13 Aug 2020

Rain - NOT amateur radio

A few moments ago we had rain. It has been thundering. The last week has unbearably hot and humid by day and night.

10m FT8

It is now 0900z. A few moment ago, my 10m FT8 gear was turned on for a little while (4W, indoor loop). Already 3 spots of me by Es. On 10m FT8 RX nothing spotted here yet.

Sunspots - Thursday August 13th 2020

Solar flux is 73 and the SSN 24. A=3 and K=1.

12 Aug 2020

70cm activity contest last night

As you may recall, I entered the RSGB organised activity contest on 70cm last night. As I have no suitable antenna, I use my 2m big-wheel omni and stay on for less than an hour because of my  poor voice. In all, 6 stations were worked , all SSB, as the map shows.

Eat out to help out - NOT amateur radio

During August you can get up to £10 per person off meals and soft drinks at some participating pubs and restaurants on certain days.

We ate out this lunchtime and had fine meals (hallumi starter and swordfish main) including wine and sparkling water for £22!!

Oscar 100 (geosynchronous)

As usual, I took my periodic peek at the narrowband transponder. When I did this it was 1053z. This is midweek and about mid day in Europe. Only 2-3 QSOs were active, confirming to me that it is not busy. The most I have ever seen is about 8 QSOs.  If it was busy, it could hold many more.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

10m FT8

Using 4W to the indoor loop, I am currently on 10m FT8. It is now 0830z. So far today, 10 stations have already spotted me.

UPDATE 0920z:   23 stations have spotted me so far this morning and 19 stations in 3 continents spotted on 10m FT8. An outside antenna I think should be better? I guess 6dB (maybe more) could make quite a difference on weaker signals that might not be in audible on the indoor loop. For Es, the loop is probably is good enough most of the time but on marginal F2 or TEP I guess this loss could matter.

UPDATE 1500z:  Since returning from our meal out 39 stations have spotted me already. 11 stations spotted here so far this afternoon.

WSJT-X V2.2.2

Well over a month late, I have upgraded to V2.2.2.   I did try upgrading some weeks ago , but it said I was missing a dll, so I stuck with the older version. Today it installed fine. Not sure if this was Windows  is or WSJT-X. Anyway it is now installed and working fine.

10m antenna?

As many know, the outside antenna that I used on 10m packed up so I have been using my indoor loop successfully for the last few months.

In the next few months I hope to re-elect an antenna for 10m. In the past this would have been trivial, but sadly not anymore. A couple of people have kindly offered me help, but with Covid-19 I am reluctant to ask them. My thoughts are what could be erected with the least effort. I guess this either a wire dipole or inverted vee. My own Homebase-10 would be good, but the trouble would be making it now.

Thunderstorms? - NOT amateur radio

The last few days have been very hot and humid. It has been almost unbearable. Later, we may have thunderstorms.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/?lang=en#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=;ts=0;y=44.621;x=8.4747;z=4;d=2;dl=2;dc=0;

UPDATE 1548z:  Although the nearest thunderstorms are about 100km away, i think there are distant rumbles.

Sunspots - Wednesday August 12th 2020

Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 12. A=3 and K=0.

11 Aug 2020

70cm activity contest

Tonight is the RSGB organised 70cm activity contest (UKAC). This starts at 1900z.

UPDATE 2205z: In the end I managed 45 minutes with the 10W and 2m big-wheel omni antenna. 6 contacts. My best DX has still not been worked out although it is probably G4CLA (105km).

PSKreporter and 8m + 5m

Today I learned that PSKreporter now supports 8m and 5m. 8m is just beginning to become active in some countries.

Old bank - NOT amateur radio

The only bank in our village closed 2.5 years ago. Today it looks like it is being gutted. I have no idea what is going on.

Autumn already? - NOT amateur radio

At the weekend we went to Cavenham Heath. Quite a few of the ferns were looking autumnal already.

Sunspots - Tuesday August 11th 2020

Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 12. A=3 and K=1.

10 Aug 2020

Rear garden in August - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows our rear garden in August.

We get most colour in Spring and about now. Our grass is suffering in the heat. They used to say, "don't water the grass as it will recover".

Until recently, I followed this advice. Then in 2018 a third of my front lawn just died and never recovered. Since then, I have watering particularly dry patches for almost an hour most dry nights. Hopefully my lawns will recover in the autumn when the dew returns.

More damselflies - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday, I showed a photo of two damselflies. Today, here are two mating. This was again at Cavenham Heath yesterday.

Amateur VLF

There is a myth that VLF antennas are big. For RX they can be very very small!! So, for RX only, amateur VLF is remarkably accessible.

For TX high power and big antennas certainly help.   DK7FC has had some excellent results with long distances using earth probe antennas. These don't require very huge loading coils.

VLF amateur work requires dedication, although VLF earth-mode can give good results with quite simple kit. This is certainly one of the frontiers ripe for experiments.

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

Stone curlews - NOT amateur radio

Stone curlews (see the poor photo) are rare in the UK. Cavenham Heath where we walked yesterday is one of the best places to see them. Most migrate in October. We saw 12 yesterday.

