10m QRP WSPR (Friday)

My 500mW WSPR beacon is on again and there is plenty of Es about.  50 stations have spotted my QRP beacon in the last day with the furthermost Brazil.

UPDATE 1142z:  58 spots of my 500mW 10m WSPR this morning.

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

My QRP 6m FT8 is on again. In the last day, I have been spotted by 512 stations on 6m, with several in Newfoundland, Canada. I suspect the latter were Es.

UPDATE 1135z:   449 spots of my QRP 6m FT8 this morning. Mostly Es.

Early Es

 Today seems to be a good Es day with lots of stations across Europe spotting my QRP on 10m and 6m already at 0631z.

Triffids - NOT amateur radio

 

Our hollyhocks look great right now but the leaves go rusty very quickly. They also self seed everywhere. 

I am sure they can walk!! You can see why we jokingly call them triffids. 😉😉  

Sunspots - Friday June 21st

 Solar flux is 203 and the SSN 138. A=7 and K=1.

St Ives - NOT amateur radio

Many people are unaware that there is also a St Ives in Cambridgeshire as well as in Cornwall. The St Ives in Cambridgeshire is just a short ride away from Cambridge on the guided busway, which uses the route of the old St Ives railway branch line. We went there today by bus. St Ives is a lovely place.

6m QRP FT8 transatlantic (Thursday)

Several spots of my 2.5W 6m FT8 to the vertical omni antenna from stations in eastern Canada. This is the first time this season that I have been spotted in the USA or Canada on QRP VHF.

Anglesey Abbey video - NOT amateur radio

This National Trust house and gardens is about 10 minutes away by car. We went for a walk in the grounds  yesterday. There is something to see at all times of the year.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Thursday)

My 500mW beacon was on overnight, but just spots by local G4KPX (14km). Early Es this morning.

UPDATE 2118z: 38 unique stations have spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon today. See table.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

Just 2 stations spotted my 10mW ERP  overnight. These were 2 old faithfuls. I may try occasionally, but suspect my signal is buried in noise much of the summer.

Sunspots - Thursday June 20th

Solar  flux is 196 and the SSN 181. A =8 and K=2.

630m QRP WSPR (Wednesday)

 My 10mW ERP WSPR has been on since about 1915z.  No spots of me yet.

10m QRP WSPR (Wednesday)

 My 500mW beacon is on this evening and I am being spotted right across Europe by Es.

8m TX permit (UK)

Recently, I carried out a 10mW ERP test on 6m (not 8m) to see how WSPR and FT8 would perform under ISM rules.The test was extremely successful. If it worked on 6m it would mean that anyone could legally beacon on 8m under ISM rules. In the UK this means with 10mW ERP. This is not amateur radio. 

As there is still some of the Es season remaining and we have F2 to look forward to, I applied for a new 8m permit, which will allow me to run up to 5W on 8m. It has been approved and I should get an invoice shortly. All being well, I should return to 8m in early July.

It still seems totally wrong that in the UK we have to pay to do propagation research! In the past OFCOM would have just issued an NoV. It would seem these days many are only interested in money!

Lincoln Video - NOT amateur radio

We went to Lincoln a few weeks ago. This is a video summarising this.

G3XBM QTH

The photo shows where I live. Ours is the bungalow immediately to the left of the copper tree to the right of the windmill. 

Sunspots - Wednesday June 19th

 Solar flux is 193 and the SSN 150. A=10 and K=3.

QMX+ video?

Really, I should make a video of my experiences of using the QRP Labs QMX+ transceiver. My voice is poor, which is why I have been reluctant. 

Really it represents great value and will be even better when the firmware allows SSB, expected later. I use SSB occasionally, but use FT8 far more nowadays.

UPDATE 1855z: Video created. No speaking.

Puzzled - NOT amateur radio

Recently, I bought 2 small hanging bird tables in the hope of attracting smaller birds at the expense of larger ones. 

Sadly, the jackdaws have worked out a technique, but not the pigeons who have spent a long time trying! Let's hope they remain puzzled!

10m QRP FT8 overnight

Much to my surprise my QRP Labs QMX+ on 10m FT8 was spotted several times in Scandinavia overnight. I don't usually use FT8 at night, but when Es is good it can occur at any time.

UPDATE 1027z: 355 stations have spotted my QRP FT8 from the QMX+ in the last 24 hours. See map.

Window 10 issue resolved (I think!) - NOT amateur radio

Thank you for all the help, which I think has resolved my issue. 

I now have "sleep" when connected to a PSU set to "never" in settings, so it should never go to sleep unless I ask it to do so.

