CCS, singing for the UK Prime Minister - NOT amateur radio

CCS recent concert

This evening we are off to a Cambridge Voices concert in Ely Cathedral and this reminded me of the occasion many years ago when my wife was singing a choral concert in the same venue when the Prime Minister of the day, John Major, turned up!  He was surrounded by bodyguards and wanted to be "ordinary" but the committee insisted he got front row seats! His daughter was playing in the orchestra. I think he enjoyed the concert, but would have been happier without people trying to make him even more noticeable!

The Cambridgeshire Choral Society starts rehearsals for the new season later this month. You are welcome to join. Men are especially welcome.

Sunspots and 10m - Mon Aug 31st 2015

Sunspot number today is 50 (K=2) but 10m propagation is expected to remain "poor" today. We are now at the crossover from summertime conditions (mainly Es) on the higher HF bands and autumnal conditions which will see Es all but go, apart from the brief fleeting openings, to be replaced by F2 propagation. As I have said many times, I expect this autumn and winter we will have one more decent 10m "season" before the band takes a nosedive to behave more like a VHF band. Es is usually productive at any point in the solar cycle in the spring and summer months. The CQWW SSB contest (late October) should be good on 10m for this season. I must try not to miss it this year! Last year I just forgot and the autumn before I was in hospital.

UPDATE 1412z:  Es on 10m (Italy and Germany) but no signs at all of Es on 6m WSPR.

Regular GDX on 6m WSPR.

One thing regular WSPRing on 6m has shown is that the path between G0OQK (98km) and I seems to be open regularly. It would be good to try this with a 2-way digital mode like JT65 or JT9-1. Even with low power by tropo and plane reflection this path seems workable.

Earth-mode VLF communications

Today I received a nice email from a station in The Netherlands on the subject of earth-mode communications. Apparently he had been inspired by my work and was still hoping to achieve better results. Earth-mode requires simple gear and simple test gear, but results can be unpredictable. It is an area where true experimentation is still possible. From my limited tests when I was fit (before my stroke) I am convinced there is a lot more to learn.

"Hello Roger,

How are you doing? I hope you are doing fine.

Since this is my first mail adressed to you, please let me first introduce myself.

My name Is Jan ( PE1AXM ) and I am a radio amateur since 1977 and live in the south-west part of the Netherlands, my age is 59.

My radio interests are mainly: making home made equipment.

About 1 year ago I discovered one of your articles that triggered my interest in 9kHz earth mode communication. So I started building. For Tx I use 2 earth rods, 2 meters long and separated 20 meters.Resistance between these rods is 16 Ohms.

A home made amplifier is capable of delivering 1 Amp into these earth rods.

For reception I use a small loop antenne that resonates at 9 kHz, followed by a low noise pre-amp and a PC with Spectran Plus software.

To be honest, I thought that a range of 4 km's would be an easy job, but I soon found out that this was not true.

My best dx so far is just over 1 km, but I realise that still a lot can be improved on my system.

Roger, I thank you for your stimulating articles and I hope that you will make further recovery."

Es on 10m and 6m WSPR

So far just a single spot by DK6UG (633km) in mid-afternoon on 10m WSPR. No Es DX seen at all today on 6m WSPR. Definitely at the end of the Es season now with Es still there but less frequent.

Sunspots and 10m - Sun Aug 30th 2015

Sunspot number is 50 today (K=2) and 10m propagation is yet again "poor".

UPDATE 1054z:  Although the forecasts show 6m Es, I certainly have seen no evidence here as yet. Likewise on 10m where the best DX was G4CUI (172km) around breakfast time. I assume this was tropo and aircraft. I see this quite a bit of tropo and aircraft reflection on 6m but less on 10m for some reason. So far, no Es on either 10m or 6m WSPR, although it is still quite early.

More on the ICOM IC7300

See http://www.icomuk.co.uk/News_Article/3508/18526/ .

The 100W unit covers 70MHz (at 50W) in the European version. I have asked ICOM UK if they intend to sell the 10W version  (IC7300S) in the UK. This would make a fine QRP radio. I will update the blog later.

As Fred G4BWP said, you may chose to buy from a European dealer if they offer a better deal.

Rallies

For years I have received notification of upcoming radio rallies , although I go to very few. Years ago I attended the Huntingdon Rally and very nearly bought a Heathkit HW7 QRP transceiver which was new at the time. This was in the early 1970s. If my memory serves me right they were about £42 new then which was almost half a month's salary. In the end I did not but one. I cannot remember how I got there.

Dear Roger,
The following Radio Rallies are coming soon:
Monday 31 AUGUST : HUNTINGDONSHIRE ARS BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY RALLY
Ernulf Academy, Barford Road, St Neots Cambridgeshire PE19 2SH. OT 10am (traders 8am). CP, CBS, FM, C, TS. Malcolm Hirst, M0OLG, 01480 214 282, henry_hirst@hotmail.com www.radioclubs.net/huntsars.
Distance from Cambridge : 19 miles
Estimated Journey Time  : 40 mins
A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

Es - 10m and 6m WSPR

On 10m just a couple of Es spot by DK6UG (633km) around lunchtime. Otherwise just spots by G4IKZ (18km).

On 6m WSPR plenty of spots again exchanged with G0OQK (98km) but no Es all day.

Sunspots and 10m - Sat Aug 29th 2015

Sunspot number is 52(K=2) but 10m propagation is "poor". Another disappointing day on 10m.