Sunspots- Monday November 10th

 Solar flux is 176 and the SSN 126.  A=8 and K=2.

Monday plans

At the moment I am not sure about Monday. I may try 23cm beacon hunting with my SDR receiver or even lower power on 10m FT8. If there is thunder around I may just stay off the air.

Spitting Image

 This was originally on terrestrial television, but is now on YouTube.  I imagine they avoid some of the censorship this way. 

50mW 10m FT8 (Sunday)

Just for fun, I am trying 10m 50mW FT8 with the IC-705 with the attenuator right on the output (see photo).  Almost immediately it was received by an IT9 over 2000km. 

I have used the GE3 prefix to distinguish the 50mW signals.

UPDATE 1304z:  59 stations have spotted my 10m 50mW FT8 today. Furthest is OX3HI (3173km).

UPDATE 1449z:   84 stations spotting me. Nothing from the USA or Canada yet.

UPDATE 2012z:   97 stations have spotted me with the furthest KW7MM (8476km) in Arizona. See map.

Sunspots - Sunday November 9th

 Solar flux is 172 and the SSN 107. A=36 and K=2.

Day off the radio?

 Today, I shall probably not go on the radio. On Sunday I may give 10m FT8 a try with 50mW.

Obscene?

I have just heard that the richest man in the world has just got a salary package that could be worth an extra $1trillion. 

When some in the world are starving, I find this obscene. Meanwhile the poor get even poorer. 

Some advert for democracy - NOT.

Web SDRs

There are quite a few SDRs (software defined radios) connected to the internet often with extensions so you can decode your favourite modes. It is fun to take a listen to these.  

I was listening on 10m FT8 via http://sdr.gb0snb.com:8073/ which uses an active loop by George Smart M1GEO called the Wellgood loop. See https://www.george-smart.co.uk/projects/wellgood-loop/ .

A search on Google or similar will produce a list. of webSDRs.  Alternatively see https://rsgb.org/main/operating/web-sdr-receiver/.

Sunspots - Saturday November 8th

 Solar flux is 166 and the SSN 133. A= 32 and K=5.

USA government shutdown

Not being a politician, I am unclear about the government shutdown in the USA, but it must be costing a lot to the USA economy. I can see this becoming a massive issue.

10m 500mW FT8 (Friday)

Without an external attenuator, 500mW FT8 is the lowest power I can run from my IC-705. It was turned on at about 0945z.

UPDATE 1036z: So far, spotted by 83 stations. It is still too easy!! Furthest is RN4WA (3365km).

UPDATE 1433z: 231 stations have spotted me including VO1CH (3737km).  See map. I think I'll stick with 500mW today, but might try 50mW 10m FT8 another day. At 500mW FT8, I have no problem at all getting lots of spots on 10m. Furthest is a spot by HZ1BQ (4465km).

UPDATE 1640z:  250 stations have spotted my 10m 500mW FT8. Furthest is W4SPF (7202km).

UPDATE 1708z: QRT.

2m activity contest last Tuesday

Every month, despite my poor voice I go on the 2m and 70cm activity contests (UKAC) organised by the RSGB. It may be me, but I am sense there are fewer people taking part. 

Perhaps it is me, but maybe the higher local noise floors in urban areas are making it harder for QRP stations. Certainly, I generally work fewer 2m stations, whereas I don't have the same problem on 70cm. in fact I usually work more now on 70cm SSB!

Where I was spotted with 2m 10W SSB to the big-wheel omni antenna

On FT8 with half the power I am regularly spotted on 2m in GI and EI at well over 400km. It seems to me that on 2m FT8 it is far easier.

Sunspots - Friday November 7th

Solar flux is 163 and the SSN 104.  A=43 and K=5. 

2m 5W FT8 (Thursday)

 My 2m FT8 gear was turned on at about 1820z.

UPDATE 1857z: So far, 11 spots of me with furthest GI6ATZ (479km).

UPDATE 1922z:  QRT.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Thursday)

My beacon was turned on just before lunch.

UPDATE 1444z:  No spots.

6m 5W FT8 (Thursday)

My gear was turned on at about 1145z.

UPDATE 1745z:  16 stations have spotted me.  All are in the British Isles.  See  map.

The Tenner QRP CW transceiver

This was a 500mW CW transceiver that I designed and built some years ago. 

It is also on my website. 

It has worked plenty of DX.

FTX-1 and IC-705 head to head

In the end, if you are choosing between these two transceivers, it will be a personal decision based on the way you operate. 

Another factor is price with the IC705 considerably less expensive than the FTX-1 in the UK. In this video, both are compared. The IC-705 has more features built in.

Personally, I would not pay the extra for the FTX-1.  If it was the same price as the IC-705 it might be a harder decision!

Village centre?

In our village, Burwell, we have no real village centre, with shops in various places. 

Perhaps the village centre could be considered as near our local co-op shop where there are a few shops together as in the photo. 

Thursday plans

 Later, I will continue with 500mW 10m WSPR and 5W 6m FT8 probably.

Sunspots - Thursday November 6th

Solar flux is 147 and the SSN 76. A=28 and K=3. 

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.

10m 500mW WSPR (Wednesday)

My beacon has been on since about 1130z.

UPDATE 1324z:  No spots. 

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.

Sunspots - Wednesday November 5th

 Solar flux is 159 and the SSN 91. A=10 and K=2.

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.

Tuesday plans

 At the moment I am inclined to try 10m FT8 at 1W after breakfast.

Christ’s Pieces, Cambridge, UK

Autumn  seems to have suddenly arrived. It all seems to have happened in the last couple of weeks.

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.

Sunspots - Tuesday November 4th

 Solar flux is 133 and the SSN 87. A=20 and K=3.

On 474.2kHz WSPR RX again (Monday)

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.

Sunspots - Monday November 3rd

 Solar flux is 123 and the SSN=43.  A=18 and K=3.

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.

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.

See https://www.amazon.co.uk/

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.

See https://www.reversebeacon.net/ .

6m 5W QRP FT8 (Sunday)

 My gear was turned on at about 1008z.

UPDATE 1139z: So far, spotted by 8 English stations. 

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.

Sunspots - Sunday November 2nd

 Solar flux is 115 and the SSN 24. A=14 and K=2. 

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)

 

As we were in Cambridge, my gear was not turned on until shortly before teatime.

UPDATE 1907z:  18 spots of me so far including 3 in Scandinavia. See map.