2m FT8

As the day draws to a close, I decided to QSY to 2m FT8. Best DX on TX was GI6ATZ (479km).

UPDATE  2025z: Despite TXing OK on 2m FT8 I was puzzled why nothing was being received. After investigating I found an error in my settings. Once corrected, stations were received OK. I called (without success) a PA0, but the best spot was by EI3KD (583km) in southern Eire.

3 year old falls from high-rise and survives

This is the sort of horror story you watch and hope. Apparently the 3 year old was caught in a blanket and escaped without injury.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-china-49175524/china-toddler-three-year-old-falls-six-storeys-and-survives

70cm FT8

The last time I tried 70cm FT8 the results were abysmal with no spots!  I can now run a bit more power on TX, so may well try again tomorrow (Thursday August 1st 2019).

If you want to give it a go, I should be on most of the day on 432.174MHz FT8. Some of the time I shall try TX. I think I shall try horizontal polarisation.

Bell flowers - NOT amateur radio

My wife has a way with plants. I just cut the grass and make a mess!

This bell flower (sorry I do not know the Latin name) is growing on our patio. At the moment, it is looking good.

Clematis - NOT amateur radio

A few weeks ago I accidentally cut back a clematis whilst pruning a plant nearby. The whole stem with flowers was cut back to the root stock. Thankfully it has quickly regrown.

In the long run this "heavy" pruning was probably a good thing. Hopefully, there will be some attractive flowers on it next year, if not this.

Pye PF1 transceivers

My first job in 1970 at Pye Telecommunications was to convert the PF1 transceiver to 12.5kHz channel spacing. I am pretty sure this was a test to see how I got on.

We used 995 signal generators at that time and, boy, did they drift! For the first hour or so they were unusable and you might as well drink coffee and wait.

The PF1 was a 2 unit UHF transceiver widely used by the UK police in the  late 1960s. Some were converted to 70cms. I remember putting a 2m super-regen RX in a PF1 RX case.

This challenge was set by Mike Gotch who was later G0IMG (now SK). Apparently Mike was a pirate in his early days. In later years he was a keen 6m man.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/pf1
See also http://www.pyetelecomhistory.org/

6m FT8

As the storm risk locally is low, I am about to turn on 6m FT8, mostly RX. It is getting late in the Es season, so it will be interesting to see what comes through.

UPDATE 1019z: Initially I went on TX with 12 spots of me. My best spot was by OY1OF (1163km). On 6m FT8 RX just 3 spots so far with best being F6HGB (985km). Certainly not much early Es here today.

UPDATE 1122z: Now 7 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today. Best DX spotted is OH8BXT (1916km).

UPDATE 1255z: Now 15 stations spotted today on 6m FT8 RX.

Sunspots - Wednesday July 31st 2019

Solar flux is 67 and the SSN 0. A=8 and K=3.  Still poor.

Politics - NOT amateur radio

Although I am not basically a political animal, the shift to the right in many countries bothers me. I well know that socialism does not hold all the answers, but extremism can so easily morph into fascism and hate.

In my view, we need moderate governments in which the will of the people is well represented. In many countries there is a knee-jerk reaction to the parties on the right that promise a lot, and which mostly cannot be fulfilled.

Simple regen RX

On my main website is the circuit of a very simple regen RX. I think mine was on 40m, but the same idea would work on most LF and MF bands. At higher frequencies the drift might be excessive. It is hard to make something simpler that will hear as much.

I seem to recall the late G3RJV (SK) referring to this in a PW magazine column some years ago.

There is a bigger schematic on the website. Click it and the image is bigger.

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

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

6m FT8

As the storm risk was low here, I reconnected the rig, PSU and PC. At the moment the worst storms are further north.

12 reports of my CQ (no QSOs) and 15 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX. Best DX spot on TX was 9A5CW (1253km).

UPDATE  1555z: "One swallow does not make a summer", as they say, but it is getting late in the Es season and the only Es here today on 6m FT8 RX is from the north. I said before that my unscientific observations were that late openings seem to favour more northerly stations. Yes, we'll still see southern Europe, but it will be interesting to see if northern Europeans predominate.

