Later, I will continue with 500mW 10m WSPR and 5W 6m FT8 probably.
6 Nov 2025
5 Nov 2025
Wars
We live in more uncertain times with people seeming more angry than they were, In many nations the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer.
In my view, this widening gap between rich and poor is a pointer towards revolution, when the poor say "enough is enough". Sadly, rich billionaires control most of the media and ways by which people communicate.
I really hope revolution in many nations can be avoided. I hope that those voted into high office look beyond "feathering their own nests" and look to really improve the lot of the common man.
What is happening in the USA is a poor advert for democracy. What is happening in Russia is troubling too.
6m 5W FT8 (Wednesday)
My gear was turned on at about 1120z.
UPDATE 1634z: 30 stations have spotted me . See map. It seems that almost all times I go on 6m QRP FT8 TX, I get spotted in mainland Europe.
Making the Pixie better
The Pixie is available as a 40m transceiver extremely inexpensively from China. It is a low power transceiver, but the receiver is a real compromise often suffering from overload from broadcast stations and with poor selectivity. These mods by VK3YE 9 years ago make it a bit better.
If you are after a really low cost way of getting into amateur radio, this may be it. There have been several variations of it down the years.
The Pixie and Micro80 are also on my website.
4 Nov 2025
Hamsphere special offer
At the moment I am being offered a year of Hamsphere at a special price of 9.99 Euros. I am not sure if this is being offered to all new members.
I am not really a fan of simulated amateur radio, but I can understand this could appeal to some people with no access to traditional amateur radio transceivers or antennas. I imagine it is less popular when HF conditions are very good, as they are currently.
At this price I am tempted, even though I might use it infrequently.
10m 1W FT8 (Tuesday)
My gear was turned on at about 0700z. FT8 is a very impressive mode, although not for chatting.
UPDATE 1001z: 84 stations have spotted me with the best 9K2RA-2 (4641km) in Kuwait. Really going down to 1W has made little difference, apart from increasing the fun. I might stick at this power in future, or try even lower! I think the lowest from the IC-705 is 500mW, although I can always add the 15dB attenuator.
UPDATE 1820z: 352 stations have spotted my 1W FT8. See map.
UPDATE 2024z: QRT.
630m WSPR RX
Overnight I left my IC705 on 474.2kHz WSPR RX again using just the outer of the coax to my 2m big-wheel antenna and mains earth. In all, 11 stations spotted.
10m AM
In years past I was impressed with 10m AM just above 29.0 MHz. I have not listened for a while so must try again.
Christ’s Pieces, Cambridge, UK
The power of AI
A few days ago, I saw an old photo of my dad with his WW2 flying crew. It was black and white. I put it through AI and I was impressed.
3 Nov 2025
On 474.2kHz WSPR RX again (Monday)
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| 630m ATU |
After the success last evening I am again on 474.2kHz WSPR RX with my ad hoc antenna and ground.
UPDATE 2203z: Already spotting 8 stations with the furthermost 8 spots of OH1LSQ (1733km).
Milking?
Whenever something sensational happens it seems the media "milks" the story, going on for days and days,
Recently, we had what appears to have been a mentally ill person stabbing train passengers. Whilst fully understanding this must have been very traumatic for those on the train, I get really annoyed that the media goes on and on about it. In this case it was the BBC. It seems that every story must be rung dry and made to last. We rarely get good news as this is, sadly, not newsworthy.
Recent examples have included the UK Prince Andrew.
Google Ad(non)sense
Suddenly the number people looking at this blog shoots by a factor of about 10. I am sure the popularity of the posts has not suddenly gone up! I have no idea how they measure visits, but I am sure it is not correct.
630m WSPR RX (Sunday evening)
It is ages since I tried 630m WSPR RX. I connected my coax up to my 2m big-wheel via a ferrite rod ATU as the antenna and a mains plug ground. All this is very far from ideal! Judging by results, it certainly works.
2 Nov 2025
Change of plan - 40m 2W FT8
Earlier in the evening I can go on 40m FT8 TX at 2W via my coax to the 2m big-wheel antenna via an ATU.
UPDATE 1831z: No spots of me although I have spotted a couple of stations in Germany with this ad hoc set-up.
UPDATE 1853z: Swapped to my 10m EFHW antenna via the ATU. Lots more stations spotted on RX, but nobody has spotted my 2W.
UPDATE 1858z: I have come to the reluctant conclusion that 2W is below the noise floor for most stations in Europe. I shall stick with it for a while longer, then go back to 474.2kHz WSPR RX only.
630m (474.2kHz) WSPR RX
For a total change, I am on 474.2kHz WSPR RX using the coax up to my 2m big-wheel antenna tuned via a ferrite rod ATU and a mains plug earth.
UPDATE 1826z: DC0DX (467km) spotted. This rubbish set-up works!
UPDATE 1916z: Back on 472kHz WSPR RX. DC0DX copied 5dB stronger.
How simple?
Many years ago I designed and built this transceiver for 80m CW. It has been on the blog before. It is also on my website. It just goes to show what is possible with just 14 parts!
Outside of space and time
One of the philosophical questions I have been grappling with recently is consciousness outside of space and time.
We live in a world bounded by space and time. We seem to live in a vast universe with time flowing from the past into the future. Trying to imagine things outside of these is all but impossible.
I am reminded of a book I read in the 1960s where everything had just 2 dimensions. Thinking outside of these was almost impossible. An object passing through this world might get larger, then smaller, but it might be hard to understand this in a 2-dimensional world.
The book may have been called Flatland. There are books called this on Amazon, although I am not sure if these are the same book in more recent editions? It was first published as a novella in 1884, so these may well be the same.
I sometimes think we might be like that: unable to think unless they are within the bounds of experience of our finite brains.
We are used to think in our world view, but this may be a very narrow.
Cycles
Today's Knowledge reports that some things appear to be cyclical. For example, big breasts are popular when times are tough like in wars or when times are hard e.g. with a possible market crash coming.
There is a popular saying, "what goes around comes around".
The Knowledge points out that people who sometimes complain (rightly in my view) about climate change fly around in private jets!
My grandchildren will not eat anything past its "best before" date. I abhor waste.
In years gone by a wolf whistle was seen as a compliment by a girl. These days most men would be too afraid of being had up for sexual harassment.
Now, I strongly believe everyone deserves respect whatever their race, creed, ability, colour, or sexuality.
Sometimes I wonder has the pendulum swung too far?
The Knowledge is a free daily email with a summary of the news from various sources.
Reverse beacon network
This is a useful resource that I have used infrequently, probably as it does not monitor the modes I most use. It can tell you where your CQs get, even if nobody replies. I think it supports CW, RTTY and PSK.
6m 5W QRP FT8 (Sunday)
My gear was turned on at about 1008z.
UPDATE 1218z: Spotted by 16 stations including Eire and Germany.
UPDATE 1607z: 24 spots of my QRP today including some in mainland Europe. See map.
10m 500mW WSPR TX (Sunday)
My beacon was turned on at about 1008z.
UPDATE 1612z: So far, spotted by 22 stations. Several from North America with one in Brazil.
1 Nov 2025
10m 500mW WSPR TX (Saturday)
The stand-alone beacon was turned on just before tea.
UPDATE 1914z: 7 stations have spotted me with several in North America.
6m 5W QRP FT8 (Saturday)
UPDATE 1907z: 18 spots of me so far including 3 in Scandinavia. See map.
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.
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.
31 Oct 2025
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.
30 Oct 2025
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)
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
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.
29 Oct 2025
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.
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