Elecraft K3S

See  www.elecraft.com .

I see Elecraft has launched a de luxe version of its K3 transceiver. The K3 was already a pretty good rig and the S version will be even better, but sadly far too expensive. I guess Elecraft is right that this will be many times less expensive than similarly spec'd transceivers, but to me this is still far too much for an amateur radio rig. Don't forget that lots of the features cost more - like the mic and 2m!

At half the price maybe, but certainly out of the question here in the UK when shipping, import duty and VAT have to be added. I am able to get lots of fun from our hobby spending just a small fraction of the cost. There will always be people who will pay these prices and buy a tower and a big beam.  Sorry, but this is not for me. I wish Elecraft well but feel they will need to slash prices soon to compete with the Chinese. An alternative is for Elecraft kits to be shipped from China. Sorry, but this may be the only way they will be able to compete in the future.

Plenty of 10m Es today

As well as 6m, 10m WSPR has been alive with Es today. Below are the unique 10m WSPR spots today. No real DX, but plenty from around Europe spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon.

Unique 10m WSPR spots by Es today so far

6m Es - at last a decent Es opening

This lunchtime there was a significant Es opening on 6m WSPR.  Although there have been minor openings before, this was the first decent 6m Es opening I have seen here.  So far, best DX was OH5XO (1943 km). Nothing outside Europe so far.

Unique 6m WSPR spots so far today.

UPDATE 1528z:   Best DX spot on 6m WSPR is now OH7AI at exactly 2000km.

UPDATE 1552z:  6m Es has been present most of the afternoon.

UPDATE 1844z:   HB9 and I stations have also spotted me on 6m WSPR.

E-field probes

A very successful antenna for VLF, LF and MF receive only is an E-field probe. Ideally these should be mounted outside the house with some experiments to find the quietest spot. Size is not important and these are much smaller than many antennas for much higher frequencies.  The picture shows an example EFP. This is the complete antenna - no wires or loops etc are needed in addition. They can be made by just about anyone, so there is nothing stopping you having fun on 136,472 or even VLF RX.   Some people have built these inside a short length of uPVC pipe. The important thing is they are very small and work well on the lower bands.

I have also used EFPs as mag mounts on the car when looking for my signal on 136kHz QRSS3. These are very compact antennas. PA0RDT has created a good design that many people are using.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/efp .

6m PC closed down for updates

The PC I use with the FT817 closed itself down overnight and I have only just restarted it, so 6m WSPR has been off until about 5 minutes ago. It is synced to internet time and the FT817 was still on, so it should soon be reporting any spots.  When the PC closes (usually around 0300z) the WSPR program, and everything else, has to be restarted. This usually happens once a week and I am aware I could choose to install updates manually if I wanted.

UPDATE 1030z:  So far on 6m, just exchanging spots with Eddie G3ZJO (79km).  No sign of 6mWSPR signals via Es today, well not yet.

70cm UKAC last night - missed

We had visitors yesterday, so I missed the May 2015 70cm leg of the UK activity contest (UKAC).  Although I only run 5W pep and a small hand-rotated 5 el beam I seem to be able to work out to about 200km on this band. Hopefully I shall be on for the next leg.

There was a new raft of 70cms beacons about to come on the band in the UK.  I must check if any of these are on the air yet.  There was a real shortage of UK beacons on this band. The last time I looked only 2 UK 70cms beacons were active but that was some months ago.

Still no 10m real DX

EA8BVP (2986km) and CT1JTQ (1843km) have spotted my 500mW on 10m WSPR several times, but no real DX so far today on this band.

East Anglian Churches blog updated - NOT amateur radio

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

Today we visited North Norfolk and called in at Cley and Wiveton churches. I have updated the churches blog with Cley church. Wiveton church will be added shortly. A few more images will also be added later.

6m WSPR update

Since yesterday evening 7 unique stations have been spotted on 6m WSPR and 6 stations have spotted me (best DX was G4AYT at 114km). Still just G stations either by tropo or helped by reflections off aircraft. No Es seen here on 6m in the last day or so. I shall be on 10m and 6m WSPR all day.

UPDATE 1900z:   Sadly, no 6m Es today, well at least not for me. However, quite a few spots given/received from G stations.

A poorer day ahead?

Sunspot number has declined to 170, still high, (K=6) and 10m propagation is expected to be "poor" today, so unless Es livens up 10m we are unlikely to see great things. I think the disturbed conditions will be the killer.

UPDATE 0812z:  GM4SFW (662km) spotted my on 10m WSPR last evening via Es.

