10m 200mW WSPR (Saturday)

 Once again I am on 10m WSPR TX. I may change to FT8 later.

Cambridge Botanic Garden last weekend

Last Saturday we went to the Cambridge Botanic Garden.  

It is owned by the University of Cambridge, UK.

End of longwave broadcasting by the BBC?

Yesterday Steve G1KQH passed on the news that the BBC is likely to stop longwave broadcasts later this year.  

The photo shows the Droitwich transmitter near Birmingham.

Mesh core repeater

This is a new meshcore repeater at Littleport, UK. Meshcore uses 868MHz.

This is licence free and does not need the internet. 

Instead I think it sends messages using a mesh network, so the more users the better.

Sunspots - Saturday March 21st

 Solar flux is 102 and the SSN  28. A=34 and K=6.

Cambridge sunshine

A few days ago I was in a sunny Cambridge. 

It really felt like spring at last. 

Solid state batteries

Recently there has been a great deal of excitement over Donut batteries and their claim to have produced a solid state battery with some remarkable properties. 

The only way to be sure about what it is would be a tear-down of one of these batteries.

Some independent testing casts some doubts on these claims. 

What is certain is that whichever company brings a solid state battery to market first will start a real revolution and make a lot of money!

President Madison CB transceiver

I think this is a mock up of how an SDR CB rig might look. 

If it ever came to market I would expect the price to be very keen as there could potentially be a huge market if it was programmable for different bands like all the flavours of CB bands, 10m and 12m amateur bands.

Different war aims?

 The Iranian war is what they call asymmetric in that you have the power and might of the USA and Israel against Iran that has many low cost drones and can choke off the Straight of Hormuz . 

Israel probably wants regime change whereas the USA is probably looking for an off ramp to avoid misery in the rest of this presidency.

10m 200mW WSPR TX (Friday)

My beacon was turned on at about 0630z.

UPDATE 2054z: Spotted by 48 stations.

YouTube and AI

Many of the videos on YouTube are now AI generated sadly. 

When these allow you to imagine what life was like like maybe 1000 years ago they can be very useful. Some of these are very good.

Sadly, it is all too easy to create a famous person saying something that they would never ever say. The sad thing is people believe this is true.

The only thing is to assume the video is an AI creation unless you can be absolutely sure of the source.

Sunspots - Friday March 20th

 Solar flux is 100 and the SSN 38. A=3 and K=2.

Soham church, UK

 This is a fine church about 8km from us.

10m 200mW WSPR (Thursday)

 

Once again I am on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 0929z: 20 spots of me. See table.

St John’s College, Cambridge

 

In the sunshine yesterday.

We have had good weather yesterday and today.

Sunspots - Thursday March 19th

  Solar flux is 113 and the SSN 83. A=5 and K=0.

10m 200mW WSPR (Wednesday)

My beacon was turned on at about 0900z.

UPDATE 2232z: Spotted by 12 stations.

Puzzled?

Sorry but I can’t follow the logic of US President Trump. At one moment he declares he has won the war with Iran, then he is calling on NATO allies to clear the Strait of Hormuz, now he doesn’t need help. He seems to alter his position every day?

Sunspots - Wednesday March 18th

 Solar flux is 111 and the SSN 72. A=4 and K=1.

10m 200mW WSPR TX (Tuesday)

My beacon was turned on briefly at breakfast time.

UPDATE 1432z: No spots. About to change back from 10m FT8 RX to 10m 200mW WSPR TX.

UPDATE 1541z: So far, spotted by just 2 stations in the Canary Islands multiple times.

UPDATE 1919z: Spotted by 3 stations with the best PP5ZX (10058km). QRT soon.

Trump and Iran

I think most western nations see Iran as a potential threat. However, it would appear, allegedly, that the US president did not realise what he was getting in to. Like many, I do not know how this will end.

10m 2.5W FT8 (Tuesday)

After a very brief period on TX I am RX only.

UPDATE 1355z: 225 stations spotted. See map.

Nice surprise

Yesterday the post contained a nice surprise. 

It was a small package that I was not expecting and I had no idea what was inside. 

On opening it, I saw this which I was not expecting at all. They sent me a certificate and I thought that was it.

