Where we live

 

This is the view from our lounge window down our close. In the other direction is the windmill. 

CQWW SSB contest - LAST weekend

At one time I never missed this as a chance to work a few new countries and states. Since my voice has been poor I rarely go on this contest now. In fact I totally forgot it was on last weekend!

To me DX chasing is no longer important. I worked 10m QRP SSB DXCC back about 40 years ago, so I leave it to others these days. 

Solar data

It is good to see the updated solar data. We are now clearly on the downward slope of the solar cycle, although we can expect conditions on the higher HF bands to be good for quite a while yet.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ . 

AI dangers

Recently I have been watching several videos on YouTube supposed to be the sayings of Albert Einstein. The trouble is we can’t be sure he ever said these words! 

It is now very easy to make videos, photos and texts with AI, The trouble is these AI generated images and words are often believed. So, disinformation is spread. 

I am sure there are lots of good things that become possible with AI where lots of data has to be processed quickly, but there are also great dangers. 

We now have to treat EVERYTHING we see with scepticism sadly. 

Sunspots - Saturday November 1st

 Solar flux is 125 and the SSN just 34.  A=25 and K=2.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Friday)

My beacon was turned on at 1339z.

UPDATE 1730z: Several stations from the USA and Canada spotting my QRP as well as V51RS (8481km).  See map from WSPRrocks.

6m 5W FT8 (Friday)

 My gear was turned on at 1340z.

UPDATE 1729z: So far, spotted by 28 stations in the British Isles. No continental stations have spotted me yet today.

8m operation

Although I did not renew my UK 8m TX permit, there is still activity with stations in the Caribbean getting licences and Spain getting permits for another 18 months.

Instead, I have QSYed to 6m FT8 and been surprised to find real continental DX stations spotting my 5W FT8 to the omni vertical antenna on every day I have been operating. The moral is do not give up on 6m.

In my view, 8m deserved special permits in very many countries around solar maximum to allow real propagation research. Instead, very very few bothered. I was disgusted.

Friday plans

As I am out this morning, I cannot be on until after lunch. As we may get some thunder, I may not go on today. 

Albert Einstein on God

This is a long YouTube video in which Albert Einstein talks about God.  In essence, he argues that we see through the perspective of space and time, whereas the essence of "God" is outside of these.

Sunspots - Friday October 31st

 Solar flux is 120 and the SSN 68. A=38 and K=4.

10m 500mW WSPR (Thursday)

 

My beacon was turned on at about 1200z.

UPDATE  1825:  So far spotted by 24 stations. See table.

UPDATE 2219z:   QRT.

6m 5W FT8 (Thursday)

 

Yet again, what looks like Es to the Balkans.

UPDATE 1222z: 10 stations have spotted me  today. My gear was turned on at about 1200z.

UPDATE 1820x: 75 stations have spotted me. See map.

UPDATE 2220z: QRT.

YouTube videos

There are huge numbers of videos on YouTube. Many people now watch YouTube on TV which is a recent change. 

Whatever your interest, you are almost certain to find a video. If you do a search I can almost guarantee you will find something. 

Last night we watched a video about transport in the time of Queen Victoria in the UK. This was on the TV.

If you want videos about Russia I have found TimesRadio and Joe Blogs videos informative.

2m and 70cm antenna

Many years ago a local amateur G0LRD very kindly erected my big-wheel omni antenna which I use on 70cm SSB/FT8 and 2m SSB/FT8. Although a 2m antenna it seems to work really well on 70cm although I have no idea about polar plot on 70cm,

The big-wheel is a horizontally polarised antenna with some gain. It is an array of half-waves, suitably matched.

It is ideal for this and regularly gets a long way even with my QRP.

Sunspots - Thursday October 30th

 Solar flux is 118 and the SSN 80. A=20 and K=3.

Ukraine war

The "special military operation" will soon be in its 4th year, with huge numbers of casualties both amongst Russians and Ukrainians. This is a tragic waste of young lives. 

