630m WSPR RX

A few moments ago I QSYed to 472kHz WSPR RX with the shack PC on battery power. This should last until breakfast. So far, 3 uniques spotted in a few minutes.

40m WSPR

For this evening I am on 40m WSPR with 2W, but my antenna is very low on 40m.

UPDATE 2028z: So far a few European spots, but none of me on TX. Best RX DX is OM1AI (1251km).

UPDATE 2314z: Time to QSY to 472kHz WSPR RX for the night.

New dual band 4m/2m yagi

Thanks again to Southgate News come details of a new dual band InnovAntennas yagi covering 2m and 4m. At over £200 with shipping this is not cheap, but if these are your favourite bands it may be what you need. I have no doubts that it will be well made.

Time you add a rotator and low loss coax, it is too much for me I am afraid, although this is your decision, not mine. You alone have to decide how to spend your disposable income.  To you it may be a good investment.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/january/innovantennas-releases-4-2m-dualbander.htm#.Wl9vEEx2vIU

The first geology map - NOT amateur radio

A few days ago I just finished reading a book about William Smith who was a geologist at the start of the 19th century and the creator of the world's first geology map. In his early life he was largely passed over.

OFCOM and £££

OFCOM has given more details of the auction later this year of microwave spectrum destined for 5G. It seems all they are interested in is making money. Bring back the GPO and people who really cared.

See http://ofcom.cmail20.com/t/ViewEmail/i/85A1D55D45106DCA2540EF23F30FEDED/59D1BD3EA2F08127C67FD2F38AC4859C

10m FT8 RX

My shack PC continued on battery power until breakfast using 630m WSPR RX, but I am now on 10m FT8 RX. No spots as yet.

UPDATE 1452z: Just a couple of Dutch stations spotted so far today on 10m FT8 RX. Aircraft reflections?

UPDATE 1910z: No further spots all day, so time to QSY - 40m WSPR for the evening?

Carillion - NOT amateur radio

If you are outside of the UK you may not have heard of Carillion. This is a very large construction (and other) company that has just gone in to liquidation with debts, allegedly, of around £1.5B. They use a lot of subcontractors and are involved in a lot of contracts for public works.

They have been in trouble, apparently, for a long time. What seems incredible is that the UK government continued to give them work when they were clearly in trouble. Their payment terms were, allegedly, changed from 30 days to 120 days. So a subcontractor would get paid nearly 4 months after doing work. Personally I think this immoral.

Now they are in deep trouble, lots of people could lose their jobs.

Bribes - NOT amateur radio

I have been watching a TV programme that reveals the bribes paid to a certain Middle East country. It make you wonder how many other nations need bribes to "oil the wheels" of business. Personally, I find this totally wrong.

Sunspots - Wednesday January 17th 2018

Solar flux is 71 today and the sunspot number 13.  A=4 and K=0.

630m WSPR RX overnight

Last night, I spotted 11 uniques on 630m WSPR RX. Nothing from the USA.

QSY to 630m WSPR RX

At about 1940z I left 10m FT8 to move to 630m WSPR RX. So far, just G0MRF and PA0SLT (456km) spotted.

California shackled children - NOT amateur radio

As I write this we do not know the true facts. From what little we do know, it appears the kids in this large family were found emaciated and in some cases shackled to their beds. No doubt the full facts will emerge in the next few days.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42698562 .

QRP Club Newsletter

Oleg has made this available to all QRPers who are members and friends of the QRP Club.

See http://club72.su/
See also https://groups.io/g/72

Amaryllis growing - NOT amateur radio

If I remember right, I mentioned an amaryllis that did not seem to be growing. Well, it is!

There is a small shoot that has grown overnight. If things go as expected this will be several centimetres by next week.

10m FT8

Since about 0930z, I have been on 10m FT8, mostly RX. I did call a Polish station calling CQ unsuccessfully. At the moment, SQ4OJD (1357km) is the only spot.

UPDATE 1310z:  So far today, just 2 spots with IK4DCT (1181km) in northern Italy copied late this morning.