UPDATE 0814z:  Despite the "poor" 10m predictions I see that VK has been spotted in Germany on 10m already. There is hope yet?

Nepal second earthquake - NOT amateur radio

News is just breaking that a second large earthquake has struck eastern Nepal. This was a 7.3 magnitude quake and it must have been so frightening for those poor people already struggling to come to terms with the first earthquake a few weeks ago. It must be so hard for the children.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-32701385 .

6m WSPR - early Tuesday

G4DUL (68km) has been exchanging 6m WSPR spots with me this morning as has Eddie G3ZJO (79km). No 6m Es seen yet on WSPR, but it is still very early.

Early 6m WSPR spots today

UPDATE 1104z:  G4FFC (45km) has recently been spotted. His signal has 2 distinct traces but no clear signs of any aircraft reflections. The 4Hz drift  (on both his traces) maybe his warm-up drift and some movement of my RX.

UPDATE 1500z:   As well as spots exchanged with G3ZJO, I have received G8EPQ (77km) a couple of times on 6m WSPR. This looks like pure tropo studying at the RX traces, but Bob G8EPQ tells me there are lots of Easy Jet flights going over his QTH. Certainly there was no evidence of aircraft on the traces I saw. Maybe with planes with the right amount of Doppler (i.e. low) I might see G8EPQ at other times too?

UPDATE 1522z:  Although quite a few UK stations on 6m, no Es seen so far today. I shall keep looking.

10m - I know why no WSPR spots!

I just found out why I had zero spots with my 10m WSPR beacon! The positive power lead was open circuit so the beacon, although supposedly connected to the PSU had no power! Doh! I must be so stupid. I check on a lounge PC and although 6m was fine, the stand-alone 10m beacon was not. I must have disturbed the wires when I disconnected it last week. Anyway, it is now on and I am hoping for some spots today.

UPDATE 0925z:  Almost immediately being spotted by G4IKZ (18km) and Italians via Es on 10m.

UPDATE 1055z:   OE3BUB (1229km) has spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon several times in the last 1/2 hour. This is Es.

UPDATE 1510z:  Only local G4IKZ (18km) spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon so far this afternoon.   Despite the high sunspot number and the Es season, it is very quiet, so far, here.  Maybe things will liven up later? Maybe tomorrow I'll go on 10m RX for a change? It is quite a while since I looked for WSPR spots on this band. As I can only RX on one band at a time, I shall have to go QRT on 6m tomorrow.

10m yesterday

With my 500mW WSPR beacon I was on 10m TX all the time but was spotted by no-one yesterday. However I see that G4IKZ was spotting a reasonable amount on his Moxon beam. I think Nick was beaming south. He must have a useful gain in the favoured direction compared with my compromised antenna. Nick copied nothing after early evening yesterday.

UPDATE 0926z:  See later post. The problem was at my end! Doh! I am so stupid.

Better today?

Sunspot number has climbed to 188 (K=3) and 10m conditions are forecast to be "good". Just maybe things will be better on 10m today. It is hard for them to be worse than yesterday.

10m - no luck today?

I only switched on my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon mid-afternoon after being off-air for several days. Unlike 6m, which has been fairly productive with G stations today, 10m has been a total blank, I think EA8BVP may be off the air on 10m as he has regularly spotted me for weeks.

Both 6m and 10m will be running overnight now I am back home, although I think the K=4 suggests conditions are rather too disturbed to support much DX at my power level on 10m WSPR. Just maybe my 500mW on 10m will be spotted by some moderately distant Gs tonight?

UPDATE 2047z:  Still absolutely zero on 10m WSPR today.  This has been the worst day on 10m for a very long time. Not even a single Es spot to liven things up and not a single G station, not even the locals!

UPDATE 2128z:  Still no luck on 10m WSPR today.

6m WSPR - aircraft reflections?

I am pretty convinced that some of my 6m and 2m WSPR spots are only possible when aircraft are in the right place at the right time with acceptably low Doppler. This evening Eddie G3ZJO was spotted several times with quite high Doppler on occasions. I am not convinced that I am copying Eddie as a result of planes - I think his signal is copied by pure tropo, but I am convinced some signals are only copied as a result of aircraft reflections, much as happens on bands like 23cms upwards. G3WKW (134km) is an example of a station I only seem to copy by aircraft reflection on 6m and 2m.

G3ZJO has analysed M0YOU's signals in his blog. See http://g3zjo-radio.blog.co.uk/2015/05/11/six-meters-aircraft-reflections-20343648/ .