I watch videos on YouTube from TimesRadio.

10m 2W FT8 (Wednesday)

 My 10m 2W FT8 was turned on at about 1230z.

UPDATE 1631z:  So far, 177 stations have spotted me.

Wednesday plans

 Later, I shall probably try 10m, 12m, and 15m 1W WSPR frequency hopping. Maybe some 10m QRP FT8 later.

Sunspots- Wednesday October 29th

 Solar flux is 122 and the SSN 91. A=19 and K=3.

10m 500mW WSPR (Tuesday)

UPDATE 1948z:  Spotted by 47 stations with 2 in Brazil.

6m 5W FT8 (Tuesday)

 

My gear has been on since 1023z.

UPDATE 1135z:  32 stations have spotted me today so far.

UPDATE 2015z:  Spotted by 51 stations. See map. Es? Every day I go on 6m QRP FT8 I seem to get spotted at great distances. Are we seeing more E layer openings due to climate change?

UPDATE 2200z: 55 stations have spotted me today.

Meshstastic video

 This video may help explain meshtsatic concepts.

Tuesday plans

 Probably 500mW 10m WSPR TX and 5W 6m FT8 again later.

The future of experimentation

For a long time, I have been wondering about the future of radio experimentation. 

Fewer amateur radio people carry out experimentation preferring instead to buy ready-made transceivers to communicate. 

In the future I am sure a small number of people will want to carry on with radio experiments although, more and more, I am convinced this will be outside traditional amateur radio. 

I suspect many will go the ISM direction or possibly other forms of communication such as light beams or sub-8.3kHz. In the past I have experimented at 481THz (red light) and very low frequencies through the ground.  Neither require licences. No licences are required to use ISM, although a self-declaration of conformity may be needed, certainly in the UK.

Sunspots - Tuesday October 27th

 Solar flux is 121 and the SSN 96. A=6 and K=3.

Meshtastic

Last Friday the Cambridge Radio Club (CDARC) had a talk on Meshtastic . This is a form of "off grid" mesh communications. 

This uses LoRa and ISM bands. It is yet another form of experimentation that does NOT need amateur radio. 

Operation on the ISM bands is licence-free.

Brandon Country Park, Suffolk, UK

We went here this morning. The leaves were beautiful.

6m 5W FT8 (Monday)

My gear was turned in at about 1335z.

UPDATE 2022z:  Spotted by 29 stations. See map. Now QRT.

10m 500mW WSPR (Monday)

My beacon was turned on at about 1325z. 

UPDATE 2031z:    Spotted by 24 stations. See table. Now QRT.

Building the Hermes Lite transceiver

 This video shows how someone built a Hermes Lite . No soldering is needed.  It will be QRP.

Lounge view

 

This is the view from our lounge window. 

The hedge at the front is ours.

Monday plans

 Later, I hope to go on 10m 500mW WSPR and 6m 5W FT8.

WSJT-X 3.0.0

Steve G1KQH has reminded me that WSJT-X version V3.0.0 is available, but it is only available as a release candidate. Normally, a fully released version comes later. I believe V3.0.0 offers some further improvements.

See https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx.html.

Sunspots - Monday October 27th

 Solar flux is 124 and the SSN 92. A=4 and K=1.

10m 2W FT8 (Sunday)

My gear was turned on at about 1025z.

UPDATE 1147z:  So far, spotted by 141 stations. 

UPDATE 1804z:  595 stations have spotted me today. See map.

UPDATE 2011:  600 stations have spotted my 2W 10m FT8 today. Now QRT.

Russian oil

Most, if not all, people want an end to the war in Ukraine. 

This has caused a lot of deaths and injuries on both sides. Much of Russian income comes from oil and the recent sanctions on the two biggest oil companies in Russia just might lead to an "off ramp" and an end to the fighting.

