6 Apr 2016
Sunspots and 10m - Wed April 6th 2016
Solar flux is 83 today. Sunspot number is 27 today (K=2). The forecast for 10m propagation is again "poor". After yesterday, I am not expecting much on 10m, but I might get a surprise!
QRT on 630m WSPR and now back on 10m WSPR
After a relatively quiet night on 630m WSPR during which I was copied by several different Dutch stations, I have now returned to 10m WSPR.
UPDATE 0945z: No 10m WSPR spots as yet.
UPDATE 1558z: Still not a single 10m WSPR spot here all day.
UPDATE 0945z: No 10m WSPR spots as yet.
UPDATE 1558z: Still not a single 10m WSPR spot here all day.
5 Apr 2016
Back on 630m (472kHz) WSPR
Since around 1900z I have been active on 630m WSPR. There have been lots of spots given and received. It would not entirely surprise me if my 5mW ERP signal is spotted in Norway again tonight. LA8AV is quite strong here tonight.
Concert - NOT amateur radio
My wife's concert was last Saturday and she spent part of this morning
erasing pencil marks from the many scores borrowed by inter library
loan.She now has a break until the autumn when they start rehearsals again for the 2017 concert which is Elijah by Mendelssohn.
The next concert will be at the West Road Concert Hall. which is an excellent venue in Cambridge. It is where the university music school is located.
The 2016 concert was good and enjoyed by the very full audience who attended.
Sunspots and 10m - Tues April 5th 2016
Solar flux was 82 and sunspot number 23 (K=1). The forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor" today.
UPDATE 0915z: No 10m spots so far, although this is expected as it is still very early.
UPDATE 0942z: G4CUI (172km), to the west of Sheffield, has been spotted on 10m WSPR. He is often spotted here.
UPDATE 1256z: G4CUI spotted again, but no DX on 10m.
UPDATE 0915z: No 10m spots so far, although this is expected as it is still very early.
UPDATE 0942z: G4CUI (172km), to the west of Sheffield, has been spotted on 10m WSPR. He is often spotted here.
UPDATE 1256z: G4CUI spotted again, but no DX on 10m.
2m UKAC tonight
A reminder that the 2m leg of the RSGB's UK activity contest is tonight at 1900z for 2.5 hours. I shall be on with 5W QRP and the big-wheel omni. I seem to be able to work out to about 200km, although I usually only stay on for an hour or less because of my poor voice. 8-10 QSOs and I'm done in!
UPDATE 2025z: After 8 QSOs I was done in. So I stopped after 50 minutes on air. Best DX was the South Coast with G4RUL/P (172km).
UPDATE 2025z: After 8 QSOs I was done in. So I stopped after 50 minutes on air. Best DX was the South Coast with G4RUL/P (172km).
 |
| 2m QSOs tonight with 5W SSB and big-wheel in 50 minutes |
630m overnight and back on 10m WSPR
Quite a few spots on 630m (472kHz) WSPR overnight,but no great DX either way (i.e. spots given or received). Best DX on TX were spots from PA land (306km). I did spot LA on RX (1035km) but he did not spot me last night.
I have now gone QRT on MF and started up the 10m WSPR for the day.
I have now gone QRT on MF and started up the 10m WSPR for the day.
4 Apr 2016
Another low cost rig from Yaesu?
See http://www.qrpblog.com/2016/04/yaesu-ft-891-new-hf50mhz-transceiver.html .
The date of this was April 1st, so this may be a wind-up. If it is, like me, you have been fooled!
YO9IRF/M0HRH reports on his blog about on the Yaesu FT891. As reported, if true, it is a mobile-sized rig covering HF-50MHz.
As I said, this could be a wind-up. Caveat Emptor. It was also picked up by Amateur Radio Weekly, so if a joke, they were fooled too!
They claim this is not an April Fool wind-up. I hope this is correct.The FCC data does look genuine enough. If a hoax it is a very complex one. The question is, if genuine, will it be available in Europe and at what price?
The date of this was April 1st, so this may be a wind-up. If it is, like me, you have been fooled!