UPDATE 2030z:  Now QRT. In all, 18 stations spotted today on 6m FT8 RX.

Why? - NOT amateur radio

My home insurance reminder came through last week. It was far higher than last year. So, I did the same thing as last year and gave the same company a ring.

Next year's premium is now slightly less than this year. I guess they work on the assumption most people just pay. Personally, I think this is stupid and immoral. Surely it is in their interest to keep loyal customers who rarely, if ever, make a claim.

This is a silly, stupid, game.

Low thunder risk here

At the moment the Met Office weather forecast is showing no thunderstorms hereabouts today. I shall probably reconnect my shack PC and antennas shortly.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/blitzortung/europe/index.php?lang=en

Sunspots - Tuesday July 30th 2019

Solar flux is 65 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=1. Still bad - I suspect this is very close to sunspot minimum.

Hackers? - NOT amateur radio

Periodically, visits to this site shoot up, then die down again. I am sure this is not a sudden interest in amateur radio. More likely it is hackers doing their regular probing. As I have said before, I hope they go away.

6m FT8

So far today, 19 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX. I have not yet been on TX.

UPDATE 1445z: 128 stations spotted so far in the last half day, all Europeans.

UPDATE 2042z: Still 128 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today. Soon be time to go QRT.

Sliding UK pound - NOT amateur radio

Perhaps it is not too surprising with a no-deal BREXIT possible with the Conservative right wing government led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the UK pound is sliding against major currencies.

In my view (others are free to disagree) we are being run by a bunch of total idiots. The sooner there is a General Election and a second referendum on leaving the EU the better.

Although I voted to remain in the EU in 2016, I can see a lot wrong with that institution. In my view, the EU needs reforming or it will fragment. The EU is doing itself no favours by carrying on as it does. This could turn even more people against the EU, which it can ill afford to do.

The UK has always (at least in my day) wanted free trade, but ultimate control of our laws and who lives and works here. Personally, I can see nothing wrong with that. No-one wants a hard border in Ireland, ever. We have never sought political union. Yes, we should come together for defence and good trade deals.

In my view, the EU needs to be more flexible. Sour grapes?

Coming back from York on the train - NOT amateur radio

On Saturday we returned from York by train. It was cheaper to come back first class than second! On LNER we had nice seats, free food and free drinks.

Amateur satellites

In all my time in amateur radio I have only had 1 QSO through a satellite and that was many years ago from 10m to 15m. I have rarely used low orbit satellites. In my early days I had fun listening to the download frequencies of Oscar 6 and 7. I recall hearing North Americans on 2m on late passes.

Sunspots - Monday July 29th 2019

Solar flux is 65 and the SSN 0.  A=4 and K=2.  Basically rubbish.

6m propagation from Europe to Australia

When I first heard of this I was sceptical, but the more I read the more I think this is true.

Apparently several stations were worked, so this very unlikely to be pirates. This appears to be E layer propagation, but multi-hop Es seems to be very unlikely. I am sure some of these long "real DX" paths are not multi-hop Es. As this was at the same time as a 6m opening to Japan on 6m, there is some speculation that this is whatever E layer propagation gets to Japan plus some TEP.

See southgatearc.org/news/2019/july/unusual-opening-from-europe-to-australia-on-50-mhz.htm

See also https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2019/07/unusual-50-mhz-opening-from-australia.html

Oscar 100 - geosynchronous amateur satellite

As many will recall, I take the occasional peek at the Goonhilly web SDR, which monitors the narrowband transponder on Es'hail satellite, also known as Oscar 100.

In my view activity seems lower than a month ago. Certainly activity is not great and has definitely not increased as I once expected. Looking just now on a Saturday afternoon, the most I saw were 5 stations active on SSB at one time. By now I was quite expecting the main issue to be too many stations, possibly overloading the transponder.

It seems people have fun getting a signal through the satellite, then lose interest.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

Scrabble - NOT amateur radio

It was a dull, wet day today, so we played Scrabble with the grandchildren. Our younger granddaughter kept score. She is better this time! The last time she played she forgot to record some scores.

