Kings College Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

We are lucky to live very close to Cambridge. With our bus passes, we can get into Cambridge for free. With our Kings Passes we get free entry into Kings College Chapel, a place people cross the globe to see. 

Cambridge is quieter at this time of the year, but it is still one of the most beautiful places in the UK.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King's_College_Chapel,_Cambridge .

Spitsbergen - NOT amateur radio

Every 2nd Tuesday, I go to the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge for a U3AC talk on the Arctic and Antarctic. Today, the talk was about Spitsbergen high up in the Arctic. Very interesting too.

We are very lucky in Cambridge having such good speakers/lecturers and a wide choice of subjects. Last term I studied the Anglo-Saxons!  This was very far removed from electronics. It was enjoyable nonetheless.

It is so good to learn with no exams, no notes (unless you want to) - in fact learning about things that interest you for pure pleasure.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitsbergen

Now monitoring 472kHz WSPR RX

For about 5 minutes now I have been monitoring 472kHz WSPR RX using the earth electrode "antenna". Last night the best DX was LA8AV (1035km) in the Oslo area. He was copied many times before I went QRT at bedtime. Tonight he has already been copied 3 times and the best DX is LA2XPA (1310km).

Early 472kHz RX spots this evening

UPDATE 2005z:  Loads of 472kHz WSPR spots. LA8AV and LA2XPA have been copied lots of times already this evening.

UPDATE 2056z:  At my last count LA8AV has been copied 23 times already at up to -8dB S/N this evening. Not a single UK station yet spotted!

UPDATE 2208z: 15 unique stations spotted in 6 countries on 472kHz WSPR this evening, but time now to go QRT. It has been a good night.

10m WSPR

Although I think 10m was open to South America again today, my own 500mW 10m WSPR only was spotted in Germany. It is now time to QSY to 472kHz WSPR RX.

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday February 28th 2017

Solar flux is 82 today (quite respectable) and the sunspot number 40. A=8 and K=1.

6m MSK144 RX and 10m WSPR TX

Since breakfast, I have been monitoring 6m MSK144 where the best DX was IW4AOT (1192km) in JN54 square calling CQ. I think this was random MS.

I am transmitting on 10m WSPR (500mW) but no reports so far today.

472kHz WSPR RX (again)

This evening, I have again been on 472kHz WSPR RX. So far, 9 unique spots with a couple of Norwegian stations in the log. I am about to go QRT and turn everything off.

Unique stations spotted this evening on 472kHz WSPR RX

Ccleaner - NOT amateur radio

For some years now I have run Ccleaner to clear my PCs of rubbish from time to time. This is free and was recommended by Dell some years ago. As far as I can tell it just works.

See http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner .

Amateur radio below 9kHz

Until a few years ago, the conventional wisdom was that you needed huge power and huge antennas to be copied "beyond the garden fence" at VLF and ULF. In recent years much has changed and time and again great distances have been covered by amateurs with quite low power and modest antennas.

The trick is great stability, very narrow bandwidths and long integration times, often of days. For several years just detecting a carrier was enough, but in recent times people have been sending simple messages using EbNaut software.

When at the old QTH I detected signals from several European countries using simple, homemade gear and free software.

Although not totally up to date at all times, I try to update news of amateur VLF and ULF experiments at https://sites.google.com/site/sub9khz/ .

When we die? - NOT amateur radio

This has been mentioned here before. It is something most of us prefer not to think about. Instead we want to get on with our lives.

The year after next I reach 70.  Following my stroke in 2013 I have not enjoyed the health I once had. Compared with many I am lucky though - most of me still works!

Time and again I wonder what happens when we die. Are we just aware of nothing at all, as we were before we were born? Is time and life just an illusion? One thing is certain, we just do not know. With quantum physics, multiverses and many dimensions we cannot experience, it is a brave person who says he/she knows.

All major religions talk about an after-life of some sort. What about morality? If we just die why do we have a sense of right and wrong? Is this a human facet?

No, I am not worried, but I think about this more than I did.

Life is a mystery and I do not have the answers. All religions may hint at answers, but most are thousands of years old, the texts of which were written when we believed the earth was flat, the centre of the universe, demons were real and the world was a very different place.