FT991 Yaesu flagship "shack in a box"

http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=71-001812

The price here in the UK started out at £1279.95, (e.g. Martin Lynch and Waters and Stanton) which seemed high to me. The rig looks very attractive at the right price, but I think UK dealers are banking on "early adopters" who want a new radio at silly prices. Greed? Who said that? Surely not! Prices are a little cheaper in the USA  but not sure of VAT and duty or guarantee.  The usual guarantee from the big UK dealers on Yaesu products is 2 years, but it is wise to check.  Also, further discounts may be offered if paying cash.  I can wait and wait!   £999 seems the right price, or even less.

The latest edition of Practical Wireless shows Haydon Communication now selling it at £1099.99. I assume this price includes VAT.  I can see others matching or bettering this price when the "early adopters" have had their day.

The rig covers all modes 160m-70cms and includes a limited range internal ATU and a colour touch screen. It also supports Yaesu's C4FM digital mode. Nice radio, at the right price. I expect the UK price will soon be £999. Wait.

Sunspots and 10m

Sunspot number has risen to 68 today, which is quite a jump. 10m propagation is expected to be "fair" yet again. Yesterday a total of 16 different North Americans spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon.

UPDATE 1106z:   Plenty of 10m spots  from  EA8BVP (2886km), one from 4X4TAU (3864km) and a scatter overnight and this morning from G4CUI (172km) the latter probably by aircraft reflection and tropo.

UPDATE 1404z:   Still no USA spots as yet.

UPDATE 1452z:   EA8BVP has spotted me 80 times in the last 12 hours. This is perfect N-S single hop F2 propagation. Still no North Americans spotting me on 10m WSPR.

Cambridge Voices - NOT amateur radio

Late this afternoon, my XYL and I went to a Cambridge Voices concert in Cambridge. We have many good choirs in and around Cambridge but these are up there with the very best, certainly in the UK and probably in the world. To sing in this group you have to be a very good singer indeed.

As you can imagine, the concert was brilliant.

USA spots on 10m today

WD4ELG (6287km) was the first in the USA to spot my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon today at 1452z. I was half expecting there to be no opening to the USA at all today. As I write this at 1905z the opening is still in full swing.

UPDATE 2048z:   The USA 10m opening  is continuing. K9AN (6505km) is the latest.

UPDATE 2155z:  The last USA 10m WSPR spot today was WD4ELG (6287km) at 2110z. Looks like the opening is over?

472kHz update

Results on 472kHz WSPR (5mW ERP from earth-electrodes) is disappointing with no new reporters recently. Still getting some useful distances (607km) but it would be nice to be spotted by a few new reporters, rather than the same old folks! Soon be time to QSY to a new band. 6m was disappointing in the last Es season, but is perhaps the easiest to try and I could use my V2000 vertical.

472kHz WSPR - unique spots in last 24  hours (5mW ERP)

Low sunspot number

Sunspot number today is 29 (K=2) and 10m propagation is expected to be "fair". Plenty of 10m WSPR spots from EA8BVP (2986km), a scatter from G4CUI (172km) and local G4KPX (14km), but no real 10m DX as yet.

UPDATE 1304z:   Still no real DX on 10m today .

10m USA WSPR spots - plenty today

10m WSPR was in good shape today despite the relatively low sunspot number.  First to spot my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon in the USA was WN2FMM (7008km) at 1406z.  Since then, plenty of other USA stations have been spotting me.

Despite the low sunspot number, it has been a good day on the band, despite the "fair" 10m forecast. This has been the case many times: often I get reports from the other side of the planet when I was expecting very little. My 10m antenna is far from optimised too.

UPDATE 1705z:   The 10m USA opening is still in full swing.

UPDATE 1732z:  I see that PY3OL (10412km) is spotting my 500mW again on 10m WSPR. 6 continents today on 10m is not at all bad.

UPDATE 2012z:   USA 10m opening still going on. W3GXT (5840km) is the last USA station to spot me, but there still could be others.

OFCOM again

Please don't misunderstand my views on OFCOM here in the UK. Generally, they have been supportive of the amateur community and I am grateful for this.

However, I am very critical that they seem loath to make real decisions about anything hard. Perhaps this is because they need real teeth and less government fiddling in the wings? I believe they need to be fully independent of government interference and be able to make common sense decisions without excuses. All the time they seem to hide behind the law as a safe-guard from doing anything very hard.

I have been critical of the FCC many times but in several ways they take a more pragmatic approach to spectrum management. All the time OFCOM employees seem to fear taking any hard decisions in case they break the law. Perhaps we need to employ people who actually understand radio and spectrum issues. Oh sorry, I forgot, these are a dying breed. We only have "yes boys" left.

King's Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

A punt outside King's

King's College Chapel is probably the most famous building in Cambridge and it is known the world over. Yesterday my wife and I went there for a lunchtime concert (which was great) and I have updated the churches blog.  The BBC had their Outside Broadcast van parked outside, probably for another concert over Easter.

King's College Chapel from the River Cam

Sunspots and 10m - Friday April 3rd 2015

Sunspot number today has fallen to 31 and 10m propagation is expected to remain "fair".

So far this morning it has been good on 10m with my little 500mW WSPR beacon being spotted all over the place with best DX being VK6POP (14465km). Based on results this morning I'd expect the 10m band to open to the USA, but being 10m who knows?