UPDATE 1918z:  In the end 5 stations spotted on 10m FT8. The others were from Croatia and Italy

630m WSPR RX last night

On 630m WSPR RX it was an average night. In all, 13 uniques were spotted, but all within Europe.

The great outdoors

At the moment here in the UK it has been very dull and wet. Today is bright, but cold and windy.  However, in a few months things will improve and it will be time to venture again into the great outdoors. Some great handheld DX can be worked with just a whip antenna and a few watts of SSB or FM.

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

No 472kHz TX - the mystery deepens

Last evening I tried the same antenna as used at 472kHz using the FT817 via the Z-817 ATU, but on a different band. No antenna current was detected. I'll check that power is coming from the FT817.

UPDATE 0950z: Well there is definitely power from the FT817. Checked with a power meter and power was OK. So, it is either leads or the PA device in the transverter probably.

FT8 operating guide

Thanks again to Southgate News, I see an amateur has written a "Noddy's guide" to this digital mode that has taken the world by storm. It certainly has helped to show bands are often useable when people thought they were "dead". I have found this mode particularly useful on 10m.

See http://www.g4ifb.com/FT8_Hinson_tips_for_HF_DXers.pdf

Russia flexing muscles? - NOT amateur radio

Well, I guess this happens quite a lot. No doubt we don't hear about UK and USA jets nearing Russian airspace!  Remember the U2 spy plane? No doubt the USA, China and Russia have plenty of high resolution spy satellites that we hear nothing about.

Like in any war or cold war, don't believe all you read as it is likely to be rather one-sided. During the Vietnam War we all believed the USA was whiter than white. History tells us otherwise. It is often a good idea to check news from several sources, preferably from sources other than just western media.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-42697065/uk-jets-intercept-russian-bombers-near-uk-airspace

Sunspots - Tuesday January 16th 2018

Solar flux is 70 today and the sunspot number zero. A=10 and K=2.

UK Pound against US Dollar - NOT amateur radio

About 18 months ago "experts" were talking about the UK Pound being worth about 1 US Dollar. At the moment the UK Pound buys about $1.38.

Moral? Don't always believe the "experts"! They guess too.

UK Pound against the Euro? I was wrong last year!

Summits on the air (SOTA)

This is an activity that has taken off in recent years. Keen operators hike up a mountain and "activate" it. Points can be gained by working (or hearing) these activations. It combines hiking and amateur radio. My days of hiking up mountains is probably over (not that we have many mountains in East Anglia!) but others do it. Great fun.

See http://www.sota.org.uk/

Popular? - NOT amateur radio

Either I have suddenly become very popular or the bots are back! I suspect the latter. My blog visits shot up just after the USA woke up. Should this blog suddenly disappear or start producing rubbish (more than usual!) you will know why.

Good news - NOT amateur radio

President Trump has allegedly told the world he is not a racist.  So his alleged remarks about shithole African nations is obviously false news then.  That's good to know. We are so lucky having a genius leading the western world.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42685356

6m MSK144 RX

As of 1018z, I am monitoring 50.280MHz MSK144 RX. As yet, no spots.

UPDATE 1306z: 2 spots so far on 6m, with best DX GI4OWA (583km) very strong at +7dB S/N. This could have been random MS or aircraft reflection.

630m WSPR RX overnight

15 uniques spotted last night with one spot of N1BUG (4940km). Another new one for me was EA7HPM (1726km).

Sunspots - Monday January 15th 2018

Solar flux is 69 today and the sunspot number zero. A=14 and K=2.

Will it or won't it? - NOT amateur radio

At the moment we have 3 amaryllis plants. One is way out with plenty of flowers, one is growing well and this one.

It is hard to tell if this one is coming out. There appear to be some shoots but another week and it will be clearer.

BREXIT: a 2nd referendum? - NOT amateur radio

OK, I may be wrong (I often am!) but I think the people of the UK want to be able to trade freely within the EU, but at the same time want to say who lives and works here. The UK people are precious about the UK parliament having the last word on laws. We also hate waste and profligatism (is that a word?) in the EU.