 Thank you GQRP Club so much.

Sunspots - Tuesday March 17th

 Solar flux is 111 and the SSN 66. A=10 and K=1.

Genes

Opinions vary over what happens to the essential “us” when we die. Many religions believe in some sort of afterlife, but we really don’t know.

What we do know is that is that our genes get passed down the generations. We probably have some sort of connection with our ancestors millions of years ago.

Cambridge Botanic Garden

 

This is owned by the University of Cambridge. 

It is very large and has some amazing plants and trees.

10m 200mW WSPR (Monday)

 My beacon was turned on at 0850z.

Heathkits

In the past Heathkit produced some great QRP CW transceivers. 

The HW7 a QRP HF transceiver was produced first, then the HW8 (which I owned) and finally the HW9. 

Sunspots - Monday March 16th

 Solar flux is 109 and the  SSN 95. A=17 and K=3..

Lenovo Chromebook

In the last few days  I noticed that Amazon  was selling a Chromebook with 128GB memory, detachable tablet, keyboard and touchscreen for £149.  It is being used now.

For several years I have enjoyed my Chromebook. 

This one is supported with updates until 2034. It seems to work perfectly.

10m 2.5W FT8 (Sunday)

I changed to 10m FT8 at about 1515z.

UPDATE 1526z: Spotted by a couple of stations, but now RX only. 32 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1843z:   70 stations spotted here. Suggests conditions were probably not good.

10m 200mW WSPR (Sunday)

My beacon has been on until about 1510z

UPDATE 1523z: Only 2 stations in the Canary Is have spotted me. Now QRT .

Improving portable range

 This video shows a possible way to improve the range of a handheld by adding a counterpoise.

Real-world amateur radio

 I only came across this blog seeing a post in Amateur Radio Weekly.Maybe true experimenters are not in amateur radio?

See https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2026/03/868mhz-dx.html

Hellebores

In the UK these are definitely spring flowers. Sadly, despite their name, they mostly have their flowers down, so they can be hard to photograph. 

These were seen at the Cambridge Botanic Gardens on Saturday .

Sunspots - Sunday March 15th

 Solar flux is 112 and the SSN 85. A=40 and K=2.

Mini multiband, multimode tiny receiver

 This was posted on DX Explorer some 6 months ago. The receiver is available from China at a very low price. Watch out for counterfeit copies!

Fish and chips

 

Earlier, we ate at a shop in Cambridge on our visit to the Cambridge Botanic Gardens.

This was a generous helping.

I usually go there for brunch on Wednesdays.

Cambridge Botanic Garden

 

As the sun was shining we decided to go the Cambridge Botanic Garden. This bird of paradise plant look like it is taking a peek.

10m 200mW FT8 ( Saturday)

My TX beacon was turned on at about 0943z.

UPDATE 1553z:    Spotted by 4 stations with the best PP5ZX (10058km) in Brazil.

Sunspots- Saturday March 14th

 Solar flux is 120 and K=105. A=24 and K=6. 

10m 200mW WSPR (Friday)

 Late in the afternoon I switched to 10m 200mW WSPR  TX. In the end I went QRT at about 2030z.

UPDATE 2118z:   9 stations spotted today. See table.

2013 optical tests over the horizon

Before my 2013 stroke I enjoyed 481THz optical tests over the horizon. What surprised me at first was that, even when absolutely nothing was visible in the sky, clear signals could be decoded on a PC as long as the aim was correct. My tripod and aiming left a lot to be desired!  If I was fit enough to repeat these tests I think a much better tripod would be called for allowing better repeatability.

PC operating systems

The world of home computing is dominated by MS Windows and Apple Mac (to a lesser extent), whereas I understand Linux is used by the most powerful computers in the world.  

I mostly use a Chromebook that runs Chrome OS (using it now) and am so pleased with this OS.  It is fast and does almost everything I do. They also tend to be less expensive. The Chromebook has been used for years now.

A friend of mine did an external drive with a version of Linux, but I have resisted changing my Windows PC to Linux, for now at least.

I am  definitely not a PC expert, so tend to remain with what I know!

10m 2.5W FT8 (Friday)

 Today I am on 10m 2.5W FT8. Apart from a very brief period on TX (1 local spot) I am RX only.