Watching the Euros - NOT amateur radio

 

My son made a lamb casserole for a (belated) Father's Day and then watched the Euros (football) on TV.

Sunspots - Tuesday June 18th

 Solar flux is 180 and the SSN 171. A-=11 and K=2.

Issue with Windows 10? - NOT amateur radio

Since doing the latest Windows update, I get the impression that the PC closes down after a certain time. A new sign-in is needed. If correct, does anyone know how to stop this please?  

As you may know, I put the rig beaconing on WSPR or FT8 and monitor on a different PC in the lounge, popping into the shack if anything needs adjusting. To get into the shack takes a few seconds only. 

Is there a default setting that can be turned off?

10m FT8 (Monday)

In the last 30 minutes 33 stations have spotted my QRP from the QMX+ on 10m FT8 QRP TX.

UPDATE 2130z:   303 spots of my QRP 10m FT8 today in 5 continents. See map. Lots of stations were also spotted here on RX. The QMX+ works well on 10m FT8. 

QMX+ more testing

This morning I was puzzled why I was getting no output on 20m FT8 with the QMX+. Disabling the SWR protection solved the mystery as the SWR exceeded 3:1 and this was preventing TX.  I turned the protection back on as 20m is a band I rarely use.

On 6m FT8, I had 4 spots of my QRP from the QMX+.  I am still getting insufficient audio on 6m FT8 RX. This still requires further investigation.

NFD 1950s style

 

This photo was on social media recently.

Flowers in our garden - NOT amateur radio

 

These are in our garden right now.

Sunspots - Monday June 17th

 Solar flux is 167 and the SSN 152. A=13 and K=2.

QMX+ on 6m FT8 (Sunday)

As an experiment I quickly tried the QMX+ on 6m FT8. Power was about 3W and several UK spots were obtained with the V2000 vertical omni. For some reason the RX level on 6m appears too low. Further investigation is needed.

So far, I have tried it on 15m, 10m and 6m.  I wonder if it would work on 8m?  Maybe I should try it on 160m FT8 with the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground assuming the match is good.

QMX+ on 15m (Sunday)

Just for fun, I tried the QMX+  on 15m. It was not for long. Several Es spots of me.  Looking at the bars on the TX monitor I would reckon about 3W power.

Birds - NOT amateur radio

Recently I erected 2 small bird tables with the aim of attracting more smaller birds and fewer large ones. This seems to have failed as the jackdaws have found a way! Robins seem to be very attracted to the dried mealworms. 

It’s too soon to tell if swift numbers are down here, but we have not sat out in the garden much this year.

More QMX+ testing on 10m FT8 (Sunday)

After lunch I want to try my QMX+ on 10m FT8 TX. I was quite surprised that I cannot turn the power down. If you can, I have not found how!  Perhaps it’ll come in a later firmware. 

One good idea would be to automatically reduce power when beaconing WSPR to avoid stress on the PA when the PA can be on continuously for almost 2 minutes.

UPDATE 1540z: Success!  My first transmission with the QMX+ (10m FT8)  resulted in 18 spots across Europe. This was using CAT control. I have a lot more to learn, but this is a good start.

UPDATE 1651z:  3 QSOs in quick succession! All called me on FT8. In all, spotted by 49 stations.

UPDATE 1754z:  The map shows the stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX using the QMX+. 

Hedge trimming finished - NOT amateur radio

 The whole hedge has now been trimmed. I feel more tired than before!!

Father’s Day - NOT amateur radio

Gifts and card from my younger son.

2m SSB with a Liner-2

 

Pretty sure these first became available in the 1970s. They were based on a 10m rig and they revolutionised 2m. 

I got one second hand and was amazed how far I could work on a very basic antenna. Prior to getting my Liner-2, I had only used QRP AM and FM rigs. Most nights I found I could contact stations hundreds of kilometres away.

Later many used the ICOM IC-202 with a 30W amplifier and Tonna 9 el antenna.

These days the bands at VHF are far quieter as people have other ways of chatting (the internet) and working DX (FT8).

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/vhfuhf-commercial-rigs/belcom-liner-2

Sunspots - Sunday June 16th

 Solar flux is 171 and the SSN 134.  A=18 and K=3.

QMX+ first steps

So far I have not tried TX. 

At the moment I am familiarising myself with the menu system. So far, so good. It would appear that the diodes in the supply line drop the voltage to the rig to a safe 9V.

Tomorrow, I hope to try 10m or 6m FT8 or WSPR TX.

Rigpix

Amateur Radio Weekly brought to our attention the Rigpix database. If you have not noticed it, it is a very useful site for information about rigs including photos and specs..