YO9IRF/M0HRH reports on his blog about on the Yaesu FT891. As reported, if true, it is a mobile-sized rig covering HF-50MHz.
As I said, this could be a wind-up. Caveat Emptor. It was also picked up by Amateur Radio Weekly, so if a joke, they were fooled too!
They claim this is not an April Fool wind-up. I hope this is correct.The FCC data does look genuine enough. If a hoax it is a very complex one. The question is, if genuine, will it be available in Europe and at what price?
50W red LEDs cheap on eBay
Bernie G4HJW recently posted to the UK Nanowave Yahoo about some powerful red LEDs that he bought from China for just £2.80. A couple of these are more powerful than the 10mm LEDs that I used in non line of night tests (when I was fitter) but even without any lenses! It would seem these would be ideal for optical tests. 50W is a lot of power. This was Bernie's post. I trust he won't mind me sharing it with you all:
"Morning all - This might be of general interest:
I recently bought a couple of 50W red LEDs from China, which I thought I might use in a wide-angle initial set-up lantern for portable use. They were very cheap (£2.80), so I also expected there would be dead segments, which there were, but there was a bigger surprise waiting to show itself.
During this weeks UK uwave group net, Martyn G3UKV asked me how wide the spectrum was, so out came my trusty secondary school Spectroscope. Instead of the expected relatively narrow response, there was noticeable output right through to yellow plus a weakish narrow line at the violet end. This should have been an obvious clue, of course, but it was only later when I was telling Stuart G8CYW (sorry about all the name dropping..) that he suggested that the LEDs might be fluorescent driven devices, just like the white lighting LEDs all seem to be these days. He was correct, as the following picture shows:
http://www.earf.co.uk/uvred.JPG
Note that in pealing back some of the fluorescent gell, all but one of the individual 1W UV leds have been destroyed. Not obvious from the picture is that these LEDs are embedded in an initial clear silicon rubber prior to the red fluorescent layer being applied. From supplier ebay pictures, it is now clear that the same UV driven devices are available in all colours, leading to the question - does this produce an overall increase in efficiency, or is there simply a significant cost saving in just fabricting UV LEDs?.
I've yet to measure the response time of the fluorescent material.
Bernie
G4HJW"
Working with simple optical gear was one of my great pleasures, so I very much hope I can do this again. Optical gear is easier than microwaves. All my kit was home designed and built and the test gear simplicity itself. For details of my optical work see http://www.g3xbm.co.uk . G4HJW and others know far more than me in this area. I consider myself very much a novice in this area.
"Morning all - This might be of general interest:
I recently bought a couple of 50W red LEDs from China, which I thought I might use in a wide-angle initial set-up lantern for portable use. They were very cheap (£2.80), so I also expected there would be dead segments, which there were, but there was a bigger surprise waiting to show itself.
During this weeks UK uwave group net, Martyn G3UKV asked me how wide the spectrum was, so out came my trusty secondary school Spectroscope. Instead of the expected relatively narrow response, there was noticeable output right through to yellow plus a weakish narrow line at the violet end. This should have been an obvious clue, of course, but it was only later when I was telling Stuart G8CYW (sorry about all the name dropping..) that he suggested that the LEDs might be fluorescent driven devices, just like the white lighting LEDs all seem to be these days. He was correct, as the following picture shows:
http://www.earf.co.uk/uvred.JPG
Note that in pealing back some of the fluorescent gell, all but one of the individual 1W UV leds have been destroyed. Not obvious from the picture is that these LEDs are embedded in an initial clear silicon rubber prior to the red fluorescent layer being applied. From supplier ebay pictures, it is now clear that the same UV driven devices are available in all colours, leading to the question - does this produce an overall increase in efficiency, or is there simply a significant cost saving in just fabricting UV LEDs?.
I've yet to measure the response time of the fluorescent material.
Bernie
G4HJW"
Working with simple optical gear was one of my great pleasures, so I very much hope I can do this again. Optical gear is easier than microwaves. All my kit was home designed and built and the test gear simplicity itself. For details of my optical work see http://www.g3xbm.co.uk . G4HJW and others know far more than me in this area. I consider myself very much a novice in this area.
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