UPDATE  1106z:  Just 4 spots so far with the best A71MM (5184km) in Qatar. Disappointing so far. I must check that nothing is wrong.

UPDATE 1143z:  Plugging the antenna into the IC-705  revealed lots of stations, I plugged the antenna back into the QDX-M and immediately spotted 67 stations!  I wonder if the coax plug is intermittent?

UPDATE 1337z:  Re-soldered the plug and again lots of stations copied on the IC-705 but remarkably few on the QDX-M, which is very odd. Looks like there is something amiss with the QDX-M. It also seems to be running somewhat warm, which I would not have expected RX only on the QDX-M. Has anyone seen anything similar?

Sunspots - Friday March 13th

 Solar flux is 121 and the SSN 116. A=8 and K=4.

RX mostly

Maybe it is as a result of having got 10m QRP SSB way back, that I seem to get as much pleasure from RX nowadays as TX.  I know everyone is different and this is a good thing. 

70cm FT8 (Thursday)

It never fails to amaze me how good 70cm FT8 is. Last evening was the 70cm activity contest. After having a couple of contacts (10W to a 144MHz big-wheel omni antenna) I was RX only .  

It never fails to amaze me how far away some stations were. Even my low ERP was spotted at 327km!! The map shows the stations spotted here.

10m 2.5W FT8 (Thursday)

I am on 10m 2.5W FT8 although I shall probably be mainly on RX.

UPDATE  1623z:  645 stations spotted as far as Japan and South Africa.

Questions

For years the Iranians have been considered the pariah state of the Middle East. 

I am not naturally a politician, but I have severe doubts that the USA and Israel will do any good and it looks like they are doing real harm. 

There are other examples of asymmetric wars such as Russia and Ukraine. This one has lasted 4 years already.

President Trump is saying the war will soon be over yet Iran still has loads of fast small gunboats which could cause havoc in the region to say nothing of the hacking harm they could do across the planet. My own view is the USA is entering its biggest crisis in nearly 100 years.

Sunspots - Thursday March 12th

 Solar flux is 123 and the SSN 120. A=9 and K=2.

Archetypal Cambridge

The photo is archetypal Cambridge with bikes and posters. It shows the university church Great St Mary’s, which is about 200m from King’s College Chapel. The Senate House, where many degrees are given out, is behind.

10m 200mW WSPR (Wednesday)

 My beacon was turned on at about 0615z.

UPDATE 1622z:  7 stations have spotted me with (yet again) spots by DP0GVN (13685km) down in Antarctica. See table.

Special Lunch

On Monday our son had a special birthday so we treated him to a nice lunch in Cambridge.

RGO-One QRP HF transceiver

This was found on the internet the other day. 

It looks a very handsome rig, although I do not think it was ever mass produced. 

I have never seen it for sale.

Sunspots - Wednesday March 11th

Solar flux is 127 and the SSN 71. A=14 and K=3.

The windmill next door

This is the windmill right next door with the sails turning this morning. This was taken from the lounge window. They only have the sails turning occasionally. 

Electric cars - are we still waiting for a breakthrough?

It seems to me that we are still waiting for that breakthrough moment similar to that which moved us all from CRTs to LED displays or moved cameras to digital. 

In the case of cars it would be range and cost. Almost exclusively electric cars need batteries with lithium and have limited range. Imagine if we could charge at home infrequently and have huge ranges at a price people could afford.

There has been a lot of excitement about Donut batteries who claim to have produced a solid-state battery with some remarkable figures. If true, this could be the start of a revolution. I believe the Chinese company BYD has also released an electric car that does not use lithium batteries.

If we really could buy cars that no longer need petrol or diesel with similar ranges we would be free of the stranglehold of the oil market. 

It is coming, but just how soon?

10m 200mW WSPR (Tuesday)

My beacon was turned on at about 0815z.

UPDATE 1905z:   Spotted by 18 stations. See table.

UPDATE 2150z:   In the end my tiny beacon was spotted by 22 stations. QRT.

Kings College Chapel, Cambridge, UK

 

This was King's College Chapel in the afternoon sunshine yesterday.

It was nice to see visitors enjoying themselves.

King's Parade is a popular part of the city.