UK General Election - NOT amateur radio

The Conservatives are back in UK government with a small overall majority. Unless they lose this majority in by-elections in the coming years (people do die) they will be in power for around 5 years to come. Of course, if they lose this slim majority and lose a confidence vote there could be another general election sooner.  The people of the UK voted in a "first past the post" election, so what will follow is largely due to us entrusting them with power.  We can expect more cuts to welfare benefits but, arguably, this is what the majority wanted.

The Labour party failed to explain why they should be entrusted with power and our money. Instead the nation chose a majority Conservative government.  We will have an EU referendum in 2017. I personally expect we will vote to stay in, but the UK expects more common market and less federalism in return.  A lose common market, i.e.a big free trade area, is what we joined, not a United States of Europe. I like France, Spain and Italy etc because they are unique and special in their own ways. Long may this continue.

WSPRnet issues (still sluggish at 1740z)

I am not sure if this is just a temporary blip but I am having great trouble accessing the main online database for WSPR called WSPRnet. It is taking an age to load. Although I have managed to access the database (after some minutes) I an shown as receiving no spots on either 10m or 6m.  This may just be poor conditions or others failing to upload spots. I hope it is just temporary.

UPDATE 1545z:   G6IMT (65km) is exchanging spots with me on 6m. With low Doppler, this could be pure tropo. I just checked the online traces from G6IMT and there are plenty of reflections from aircraft evident, although the traces that decoded may have been the direct tropo signal. Typically G6IMT is about -15 to -17dB S/N with me running 5W. Not sure what antenna he is using.

UPDATE 1740z:  So far nothing at all on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1742z:  I see that I spotted G3ZJO earlier this afternoon on 6m WSPR (-21dB S/N)

Pye PF8

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/pf8 .

In my younger days I was a design engineer with Pye Telecom and one of the projects I worked on back in the 1970s was the Pye PF8.  In its day this was a very novel transceiver, with few controls to get broken, an internal antenna and a DC-DC converter so it ran on a couple of rechargeable batteries.  I was responsible for the antenna and the TX audio but was also heavily involved in debugging the many issues we had.  The product became world famous as Bodie and Doyle used the radio in the TV show "The Professionals".  Not that many were sold and on the second hand market they are very hard to find. I know some have been put to use on 70cms. They worked well in the end but they were a nightmare to work on at the time.

It was around this time I met Clive Sinclair.  He was interested in compact antennas for his little TV and was interested in co-operating  on RF ICs. Neither happened but I was flattered he had asked me for advice!

Been away from home

2 of our grandchildren

We are back home now and I am beaconing on 10m and 6m WSPR again, but I have been off the air for a few days visiting our son and his family near Canterbury in Kent. I took no radio gear with me and blog entries were few and far between. Normal service has now been resumed.

Sunspots and 10m - May 11th 2015

Although conditions are more disturbed today, sunspot number is virtually unchanged at 134 (K=4). 10m propagation is expected to be just "fair".

Tenbox 10m AM transceiver

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/tenbox

This very simple 10m AM transceiver is based on the Fredbox and Sixbox transceivers. This is designed for local communications and NOT DX. Although the RX and TX have been breadboarded, illness has prevented the project being boxed. It would benefit from a 10dB TX linear and a RX LS amp such as an LM386 stage. More details on my main website.

Sunspots and 10m - May 10th 2015

Sunspot number is 136 today (K=3) and 10m propagation "good" again.

Well, that was a surprise - NOT amateur radio

With all the UK General Election results in we have a majority government with no coalitions needed.  All opposition has been crushed with leaderships up for grabs in all opposition parties apart from the SNP. Honestly this was a total surprise to most if, if not all, of us.

Sunspots and 10m - May 9th 2015

Sunspot number has climbed to 135 and for once 10m propagation is forecast to be "good" for the first time in weeks.

UK General Election - NOT amateur radio

Please, if you have not done so already and you are in the UK, get out and vote. We live in a free country and this is our democratic right. The MP we choose, irrespective of party politics, represents us. Although I have not voted for his party for over 40 years, our local MP and his team have always researched my questions and got back to me with a considered reply.

The result of the UK General Election is too close to call and I expect we will be ruled by another coalition government, although it could be some weeks before we know the mix and flavour.

Shortwave Interval Signals

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/interval  .

For a touch of pure nostalgia try the link above. Like many, my first experience with short wave was as an SWL, listening on a simple receiver to some of these broadcasters. Many were trying to indoctrinate me whereas all I was really interested in was a QSL card! I recall some great gifts from China! I heard some impressive DX back in the 1960s.