In my view one solution is a bit like Germany after WW2. Parts of Ukraine would be East Ukraine, linked to Russia and the rest Western Ukraine much as Ukraine was. In 20-30 years who knows what will happen, possibly Ukraine will be reunited much like Germany. 

I have nothing at all but respect for the Russian people. I still exchange emails with a radio amateur in Moscow.

In my view almost all wars are unnecessary. Most ordinary folk are just the same underneath and just want to live at peace. Sadly, some in power have huge egos or insecurities.

19 set?

I am no expert on WW2 radios. This looks like a 19 set, but I have an idea it is not. Maybe versions were made in the USA?

UPDATE 1033z:  According to Keith (thank you!) it is a 22 set.  See https://www.pa3esy.nl/military/gb/army/WS22/html/ws22_set-gb.html

Sunspots - Sunday October 26th

Solar flux is 127 and the SSN 89.  A=9 and K=1.

Pasties

It is rumoured these started life as a meal for Cornish miners with one half being savoury and one half being dessert. They could be held in the hand. I have no idea if this is true or not.

What I do know is that I enjoy pasties. One of my favourites used to be Ivor Dewdney pasties that one could buy in Plymouth. 

You can buy them by post but they are very expensive. They also make vegetarian and vegan pasties these days. I suppose beef is now very expensive.

Autumn visitor

This must have crawled up the plug hole. It was about 3cm long. I put it out the window.  

Some have phobias about spiders. To me they are just fun.

10m 2W FT8 (Saturday)

My gear was turned on at about 0930z.

UPDATE 1805z: 642 stations have spotted me across the planet. At one point this afternoon I noticed the number of stations spotting me had not gone up. Then I noticed that I had not turned the PSU on at the mains. So all reports up to about 1500z were at 1W and not 2W.

UPDATE 2025z:   647 stations have spotted me. Now QRT.

Autumn sky yesterday

This was Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge, UK yesterday. 

QDX and QDX-M

QRP-Labs produce some high class transceivers as kits or ready built units at very competitive prices. 

These are made in Turkey and designed by Hans Summers  G0UPL.

The QDX is a digital only, 5W, transceiver about the size of a pack of cards. 

They also do a simpler radio (the same size) covering just one band (2200m - 10m) called the QDX-M which is shown in the photo.

See https://qrp-labs.com/ .

Spooky?

This year, Halloween seems to have come early. 

The cynic in me says this is all about making more money, but the kids enjoy the fun. 

Our grandchildren loved it, but they are now too old: they enjoyed carving a pumpkin and playing silly games.

This was the decoration outside a house locally. 

Sunspots - Saturday October 25th

 Solar flux is 134 and the SSN 99. A=10 and K=0.

Autumn colours

In the sunshine we went for a walk at nearby Anglesey Abbey. 

The autumn colours are really good this year. Apparently it is due to the high sugar content because of the growing conditions.

10m 2W FT8 (Friday)

My gear was turned on at about 1000z.

UPDATE 1117z: 130 stations have spotted me so far this morning. 

UPDATE 1755z:  572 stations have spotted me with lots in North America. See map.

King’s College , Cambridge

These are the grounds at the back of King’s. I used to go to a weekly meeting in a room just off this photo when I first came to Cambridge in 1970.

Batteries for the future

We all know that electric cars (maybe hydrogen) are probably the future. 

However, they are, on the whole, expensive with a limited range. They also tend to need batteries with materials that are not that common. 

What is needed is a real breakthrough allowing a far greater range and a battery technology that uses easily obtainable materials. 

It would be good to have lower weight. I am sure that across the world a lot of research is going on to make these breakthroughs as whoever gets there first would have a huge commercial advantage. 

One avenue is a solid state battery. Another is a technology that does not need lithium such as sodium. It would be good to be able to top up the charge quickly too although if the range was considerable, many could charge at home quite infrequently.

There is a lot of hype around and I am not sure what the answer is. I suspect this breakthrough is not many years away.