Where I come from - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows where I come from in South Devon. It is a very beautiful and unspoilt part of the UK.

Pye PF8 transceiver

In its day, this was a "state of the art" transceiver made by Pye Telecom. One of my early jobs was being part of the design team for this. We had all sorts of issues with the DC-DC converter noise. On my website is a PDF of the manual which may help some who convert these to 70cm amateur use.

They are quite rare and hard to find. Before you ask, I do not have one and do not know where to find one! Your best chance is on eBay I guess.

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

6m FT8

So far this morning, 11 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX in the last 6 hours. As I write it is 0848z. So, early Es on 6m.

UPDATE 1413z: Now 54 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 2000z: Now 71 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today. All European and just one Moroccan spotted.

UPDATE 2040z: Although it is unlikely I shall spot much overnight, I am still on 6m FT8 RX, in the (slim) hope of a late opening or very early Es tomorrow.

Sunspots - Sunday July 28th 2019

Solar flux is 67 and the sunspot number 0.  A=5 and K=2.

Early logbooks

On my main website are some of my early logbooks. These are available as PDF files. These copies were made years ago. I have no idea why only some are there. Perhaps I was unable to locate some at that time. This must have been 12 years ago or more.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/logs

York Chocolate Story - NOT amateur radio

One of the things we did in York with the grandchildren was go on a one hour tour called "The York Chocolate Story". It was very good. At the end of the tour the little ones got to make chocolate lollipops.

Overall, the stay in York was very successful with the little ones having a very good time. For the first few days it was very hot, with high temperatures, although we had rain and (a bit) cooler weather on the last couple of days.

Back on 6m FT8

For the last few days, we have been in York with 2 of our grandchildren.  Since returning home I have been on 6m FT8. This has been mostly RX, although a brief CQ got no 2-way QSOs, but was spotted by 6 stations including 3 in eastern Europe. On RX 21 stations spotted with the best being 9K2YM (4714km) in Kuwait.

UPDATE 2124z: Now 31 stations spotted since we returned mid-afternoon.

Sunspots - Saturday July 27th 2019

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0.  A=3 and K =1

York - NOT amateur radio

This street is the shortest in York but it has the longest name.

Rallies this Sunday

Sunday 28 JULY : WILTSHIRE RADIO RALLY AND ELECTRONICS FAIR 

Kington Langley Village Hall & playing fields, Church Road, Kington Langley, Chippenham SN15 5NJ. 9am-1pm (disabled: 8.30am), admission £2. Car boot sale, catering, flea market, talk-in, trade stands. For more information, please visit our website or use the contact form to register your interest in booking trading space. Operated and run by CDARC. Brian Tanner, G6HUI, ‪0772 224 2741‬, rally@g3vre.org.uk.

Sunday 28 JULY : HORNCASTLE SUMMER RALLY 

Horncastle Youth Centre. Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6DZ. This will be the last radio rally at the Horncastle Youth Centre as the county council are closing the building and a new venue is being sought. Entry is £2 and the doors open at 10am. All on one level. Refreshments are available. Contact Tony Nightingale, G3ZPU on ‪01507 527835‬ or by email to Tony.nightingale@yahoo.co.uk.

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

Sunspots - Friday July 26th 2019

Solar flux is 68 and the SSN 0. A=3 and K=0.

More spectrum available to share

OFCOM today announced that additional spectrum is expected to be made available. See OFCOM's website for more details. As far as I can tell this is just certain microwave bands.

Heat - NOT amateur radio

In the UK we are not used to the heat. In London it has been in the high 30s.

Grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

This was 2 of our grandchildren enjoying ice-cream yesterday.

DXpedition to St Paul Is

There is a DXpedition to St Paul Island off Canada at the end of the month and early August. There is a piece on Southgate News about this.

Sunspots - Thursday July 25th 2019

Solar flux is 67 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K =1.

Storm risk

We had thunder and lightning here last night but the storm risks have, for the moment, decreased as they have moved further east.