Of course radio amateur DXing came later and  radio amateurs ran considerably less power. These days I regularly copy stations running less than 5W from the other side of the planet, but I can still recall the thrill of hearing a 5kW broadcaster in the Windward Islands and copying Radio Australia on a crystal set - all the way from Australia too!

10m WSPR - such a poor day!

Apart from locals G4IKZ and G4KPX the only other station to spot my 10m WSPR today was LB9YE (1533km)in JP54pu (Norway), I presume by Es.  This is, so far at least, one of the worst 10m days that I can recall in recent years. Not even EA8BVP has been copying me, if indeed he has been active.

UPDATE 1635z:  EA8BVP (2986km) has just spotted me at -20dB S/N. Maybe I spoke too soon?

UPDATE 1820z:  No, with just a couple of spots by EA8BVP  and little else this is "a bad hair day" on 10m WSPR. Certainly the worst for a long time.

UPDATE 1915z:   Still no sign of DX stations. Just 2 spots by EA8BVP, one by LB9YE and spots by locals. Will give it a few more hours then QRT on both 10m and 6m. May watch the election results for the first hour or so.

6m WSPR - just Gs

So far today, quite a few spots given and received on 6m WSPR, but sadly they are all from UK stations. No signs of 6m Es so far today. These are the unique spots on 6m today. Most stations have been spotted many times.

6m WSPR uniques today so far.  No great DX!

6m WSPR this morning

As yet, there has been very little evidence of 6m Es on WSPR this Es season here. Perhaps a couple of stations spotting me or being spotted by me so far. Like last summer, results on WSPR have been disappointing so far. I shall stick with it most days just to see what happens.

New this morning, by aircraft reflection, was G8EPQ (77km) who has been spotted several times. Doppler has been quite high on occasions. Although this could be warm-up drift on a purely tropo path, I think that multiple aircraft reflections are more probable. There was 4Hz drift evident nearly an hour after first spotting him - aircraft surely?

Sunspots and 10m - May 7th 2015

Sunspot number is 85 - still quite high (K=1) and 10m propagation is expected to remain "fair" today.

UPDATE 0914z:  So far on 10m WSPR just spots from locals G4IKZ (18km) and G4KPX (14km). No DX spots yet on the band.

10m antennas

As you will have noticed by now, 10m is one of my favourite bands.  Although quiet at many times in the solar cycle it always comes to life with Es from late April until September. Alert 10m operators will sniff out Es at other times too, but there may be long periods of noise, as on 6m. WSPR is an ideal mode when the band may otherwise seem quiet.  It is good for local nattering at any time and F2 N-S DX  is often there even at solar minima.  Antennas for the band are small and easy to make such as the design on my website for a 10m halo. See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/ .

A video of K7AGE making a dipole for 10m is available at YouTube.  See https://youtu.be/84F4UgSWmQo.   In this video, Randy is making a dipole for the USA technician's band, so to cover the main SSB band (28.4 to 28.6MHz) you will need to make the wire slightly shorter.  In my experience if you cut the wires for the centre of the band it will still have a pretty low SWR at the band edges. Even a very simple ATU will bring the SWR down to 1:1, although  unless your rig has a problem with a mismatch of around 1.8:1, I would not bother, as the difference in radiated power is negligible (fraction of an S-point).

Because of the short wavelength, 10m antennas don't have to be that high to be effective. When the band is in good shape, worldwide DX can be had with simple wire antennas and low power. It is a rewarding band.  What is more, 10m multi-mode transceivers can be bought at low cost.  In summary, 10m is unique: low cost transceivers, simple antennas and good DX potential.

Es on 10m and 6m

EA1KV (1304km) was spotting my 500mW WSPR at lunchtime on 10m and DL1KAI (645km) was spotted very early this morning on 6m WSPR.  Both of these were Es I believe.

Still waiting for some Es outside of Europe on 6m WSPR.  Guess I have to be patient.

UPDATE 1325z:  M0YOU (116km) has been spotted strongly on 6m WSPR but with a lot of Doppler suggesting aircraft reflection. G3ZJO (79km)  has also been spotted on 6m WSPR.

UPDATE 2208z:  More 10m Es with I4ZTO (1185km) spotting me earlier, but no sign of spots by USA stations again.

Belcom LS-707 70cm multi-mode rig

A radio amateur in Nottingham,Vic G0RVA, recently bought one of these Belcom rigs. It appears to be an all-mode 70cm rig, although I am not familiar with this unit.