See https://www.rigpix.com/ .

Changing coastline of Britain - NOT amateur radio

This map was on social media recently. It shows how the British coastline probably looked over the last few thousand years. In a human lifetime things change too slowly to notice.

Laurel hedge - NOT amateur radio

When we moved here almost 11 years ago we planted a laurel hedge. It looks fine, but needs a regular trim. In between the showers, I am trying to cut it. 

Bite sized chunks seems to be the best approach. I have done about half the top and some of the sides. Now coffee is called for.

6m 2.5W FT8 (Saturday)

My 2.5W 6m FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna is turned on. So far this morning,  30 stations have spotted me.  

UPDATE 1256z: Now spotted by 64 stations. Most look like Es propagation. See map.

UPDATE 1721z: 136 stations have spotted my 6m FT8 QRP today. Most look like Es.

10mW 10m WSPR (Saturday)

Once again I am trying 10m WSPR at 10mW. So far, 2 spots by EA8BFK (2880km). This looks like F2 rather than Es.

UPDATE 0935z:   No further spots of my 10mW 10m WSPR TX.

UPDATE 1302z:  5 spots by 3 different stations of my 10mW 10m WSPR today. 

UPDATE 1608z:  9 spots of me by 5 stations so far today.

630m QRP WSPR overnight

Considering we are in mid June I was quite surprised to see my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR was spotted by 5 stations with the furthermost GM3YXM (425km).

Sunspots - Saturday June 15th

 Solar flux is 171 and the SSN 117. A=18 and K=2.

National Health Service (NHS) - NOT amateur radio

In the UK, the NHS, providing free health care at the point of delivery, was created in 1948. It revolutionised health care. In recent years, the NHS has struggled. Waiting lists are long and people are living far longer. In many other countries the health service is better.

In my view the UK NHS is a great idea, but it needs a root and branch review looking at health services across the world to find what works best for everyone. We need to aim that the UK NHS should be the very best in the world.

In the past, I have personally experienced the NHS at its best and worst. In my view, throwing more and more money at it is NOT the answer.

Both health and social security need serious attention.

QMX+

 

My assembled and cased QMX+ from QRP Labs has arrived. Hopefully, I shall test it over the weekend.

10m 10mW WSPR (Friday)

 

In the last 12 hours I am amazed how many stations have spotted me, despite the very low power. My beacon is pre-programmed to report 0.5W, even though with the external attenuator it is actually far less. If the band is open with Es, 10mW  seems quite enough, whereas 500uW is much harder.

UPDATE 2109z: Just 2 stations have spotted my 10mW today. Whatever Es was about seemed very localised.

Arse and elbow? - NOT amateur radio

In the last few weeks we have received 3 letters through the post from Anglian Water saying how much we owe them or are in credit. 

The good news is that all show us in credit. The bad news is they are all different!  I am pretty sure all are generated by a computer, without human involvement.

What will the next bill be? I expect it will say we owe them hundreds!

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

Since arriving home late yesterday afternoon, my 2.5W 6m FT8 to the vertical omni antenna has been spotted by 462 stations. The map shows the stations that had spotted me at 1100z. 

UPDATE 1131z: Now 478 stations have spotted me. I am amazed. 

Sunspots - Friday June 14th

Solar flux is 170 and the SSN 124.  A=4 and K=2. 

481THz beacon

 Another Google photo from many years ago. This was an optical beacon used for over the horizon tests.

What was this?

 Flicking through Google photos I came across this picture from 2012. I have no idea what this is! It has a DBM, so maybe a prototype WISPY receiver perhaps. If patient I could trace the circuit.

Where I was born - NOT amateur radio

After WW2 this was a nursing home. I was born here in 1948. We lived in a very simple council house, but I enjoy telling people I was born in grand house on a big estate!

Sunspots - Thursday June 13th

 Solar flux is 165 and the SSN 145. A=5 and K=1.

Sibling reunion - NOT amateur radio

We are in Lincoln for our 21st sibling reunion. This is a photo of us all outside Lincoln Cathedral before having an excellent lunch in the pie shop.

Still there

Some of you may recall Birketts in Lincoln selling all sorts of radio related stuff with adverts in radio magazines. 

I think the original owner John Birkett died a few years ago and his son ran the business. I was glad to see this still in Lincoln.

Sunspots - Wednesday June 12th

 Solar flux is 165 and the SSN 95. A=12 and K=0.

Lincoln - NOT amateur radio

 

The view from the Travelodge hotel window. We are here for a couple of nights for my wife’s sibling reunion .