Sunspots - Tuesday March 10th

 Solar flux is 128 and the SSN 72. A=7 and K=2.

Google Nonsense?

Every day, I get a report about visits to this blog. 

In my view, they are total rubbish. Already today, I am supposed to have had more than ten times the number of visits I used to see in a whole day! 

I have no idea how this is obtained, but it feels wrong. Flattering if true, but highly unlikely!

10m 200mW WSPR (Monday)

My TX Zachtek beacon was turned on at 0836z.

UPDATE 0843z:  Just EA8BFK (2880km) spotting me.

UPDATE 1700z:  42 stations spotting me including 14 spots of me from the German research base in Antactica DP0GVN (13685km).

Putin and Iran - Times Radio

 Most days I watch the YouTube videos from Times Radio. They have some very well informed speakers.

uSDX Ultra

This transceiver is now some years old and I assume it is still being made. In the UK it is available from AliExpress for just over £85, which is very low for a QRP handheld covering many of the HF bands. In a tiny handheld form factor is amazing value. It is sold as a 5W radio, but 3-4W is more common.

There have been reports of bad audio unless the settings are adjusted but I have no idea if this has been improved in later models. 

On the face of it, it looks a bargain, but I have not used one.

I would imagine you would get stung for duty.

Sunspots - Monday March 9th

 Solar flux is 135 and the SSN 76.  A=22 and K=1.

Joe Blogs YouTube

In the world of politics and economics the videos by Joe Blogs are informative. Most days I like to hear what he has to say.  It's nice to see something that is not AI and that you can trust.   

That's the trouble these days: you can never be sure that what you see is what the person really said unless you definitely trust the source.

10m 5W FT8 (Sunday)

In the end I gave up on 8m FT8  RX and QSYed to 10m FT8 using the IC705 at 5W.

UPDATE 2020z: My 5W 10m FT8 was spotted by 19 stations mostly in the USA. On RX, I have spotted 484 stations with the best LT5X (13475km) in Tierra del Fuego in Argentina.

UPDATE 2022z:  QRT.

Mizuho transceivers

For many years I owned a 2m SSB handheld by Mizuho. It was used on 2m SSB and via a homebrew transverter on 10m where it produced about 1W pep. It worked all over the world. As I recall, the battery life was not good, so I tended to use it with a PSU mostly.

I think they made versions for 15m, 10m, 6m, 4m and 2m. Sadly, I think they are no longer available.

See https://www.mizuhoradio.com/ .

Spring colour

In the autumn we put in winter flowering primroses to give a splash of colour under our front windows. 

All are now in flower and they look very colourful.

They will be replaced by summer bedding plants later. 

Probably not visible are the weeds. I cleared them all about 2 weeks ago - honest!

8m FT8 RX (Sunday)

Today, I am trying 8m FT8 RX again.

UPDATE 1450z:  No spots. I think my antenna must be poor on 8m.  I might try the coax to my 2m antenna via an ATU if it works at 40.680.

Sunspots - Sunday March 8th

 Solar flux is 135 and the SSN 75. A=18 and K=3.

Shetland Is.

As mentioned before in this blog one of my friends on 365project.org lives way up north in the Shetland Islands and takes some very good photos of life up there. 

There are few trees, in the summer days are long and very short in winter, and it can be very windy. Being much more northerly, it tends to have weather colder than further south.

The Trump Report

Whatever views you hold on President Trump of the USA, he is the voted leader of the most powerful economy in the world and will be (at least) president until the next US presidential elections in about 3 years' time.

Most days I watch The Trump Report on YouTube as a video.

10m 2.5W FT8 (Saturday)

My gear was turned on at about 0915z. After a very brief TX period (4 stations spotted me) I have mainly been RX only. 

UPDATE 1242z:  Spotted 487 stations here. See map.

UPDATE 2004z:  1286 stations spotted here. I must admit 10m is in great shape.

630m WSPR overnight

 

Last evening and night were quite successful on 630m WSPR RX considering my poor setup (see table). In all, some respectable DX on multiple occasions.

The overarching message is that even very poor setups work on 630m WSPR RX.

Sunspots - Saturday March 7th

 Solar flux is 143 and the SSN 75. A=7 and K=3.