If a second referendum vote was ever to take place and the questions carefully worded, it would not surprise me if we voted to stay in.

As I have said many times before, there is a lot wrong with the EU and a lot right. Personally, I think the UK people would like a reformed EU. Arguably, the EU has kept peace in Europe (mainly) for half a century, but it needs to evolve or it will fall apart.

How simple?

Many have wondered just how little do you need to communicate on HF?  Well, running really simple rigs is a compromise often with the receiver being the weakest link. For ideas, try my main website. Use these ideas as a starting point. Half the fun is experimenting to see what works.  Specifically:

https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/80m_xbm80
https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/feter-80m-qrpp-cw-transceiver
https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/chirpy

Hawaiian false alarm - NOT amateur radio

So the people of Hawaii got a (false) message saying "take cover, incoming missile". For several minutes they all expected to die. In the end it turned out that the message was sent by mistake and all was well. It makes you wonder what you would do.

I like the suggestion that everyone in Hawaii should have a drink of their choice at the expense of the Hawaiian government!

More seriously, some will have had strokes, seizures or heart attacks as a result of this (false) message. This was no joke and whoever sent the message deserves the sack.

Antarctic WSPR beacon

Thanks to Southgate News comes a link about a multi-band WSPR beacon and RX in Antarctica. Although my own 500mW 10m WSPR has already been copied in Antarctica some years ago, this will be very useful.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/january/wspr-beacon-on-the-way-to-the-antarctic.htm#.Wlteykx2vIU

Snowdrops - NOT amateur radio

These were at Anglesey Abbey, near Cambridge a few days ago. Another month and there will be snowdrops everywhere!

Back to normal - NOT amateur radio

It looks like the hackers and bots have gone away for another few weeks as blog visits were back to normal yesterday. I think there is little of interest here, unless you are a geek!

10m FT8

After a few minutes on TX, I am now on 10m FT8 RX. No spots as yet.

UPDATE 1042z: Best DX spotted so far on 10m FT8 is OZ1LXJ (805km).

UPDATE 1355z: Just one more G station spotted on 10m FT8 today so far. Very quiet.

UPDATE 1603z: Just one more G and PG0DX (411km) spotted. These could be aircraft reflections.

UPDATE 2000z: No further spots today.

Sunspots - Sunday January 14th 2018

Solar flux is 70 today and the sunspot number remains at zero. A=7 and K=4.

Transatlantic on 472kHz

Last night, with the shack PC on battery power I copied 20 uniques, which is a record with my unbelievably bad antenna and ground. Honestly, you would be hard pushed to make you antenna any worse! The FT817 is also starting to get deaf at 472kHz (630m).

So, I was very pleased to spot N1BUG (4940km) twice last night in the early hours. This is the first time I have spotted any North Americans here at this QTH on WSPR on MF. Believe me, if I can spot across the Atlantic with my setup so can you!

New EbNaut decoder for VLF amateur DX

Paul Nicholson, a very good UK VLF SWL, has created some new software:

"Updated EbNaut decoder for Windows, now at version 0.8

 http://abelian.org/ebnaut/software_ms.shtml

This version does 16K23A which is a useful polynomial
for short messages combined with a large CRC.

The Linux program is up to version 0.9 now.

 http://abelian.org/ebnaut/software_linux.shtml

The only significant change is the use of DSW re-balancing
of the list decoder stack.  This may reduce decode time
a little when using very large list lengths.  It is most
useful when measuring the distance spectrum of a polynomial
where a degenerate tree often develops.
--
Paul Nicholson"

Back to 630m WSPR RX

At about 2130z I returned to 630m WSPR RX with the shack PC on internal battery power so the noise floor is lower. Already 5 unique stations spotted including ON7ZO (355km) who I am sure is new.

UPDATE 2210z: Now 10 unique stations including another new one for me - EA3AER (1142km).