2200m beacon

 This was made about 12 years ago . It was later cased and blown up by mistake!! It has been on before but shows things don’t have to be complex.

Sunspots - Tuesday June 11th

 Solar flux is 178 and the SSN 146. A=11 and K=4.

10m 500uW WSPR (Monday)

My beacon was re-synced to internet time this morning.

UPDATE  1945z:  No spots all day.

6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My 2.5W 6m FT8  to the V2000 vertical omni antenna has been on all day. 

UPDATE 1935z:  87 spots of me today.

UPDATE 2014z:  96 spots of me today.

European Es less good today?

Compared with a few days ago, the impression I am getting is that the Es in Europe is not as good. With Es, things can rapidly change.

See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ .

Busy - NOT amateur radio

Recently, my old bird table blew over in the wind and was damaged beyond repair. As a replacement I bought two smaller bird tables to encourage small birds and discourage larger ones.   Since then, we have had a squirrel, many jackdaws and starlings. 

My strategy did not work!

630m QRP WSPR overnight

6 stations spotted my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR overnight. No great DX, but more spots than I was expecting.

My 630m transverter

ISM experimentation?

It seems many radio amateurs are becoming "appliance" operators rather than experimenters as was the case many years ago. This is sad. 

Experimentation is still happening, although not so much with amateur radio. It would appear the spirit of early amateur radio is still there on the ISM bands.

Personally, I think amateur radio will die a slow death in the next 20 years merging with CB and true experimenters will increasingly not be from the radio amateur community.

Granddaughter and our son - NOT amateur radio

This was our granddaughter with our son yesterday. 

The roses look good too this year.

Sunspots - Monday June 10th

 Solar flux is 181 and the SSN 148. A=5 and K=1.

MF WSPR tonight?

Although my last attempt with 10mW ERP on 630m WSPR was not too great, I am tempted to try again this evening and overnight. Last night I stuck with 6m FT8.

European Es (Sunday)

Although with Es things can very rapidly change, today does not look too great. At the moment I shall remain on 6m QRP FT8 and 10m QRP.P WSPR.

See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ .

Grandson tea - NOT amateur radio

 

This was my grandson having tea last night.

Chordal hop Es

To me, it seems very improbable that many of the long Es paths are multi-hop. Yes, some might be, but I think it is much more probable these are some sort of chordal hop Es.

6m USA and Caribbean

Stations spotted
here in the last
day on 6m FT8

For the first time this season both the USA and the Caribbean were copied on 6m FT8 here. Sadly my 2.5W did not “cross the pond". The map shows stations spotted here in the last day on the omni antenna.  

UPDATE  0952z:  From the spots of my QRP, I can see evidence of European Es.

6m QRP FT8
spots of me
this morning

UPDATE 1115z: 50 spots of my 2.5W FT8 to the omni this morning. The map shows the stations spotting me this morning.

UPDATE 1900z: Spotted by 72 stations today. About to QSY to 630m QRP WSPR.

Good day on 10m QRPP

In the end 4 stations spotted my 500uW 10m WSPR yesterday, which was my best day yet, so Es must have been good. Note the beacon is pre-programmed to report 0.5W even though with the PA off it is only 500uW (0.5mW).

UPDATE 1900z: No spots today.

Red-legged partridge - NOT amateur radio

It is now some years since I last saw one of these birds in our garden. They were introduced many years ago and can be quite tame. At one time they were a common visitor here. Perhaps somebody is regularly feeding them!

Oscar 100 ground station

The trouble with getting active on the geosynchronous satellite Oscar 100 is that it requires building your own gear. Sometimes this requires connecting modules together, and sometimes rolling your own gear. Black-box operators (the majority?) are not (in general) catered for, but see my post yesterday about DXPatrol.

It was refreshing to see someone who got active by creating his own ground station.

See https://m0aws.co.uk/?p=3105 .

Sunspots - Sunday June 9th

 Solar flux is 190 and the SSN 143.  A=14 and K=1.

Swifts: live webcam - NOT amateur radio

These migrant birds fascinate me. They are only here for a few short months to breed, but seeing them come gladdens my heart.

They feed and sleep on the wing and usually only land to breed. Years ago I found one alive on the ground. After a night's rest, it flew off. I guess the number of people that have been privileged to hold a swift is quite small.

Garden roses - NOT amateur radio

In the last few days, all the roses in our garden seem to be out. Most have a second flush, but they look grand at the moment. A heavy pruning helps.

The lazy way

 One of the advantages of FT8 is being able to see where you are being spotted on another PC in the lounge. 

The photo shows the 273 spots of my 2.5W 6m FT8 today as shown on PSKreporter. I can be in the shack in a few seconds if need be.