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/stone-curlew/

10m FT8

It is now 0811z. A few moments ago my 4W to the indoor 10m loop was turned on in the hope of some Es. 2 Es spots on RX but no spots of me yet.

UPDATE 0917z:  Now 9 Es spots of me already and 16 spots on 10m FT8 RX. Promising.

UPDATE 1235z:  23 spots of my 4W 10m FT8 to the indoor loop.

UPDATE 1807z:  24 stations spotted me today. On 10m FT8 RX the best DX spotted was PU5BOY (9961km). In all, 67 stations were spotted today.

Yesterday evening on 10m FT8

Yesterday evening I swapped from 6m FT8 to 10m FT8 with about 4W to the tiny indoor loop antenna. Quite a few Es spots of me and many southern European stations spotted on RX as well as a QSO via Es

IC-705 on the ICOM Japan website

The ICOM Japan website has more on the IC-705. Under "Optional Accessories" it mentions an antenna tuner at a later date (see yesterday's post).

See https://www.icomjapan.com/lineup/products/IC-705_eur/

Sunspots - Monday August 10th 2020

Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 13. A=3 and K=1.

9 Aug 2020

IC-705 auto ATU?

According to the IC-705 Facebook page, ICOM is working on an auto-ATU to match the IC-705. They hope to release it this year. This is a stand alone external unit covering 1.8 to 50MHz.

Inter S51 QSO on 8m

Apparently the first QSO between stations in Slovenia has taken place on 8m. I hope we can all join in on 8m in the near future.

Cavenham Heath - NOT amateur radio

Cavenham Heath is about 15 miles from here. It is a national nature reserve and a great place to see rare stone curlews. We saw 12 but they were about 400m away. The heather will be at its best in about 2 weeks. There were damselflies (see photo) everywhere.

Rye - NOT amateur radio

In 2012 we went to Rye in Sussex. It's a delightful place with old houses and cobbled streets. We were fitter then!

10m WSPR

Since just before lunch I have been on 10m WSPR TX with the 500mW TX beacon. As yet (1342z) no spots so far.

6m FT8

Just before lunch my 10W and V2000 sending and receiving 6m FT8 were turned on. It is now 1326z. So far, 2 stations have spotted me today and I have spotted 6.

UPDATE 1500z:  7 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 14.

Reach Village - NOT amateur radio

Reach, shown in the photo, is a sleepy village some 9 miles from Cambridge. We like walking around here. In Roman times it was an important port. It is at the northern end of a defensive earthwork.

Sunspots - Sunday August 9th 2020

Solar flux is 75 and the SSN 11. A=5 and K=0.

8 Aug 2020

My antennas

For 6m, 2m and 70cm vertical I use a "white stick" vertical omni called the V2000. I have probably has this for at least 15 years! It is fed with low cost, CB, 50 ohm coax. On 70cm I could gain several dB if I replaced this with half decent coax. On 2m and 70cm SSB and FT8 I normally use the 2m big-wheel omni.

On the photo, the V2000 is on the left. The big-wheel is above my head and slightly right.

Not shown are the 10m loop (in the shack) and the earth-electrode "antenna" which gives me very good results on 630m WSPR. Norway is reached most nights despite the 10mW ERP on 630m.

Different PC

Since just before lunch I swapped the shack pc to a different one. It seems to be working fine on 10m FT8.

Perseids meteor shower

Many people like to make VHF contacts in meteor showers. Modes like FT4 and FT8 should be particularly effective I think. Signals are often strong, but short lived.

I see Southgate News has a link about this.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/august/perseid-meteor-alert.htm#.Xy570jfYq00

New blog editing interface - TOTALLY CRAP!!!! - NOT amateur radio

In the end I had to revert to the old interface to edit this blog as the new interface is unusable!

Like Bas yesterday, I have sent them my feedback. If you have a blogger.com blog please send them your feedback too. The more people the better.

The old interface is fine, whereas the new is painfully slow.

Our walk earlier - NOT amateur radio

The photo collage shows our walk earlier when it was still cool at about 0630z. This is one of our favourite walks.

Zebra? - NOT amateur radio

Earlier, we saw this horse in a field on our walk. It had a coat on with zebra stripes.   I think the owner must like zebras!

10m FT8

At about 0845z my 10m FT8 gear was turned on. As usual I was running about 4W to the tiny indoor loop antenna. So far, 10 stations spotted and 8 stations spotting me.

Stations that had received
me to 1145z on 10m FT8
UPDATE 1147z:  Already today I have been spotted by 28 stations despite the 4W and the indoor loop. On 10m FT8 RX 38stations have been received so  LWfar today. I am amazed how strongly some people are receiving me despite the low power and indoor loop.

UPDATE 1702z:  Amazingly, 67 stations have so far spotted my 4W 10m FT8 to the loop antenna. On 10m FT8 RX the best DX so far today is LW2DAF (11213km) in Argentina.

UPDATE 1950z:  Now QRT. 233 stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX and 75 stations spotted me on 10m FT8 TX today.

Sunspots - Saturday August 8th 2020

Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 14.  A=4 and K=2.