the firmware update looks messy.

Yaesu get your act together, and very soon, or the market will judge you harshly.

Advising Clive Sinclair

 Early in my design career I was involved in the design of internal antennas. At the time Sinclair was developing a tiny TV and was considering a joint development on ICs.

At that time he asked me (yes me!!) for advice on antennas!

On the subject of Sinclair, I recall a Micromatic kit being donated as a raffle prize in our radio club dinner in the late 1960s. Anyone make one?

VLF earth-mode beacon

 

Some years ago I really enjoyed experimenting with earth-mode VLF at 5W. I built a beacon TX and went out in the Fens trying to receive it. My best DX was about 6km, although I remain convinced much further would have been possible with more power and a bigger TX baseline.

Of course with hundreds of watts and a bigger earth-electrode baseline some radiation is likely, so hundreds of km becomes possible. With earth-mode most of the signal is conducted through the ground.

I had to stop when I had my stroke, which stopped me doing all sorts of field experiments. These days I hope others are carrying on where I stopped. Meanwhile I experiment, on something else, at home.

Memories - NOT amateur radio

At the moment I am spending a few days with my brother in Devon where I used to live. It is filled with memories.

One thing I have to learn is memories are just that: they happened long ago and cannot be got back. They are memories that cannot be recreated. They’re to be remembered but cannot ever be brought back.

I think this is important as we spend too much time of our lives time chasing these.

Sunspots- Friday June 27th

 Solar flux is 117 and the SSN 91. A=26 and K=5.

Devon by train- NOT amateur radio

Today I went alone by train to visit my brother in Devon. The journey was uneventful.

Several years ago - 2012?

 This was me at my old QTH on 10m CW in the garden with a loop on the FT817. I think it was 2012.

Sunspots - Thursday June 26th

 Solar flux is 117 and the SSN 90.. A=15 and K=4.

Bunker busting bombs - NOT amateur radio

Last week, the USA used expensive "bunker busting" bombs on at least one Iranian nuclear site. The US president said it was highly effective and has put Iran's nuclear program back many years. 

A leaked intelligence report is more guarded. The know-how still exists and much of the highly enriched uranium may have been moved beforehand.

If the US president is wrong the implications could be enormous. I find it hard to accept that the presidents of the USA and Israel can be so sure, allegedly, unless they really do have incredible intelligence and spies.

Personally, I always prefer talking rather than "bully boy" tactics. 

Orchids - NOT amateur radio

 

My wife has "a way" with orchids with many living for many years. 

The photo is a collage of some of these.

Notice the colour of our grass. It suddenly went brown in the last week. Of course, climate change is just fake news!  It never, ever went brown years ago.

Please wake up: climate change is happening even if people argue about why.

6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

Overnight I stayed on 6m FT8 RX but without success. My 5W FT8 TX was turned on before breakfast and has been spotted by Es already at 0700z.

UPDATE 1310z:  Spotted by 247 stations on 6m QRP FT8, mostly Es. Yet again VO1SIX (3933km) has spotted me. I think this was again multi-hop Es. On 6m FT8 RX quite a few East Coast USA stations spotted. Probably E layer chordal hop? I don't buy the multi-hop Es in this case. The map shows the USA stations spotted here on 6m FT8 with the omni vertical.

UPDATE 2035z: Plenty of USA and Caribbean stations spotted here on 6m FT8 RX. Now QRT.

Sunspots - Wednesday June 25th

Solar  flux is 120 and the SSN 87. A=7 and K=1.

Helsinki - NOT amateur radio

In 2018 we did a tour of the Baltic and visited Helsinki, a city I had visited several times for work and holiday. It is a fine city but it can be cold in winter. I have been there in summer and winter.

We went in early summer and saw these barnacle geese with young. In the UK they are a winter bird so it is interesting to see young.

Walk - NOT amateur radio

This morning we did a walk around the village and did some shopping. On the walk we saw this tub of flowers.

10m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

My 500mW beacon was turned on  before breakfast.

UPDATE 0957z: Already 5 stations spotting me including V51RS (8481km).

UPDATE 1334z:  Still the same 5 stations spotting me.

UPDATE 2051z: 77 stations have spotted my 500mW WSPR today. QRT soon.

6m 5W FT8 (Tuesday)

Although I came on well before breakfast today, just 11 English spots so far.

UPDATE 0946z:  62 spots of my QRP so far. 

UPDATE 1136z:  81 spots of my 5W 6m FT8 with the furthest VO1SIX (3933km). See map.

UPDATE 1614z:  242 stations have spotted me. I suspect the station in Newfoundland spotted me by double hop Es. See map.

UPDATE 2117z:  731 stations have spotted me today. 1 station in the Caribbean has been spotted.

Sunspots - Tuesday June 24th

 Solar flux is 122 and the SSN 105. A=8 and K=1.

Gilbert and Sullivan orchestra - NOT amateur radio

As mentioned before, last Friday evening we went to a local performance of the Gilbert and Sullivan light opera "The Gondoliers". 

The photo shows the small orchestra.

Quantum entanglement - NOT amateur radio

Ever since doing quantum mechanics as part of my university course a very long time ago, this has fascinated me and made me realise how little we really know. 

Our grasp on things is really so poor. You just wonder how things will develop in the next 100 years.

This video may (I say "may") help with understanding quantum entanglement. I think the basic thing is to think of objects as a wave function that exists in all space and all time for everything. We think of things as objects that exist in just on place, whereas they may (just) exist everywhere and always, which is counter-intuitive.

All we can be certain of is the universe is stranger than we even thought.

10m 500mW WSPR (Monday)

If I was going on 6m FT8, I thought I might as well turn on the 10m WSPR beacon!  6 stations have spotted me, mostly by Es.