These days I am more interested in seeing where my signal reaches than chatting. This is in part due to my poor voice, but it also reflects that I really don't need to chase DX any more having achieved QRP DXCC decades ago.

Israel and Hamas - NOT amateur radio

This week we are remembering the dreadful events of D-Day in June 1944. I cannot imagine the sheer terror of those brave solders landing in Normandy. Many must have feared they would be dead in the following few minutes.

This makes the events in Ukraine and the Middle East even sadder.  None of the waste of human life is needed. Why can't people live in peace with each other? It would seem that aggression of this kind is sadly part of the human condition and we seem incapable of learning from history.

What Hamas did on October 7th 2023 was evil, but so are deaths of over 36000 Palestinian people.

All I wish is that people can live at peace with their neighbours. Nobody is ever perfect. Let's just accept our differences and failings.

Oscar 100

In my view, Oscar 100 (QO-100) has suffered from the lack of ready built solutions. 

On the face of it, it offers DX over a good proportion of the planet, without fading, linears, beams or towers. Antennas are small, can be low and are fixed. 

DXpatrol (also available via Wimo) is offering a black box solution, which is probably the best we are going to get. My thanks to Steve G1KQH for the link.

I very much doubt the Japanese big manufacturers will do anything as the satellite footprint does not cover Japan or the USA.

11m operation

It is many years since I did any CB operation. I think the last time was testing a couple of single channel hand portables. I guess that was in the 1990s. 

I see on this week's Amateur Radio Weekly that there is a field day for "freeband" enthusiasts at 11m. The legality of this is not known although there is an ISM band around here. 

How much power can legally be used will depend on where you are. In the UK, it looks like the limit is 100mW ERP according to IR2030.

YouTube videos about amateur radio

There are lots of videos on YouTube about amateur radio. You can easily spend (waste?) a few hours watching these.  The one shown is just an example.

500uW 10m WSPR (Saturday)

Although I get a few spots a week with this tiny power, I get very few spots overall. Maybe there are fewer people using 10m WSPR?

My conclusion is this is just too little power. It is surprising to me as I was expecting to be spotted more often on Es, as signals can be very strong. I suspect that much of the time I am below the noise floor with many stations.  For now, I shall stick with this power on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE  1209z:  No spots. Next week, I may try 10mW on 10m WSPR to see if that is better.

UPDATE 1616z: Just a single spot by OZ7IT (853km).

UPDATE 2018z:  Like buses, none then 3 come along!! 3 stations managed to spot my 500uW (0.5mW) today. Propagation must have been good today on QRPP 10m WSPR. GM, PA and OZ spotted me.

6m success

I decided to stay on 6m QRP FT8 overnight. In all, 386 people spotted my 2.5W 6m FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna. The band did not open (for me) to the USA, which I was hoping for. Almost all of these spots were Es.

UPDATE 1021z:  121 stations have already spotted my QRP 6m FT8 signal this morning. There seems to be plenty of Es about.  

UPDATE 1356z: 201 spots of me today.

UPDATE  1626z: In the last day, 398 stations have spotted my 6m QRP FT8.  Most seem to be via Es. See map.

UPDATE 1800z: 440 stations have spotted my 6m QRP FT8 in the last day.

Sunspots - Saturday June 8th

 Solar flux is 184 and the SSN 150. A=28 and K=3.

BOFS?

In the last few minutes I looked on the CDARC website to see when the next Zoom session is. I am unwilling to travel in to Cambridge in the evenings now and prefer to watch presentations on Zoom.

It was hard to avoid the impression that most attendees are boring old farts (BOFS) which are mainly old white males. This does not bode well.

See https://www.cdarc.org.uk/index.php?page=events .

European Es (Friday)

 Although today has been my best day this season on 6m, the Es map (see below link) would suggest otherwise.

See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ .

UPDATE 1106z: It has just suddenly changed!

500uW (0.5mW) 10m WSPR (Friday)

 My 10m WSPR beacon was re-synced to internet time just after breakfast. No spots.

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

Just 14 spots of my 2.5W 6m FT8 so far, all in the UK.

UPDATE 1056z:  134 spots of me so far. Strong Es is now evident. 

UPDATE 1220z:  187 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1433z: 207 stations have spotted my 2.5W 6m FT8 today with the furthermost EA8/DF4UE (2876km).

UPDATE  1656z:  303 stations have spotted me with the furthermost EA8RCP (3022km). See map for stations that have spotted my 6m 2.5W FT8 today.

UPDATE 1915z:  325 stations have spotted me today.