I know Belcom did a 2m version (the famous Liner-2, which I did once own) and a similar version for 70cm. The Liner-2 was a modification of their 10m version, which I don't think was ever sold in the UK.  Inside Vic's rig was what looked like a canned preamp with the marking "AngleLinear" but again I am not familiar with this unit. Angle Linear appear to be based in the USA http://anglelinear.com/ .

In its day, the 2m Liner-2 transformed 2m. It was a synthesised SSB rig and was frequently pushed too hard so that splatter was a problem. I was amazed how far I could work on 2m SSB with 10W pep. From Cambridge I could work stations that would have been impossible on FM or AM. I found I could work 200-300km with a simple antenna under ANY conditions.

Many were critical of these early Belcom transceivers, but I enjoyed my Liner-2 as did many others. Later I bought an ICOM IC202 which was a better radio, but with less ERP. The IC202 had a mock military style, that really was not too clever.

The "coming of age" of 2m SSB marked the change from "tuning high to low" to single frequency working. Sadly, there is far less activity on 2m SSB outside of contests so people think VHF is only really any good for local QSOs. With 10W SSB, or even less, it is possible to work a long way on VHF irrespective of conditions. From my current QTH, I think 200km is reachable with 5W pep and a 3 el beam on 2m. It is not that different on 70cm where I use 5W pep and a 5 el beam. Both my beams are hand rotated.

Sunspots and 10m - May 6th 2015

Sunspot number has climbed back up to 99 (K=3) today and 10m is expected to be "fair". 

So far, just EA8BVP (2986km) who has been spotting my 500mW all morning and local G4IKZ (18km). No real DX to report as yet. Whenever EA8BVP is active he seems to copy me on 10m.

Churches blog updated - NOT amateur radio

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

The East Anglian Churches blog has been updated to include Exning, St Martin, church which dates back to the 1100s.

Exning is older than nearby Newmarket which is world famous as the home of horse racing. Exning is about 2 miles from us and Newmarket about 4 miles away from us.

We do most of our food shopping in Newmarket as it is the nearest main town with the main supermarkets like Waitrose, Asda and Tesco. There is also an M&S.

Amateur radio as a gateway to a career in engineering?

See http://www.kb6nu.com/is-amateur-radio-still-a-gateway-to-electrical-engineering/  .

At one time, amateur radio was a good gateway into an engineering career, but I have real doubts this is true today.  In my younger days, when I started as a professional radio engineer nearly everyone who was any good was a radio amateur.  When I left 7 years ago, I was the only person doing any amateur radio building over my lunch break.  The magic is no longer there.  In fact people are embarrassed to admit they are radio amateurs. We need to find what connects with the younger generation  or the future of our hobby is at great risk.

I think I have mentioned on my blog before that when interviewing potential RF design engineers with good honours degrees I was appalled to find that most knew nothing about radio. I knew more as a schoolboy. This is a sad indictment of our times. It was not that I was good (I was not) but the quality of good engineers was not there any more. There was little intrinsic interest in radio - if it was in the course they might know about it. As youngsters, we were excited about radio! Where is that spark today?

Heathkit coming back?

There are rumours suggesting that Heathkit is being resurrected and may yet again sell kits.  I sincerely hope this is correct as Heath made some of the very best kits in its time. When it stopped selling amateur radio kits it left a big hole.

In my time I owned the HW8 (15, 20, 40 and 80m QRP CW transceiver), plus an Electronics Workshop when I was first interested in radio way back in the early 1960s. The Electronics Workshop enabled me to do some Medium Wave broadcast DXing around Christmas 1961) and some decent DX was worked with the HW8 in the late 1970s.

Although the Heathkit website (www.heathkit.com) worked yesterday it does not appear to work today, at least not when I tried.  Http:/heathkit.com does work. It does not like the www. Try deleting this if it appears in your browser.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit .
See also http://www.amateurradio.com/heathkit-2/ - post by Neil W2NDG.
See http://stores.ebay.com/datapro/_i.html?rt=nc&LH_BIN=1

QRP Kits reopens

That font of all knowledge Steve G1KQH reports:

"Hendricks QRP Kits http://www.qrpkits.com has re-opened for business under its new proprietors, James Bennett and Kathy Long of Pacific Antenna.  James writes:

"We are excited to resume operations as of May 1 providing Hendricks QRP Kits and in the very near future, we will be bringing back the entire Pacific Antenna line of antenna kits and parts.  We very much appreciate the patience that has been shown as we worked through this transition and we look forward to serving the QRP community.  73 James and Kathy"