630m WSPR RX (Friday)

My gear was turned on at about 1825z (coax to 2m big-wheel via ATU and a mains earth).

UPDATE 2010z:  So far, 5 stations have been spotted with the best OH6OHX (1736km).

UPDATE 2044z:  So far, 6 stations have been spotted with OH6OHX spotted 5 times.

Slowing?

These days I feel my age.   

Yesterday and today I cut the lawns for the first time this year. The first cut is often harder as the grass is longer, but I really felt tired afterwards. 

Also, as mentioned before, driving is stressful and I only drive locally and avoid driving at night. For many years I think my appreciation of speed has changed in that 45mph seems like 65mph to me! I am unclear if this is as a result of my 2013 stroke or just old age. 

Luckily, apart from my constant giddiness and poor voice most of the conditions of old age, like arthritis, have not caught up with me ...... yet!

The Trump Report

 This comes out (I think) every day from Times Radio. I watch it most days.

8m FT8 RX (Friday)

At 1106z, I QSYed to 8m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1830z:   No spots all day. QRT now. I suspect this will be my last test on 8m until the Es season.

10m 2.5W FT8 (Friday)

My gear was turned on just after breakfast. I was on TX very briefly (7 spots) but I am mostly RX only. 

It is amazing that something this small works so well.

See https://shop.qrp-labs.com/qdxm

UPDATE 1056z:  395 stations spotted here on RX with the best H44MS in the Solomon Islands (14814km) in the Pacific Ocean.

Chromebooks

For many years I have used an Asus Chromebook. I am using one now. Mine has been brilliant. They use Chrome OS rather than Windows. This means that they do not run Windows programs. 

Despite that, they boot very fast and I have found nothing that I cannot do. I have created web-pages, presentations, letters and spreadsheets using the Google tools and surfing the web has been a dream using Chrome. 

I have never had a virus issue as virus checking is done in the background. Chromebooks are less expensive than Windows machines.

With all these things going for them, it would appear that John Lewis (a major UK retailer) has stopped selling Chromebooks. Why? Maybe they make less profit?

Out of choice my next PC would have been from John Lewis as they include a decent warranty on every PC. Ideally I would have bought another Chromebook.

Sunspots - Friday March 6th

 Solar flux is 146 and the SSN 73. A=4 and K=2.

Lode cottages

 

We went for a walk around this village near us after lunch. It has many fine cottages. Nice to see the sun.

WhatsApp "share location"

Yesterday I was in Cambridge for much of the day and turned on WhatsApp "share location" feature. I usually use the Apple "Find my iPhone" feature.

The battery drain with the WhatsApp location feature enabled was very high. In fact I was worried that the battery (which was 100% when I left home) would be flat. I shall not use this feature again.

Iran war

Everyone knows that Iran is treated as the pariah of the Middle East and that a more "western leaning" Iran  would be more supportive of President Trump and the Israeli government.

What I do not understand are the true motives and end game in this current conflict. President Trump was allegedly voted into office partly on the grounds that the USA would stop getting involved in "forever wars". Hmmm....

If he stops the threat from missiles, drones and nuclear weapons threatening Israel will he stop and walk away?  This war could end quickly or it could go on for years. In my personal view the USA could have done far more good peacefully in the world. As it is the Middle East (possibly elsewhere) has been turned into turmoil.

10m 2.5W FT8 (Thursday)

My gear was turned on just before breakfast. After a very brief TX period I returned to RX only.

UPDATE 2015z:  1696 stations have been spotted with the best FK8HA (16470km) in New Caledonia in the Pacific. 10m is as good now as I can ever remember it.  It is soon going to go downhill. Now QRT.

Sub 10kHz amateur DX in 2011

Back in 2011 I was very involved in amateur VLF below 10kHz.  

To be successful bandwidths of tiny fractions of a Hz are needed and integration periods of hours or even days.  As would be expected stability has to be perfect with many locking their signals to GPS or similar. 

Remember, amateurs have limited power and space for antennas!

DJ8WX was a regular signal back in 2011.

Sunspots - Thursday March 5th

 Solar flux is 141 and the SSN 71. A=7 and K=0.