UPDATE 1915z:  Spotted by 22 stations today. See WSPR Rocks map by Phil VK7JJ. Furthest is Namibia in S.W.Africa.

Change of plan

I took a look at PSKreporter and saw lots of Europeans working Far East stations on 6m FT8.  I thought, "just like me, take a day off and miss all the fun". So, I decided to go on 6m 5W FT8 after all. Lots of Es, but no Far East on TX or RX noticed here. 

I think I was too late.

UPDATE 1933z:  241 stations have spotted me.

Day off radio?

At the moment, I have no plans to go on the radio today. If there is a big opening on 6m I might change my mind later.

Hot work! - NOT amateur radio

Our local museum (across the road) has a blacksmith's forge run by Will, the blacksmith. The photo was taken on Saturday when temperatures were 33 degrees Celsius in the shade and very humid. Not the sort of weather to be in a hot forge!

Sunspots - Monday June 23rd

 Solar flux is 125 and the SSN 80. A=9 and K=3.

Banana warehouse - NOT amateur radio

My wife’s great grandfather was a banana merchant in Sheffield who lived from 1857-1927.

10m QRP WSPR (Sunday)

My 500mW beacon was turned on at breakfast.

UPDATE 0917z:  Spotted by 4 stations so far. Usually, I check for spots on WSPRnet, but accidentally left PSKreporter on 10m. Interestingly, just one of the 4 WSPR stations appeared.

6m 5W FT8 (Sunday)

 

My 5W to the V2000 vertical omni antenna has been on since breakfast.

UPDATE 0932z:   40 stations have spotted me. It looks like most are by Es.

UPDATE 1508z: 350 stations have spotted my 5W 6m FT8 with the furthest UN3M (3553km) in Kazakhstan.

UPDATE 2130z: Now QRT but 355 stations have spotted me today - nearly  all European. See map .

Sunspots - Sunday June 22nd

 Solar flux is 125 and the SSN 87. A=10 and K=2.

Lightning maps

Although storms are more likely to occur further north, I like to assess the risks by looking at the lightning maps. At the moment the risk looks very low.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=;ts=0;y=27.9497;x=10.4637;z=4;d=2;dl=2;dc=0;

The fog of war - NOT amateur radio

Recently Israel and Iran have been fighting a war in the air. The Ukraine war has been raging since early 2022. Israel has been at war in Gaza since it was attacked in late 2023.

One common factor is "the fog of war". That is each side tries to outdo the other by spreading often false data. Recently, AI has been used.

All I am saying is this: it is very very easy to believe everything you see whereas it is quite common for this data to be wrong, especially during wars. Caveat emptor.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0k78715enxo .

10m 5W FT8

My gear was turned on at breakfast time.

UPDATE 1049z: So far,  93 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 52 stations here.

UPDATE 1525z: 170 stations have spotted me today. See map.

UPDATE 1840z: 196 stations have spotted my 10m 5W FT8 today. Although several stations in South America have spotted me, no spots of me from the Caribbean or USA.

Gilbert and Sullivan light opera - NOT amateur radio

In the UK, G&S light operas performed by local groups have become a tradition. These were written back in the late nineteenth century.

Last night we went to a local group performing in the village. They did “The Gondoliers” which is a favourite. My brother was in this in Devon in the late 1950s. 

When we got home it was 10.20pm and it was still just light. The photo shows the windmill next door at 10.20pm.

It was the longest day. Although night get about 1 minute later for a little while, the mornings start to get darker. It seems no time since the winter solstice!

Saturday plans

 Later I shall probably try 10m QRP FT8 with my IC-705 at 5W.

Sunspots - Saturday June 21st

 Solar flux is 130 and the SSN 95.  A=9 and K=2.

Ham radio costs

MLS was supposed to have been on the air earlier on HF.  What bothers me is the impression that is put on people that amateur radio is an expensive hobby. The MLS kit would not give you much change (if any) from £10k.

Let me say you do not need to spend much to enjoy the hobby.  You can spend lots if you want to, but you can communicate across the planet with gear costing a small fraction of the MLS price. 

Now, I have no wish to stop those who wish to spend a lot on our hobby, but this is a choice, not a necessity.

Electric cars - NOT amateur radio

My car is infrequently changed. I do not do long miles in my car: most are about 8 miles return with the occasional trip of about 30 miles return. For longer journeys I take the train. In years past I would have thought nothing of doing a 600 mile round trip.

In the past limited range of an electric car was a concern. This is not a concern any more. 

Important factors for me are (a) reliability (b) insurance costs (c) availability (d) home charging (e) space for the weekly shop and the occasional visitors and their luggage.

Which brings me on to electric cars: these are mostly too expensive to buy, but a lease deal might be better. The prices are dropping, but they still are high. However, home charging might offset this to some extent.

Most low cost offerings come from China such as MG and BYD.

I am still not convinced about battery technology that still seems to rely on lithium batteries. At some point I was expecting prices to drop with the advent of solid-state batteries, together with a better range. As far as I know this has not happened yet. Whoever gets there first will have a huge advantage.

At the moment, I shall probably hang on to my 2018 diesel car, but I expect my next car might well be electric.

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

 My 5W gear has been on since lunchtime.

UPDATE 1335z:  57 stations have spotted me - mostly mainland Europe by Es.

10m 500mW WSPR (Friday)

My QRP beacon has been on since lunchtime.

UPDATE 1330z:  No spots.

Yesterday on VHF

Stations spotting my 6m QRP FT8 yesterday 

On 6m FT8 987 stations including one in the Caribbean spotted my 5W FT8 to the vertical omni antenna and the Es reached 2m with the furthest on 2m FT8 (sadly RX only) being IT9.