10m WSPR Tuesday

When I am on a VHF band, I can use 10m 200mW with my Zachtek WSPR beacon. A point in case was yesterday when I switched to 10m WSPR TX late afternoon.

UK VLF record - 2011

In 2011, I received G3XIZ (45km) which was the most distant UK amateur I copied sub-10kHz. I cannot recall the bandwidth, but it would have been very narrow.

Bury-St-Edmunds

This is a market town in East Anglia, UK with some fine old buildings. Unlike Cambridge about 40km away it feels very East Anglian with locals who have families in these part for centuries. I really like it.

10m FT8 (Wednesday)

As I was in Cambridge much of the day I was on 10m FT8 RX only . 

UPDATE 1854z: So far, 1015 stations spotted. QRT soon.

Sunspots - Wednesday March 4th

 Solar flux is 144 and the SSN 64. A=16 and K=3.

Device memory

In the last 20 years or so, device memory has come a very long way.  256GB micro SD cards are now increasingly common, whereas just a few years ago this would have been amazing and unbelievable. It makes you wonder what will be the norm say in 2050 or 2100?

The human brain has an estimated capacity of 2.5 million GB, which is absolutely huge! Perhaps there will be a breakthrough allowing memories to have capacities approaching this? 

Will our grandchildren look back in amazement when we thought 1TB appeared huge.  I can remember when we thought 256k was huge!

10m 2.5W FT8 (Tuesday)

Another great start on 10m FT8. After a very brief period on TX (4 spots)  I went on RX only

UPDATE 1126z:   730 stations spotted with the best 3D2AG (16213km) in Fiji and Victoria, Australia which, to my surprise, is even further. I went on 2.5W FT8 TX again briefly with the best DX a spot of me on Reunion Is.

UPDATE 2136z: 2016 stations spotted here today. The best day yet? QRT now.

630m WSPR RX overnight

At last I managed to set up my 630m WSPR RX correctly! In all, 7 different stations were copied with the best OH6OHX (1736km) in Finland multiple times (see table). 

I used the coax to my 2m big-wheel antenna via a ferrite rod ATU and a mains earth.

End fed antennas

 A popular antenna is the end-fed if multi band coverage is needed. I use one for 17m-10m. At the end of the wire the impedance will be high so a transformer is needed to bring this to an impedance that can be directly connected to a PA or often via an auto ATU in the rig. There is a video about it on the DX Explorer YouTube channel. There is also a follow-up video.

Sunspots - Tuesday March 3rd

 Solar flux is 148 and the SSN 82. A=5 and K=2.

630m WSPR RX (Monday)

 This evening I am monitoring 630m WSPR. Hopefully this evening I have the settings right!

UPDATE 1900z:  3 spots by DC0DX (467km).  It works!

UPDATE 2136z:    Spotted 5 stations with the best LA8AV (1038km).

Sunday walk

Yesterday morning we had some sun so we went for a walk in a nearby village. There were still plenty of puddles.

Dalham near Newmarket, UK

 

This village is not far from us.

8m FT8 RX

 Most of the day I shall be monitoring 40.680 FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1730z:  I think I had my settings wrong on 8m FT8 RX!

Something wrong?

 Last night I tried monitoring 630m WSPR. Not a single station copied that suggests something was wrong.

UPDATE 0853z:  Yes, wrong audio source selected. I may try again tonight.

Sunspots - Monday March 2

 Solar flux is 147 and the SSN 85. A=8 and K=1.

6m 5W FT8 (Sunday)

For the first time in several weeks, I am on 6m FT8  with my vertical omni V2000 antenna and the IC-705.

UPDATE 1640z:   Just 3 English spots of me so far. No DX.

Stations spotting my 6m QRP FT8 today

UPDATE 1938z:   11 English stations have spotted my 6m QRP FT8. See map. QRT soon.

10m 200mW WSPR ((Sunday)

My Zachtek WSPR beacon was turned on at about 1430z.  

UPDATE 1518z:  18 stations have spotted me already with most in the east of the USA.  See table.

UPDATE 1540z:  28 stations have spotted me with the best PY2SDR (9616km) in Brazil.

UPDATE 1936z:  36 spots of my 200mW 10m WSPR with the best Reunion Is. in the Indian Ocean. QRT soon.