From the outside looking in, it seems Israel is being heavy-handed over the West Bank. Yes, historically there may have been some reference to this being part of the Holy Land, but those who are there now are simple farmers who just want to live in peace, I think.
Surely we all have to live together in peace.
In previous years towards the end of the Es season I seem to get more stations in the north of Europe for some reason.
I still see stations in the south of Europe, but there is a noticeable increase in more northerly stations. I guess this could even be some different form of propagation.
So far this year I have not noticed this. It is still August so things may yet change.
I wonder if others have noticed this? This is definitely not scientific, just a gut feel.
As I understand things, US treasury debt (sold as bonds) now exceeds $40trillion, which is a huge number. Combined with high interest rates, this creates an enormous and worsening problem in the USA. The US economy is very big, but servicing this debt is a real problem. The debt is still growing.
The US dollar has been the reserve currency of the world since WW2. What would happen if China decided to buy oil in the Chinese currency (Yuan) instead and the rest of the world followed!!
I am no economic expert, but I can see China becoming the dominant world power and the sun setting on the USA. In the Middle East, the USA is seen as not providing security and putting Arab countries more at risk.
My beacon was turned on at 0817z.
UPDATE 1115z: 13 stations in Europe spotting me.
My PC has been playing up so I can only use my Chromebook.
The FT8/4 app worked immediately on RX when connected to my IC-705. On TX it uses VOX and there must be insufficient level to trigger TX with my current IC705 settings.
In the UK 8m is unavailable to the amateur radio service. Instead people have to apply for an I&T licence which costs £50 every year.
To my knowledge 5 EU countries plus South Africa have granted amateurs access to this band, usually with some restrictions. There may well be more. Many more have given experimental access outside of the amateur radio service
Judging by the ease that OFCOM have issued I&T licences, often with high power, all modes and wide frequency coverage and zero traceability (no callsigns needed), they do not seem to be the block. It looks like the RSGB is dead against it!
This is very very sad when, especially in the years around solar maximum, so much research and experimentation would have been possible.
Earlier this week I wrote to the spectrum committee and the general manager asking them to try and get behind the push.
Both the US debt and the UK debt is in our own currencies, so in the last resort we can always pay our debts. So the USA and the UK cannot go bust, but stock markets can (and will) crash. This can lead to recessions or even depressions. It could be extremely painful for everyone.
As the thunderstorm risk is low this morning, shall turn my beacon on shortly.
UPDATE 1705z: 17 stations spotting me.
Since a child I have been fascinated by small remote islands.
In my advanced years it is highly unlikely I will ever get to these. However, thanks to YouTube videos I am able to dream.
My beacon was turned on earlier this morning.
UPDATE 1243z: 16 stations have spotted me.
In the last few years we have had some innovations that allow simple stations to work the world like FT8.
At the same time fewer young people (generally) are coming into the hobby, putting the hobby under threat. Also (certainly in the UK and USA) PTTs to want less bureaucracy especially if it generates no income.
Many national amateur radio societies are working hard to buck the trend.
In the end, I cannot see amateur radio surviving as it has in the past. What the future holds I do not know.
I really hope that people continue to experiment and innovate, which is how our great hobby started.
My beacon was turned on just after breakfast
UPDATE 1312z: 42 stations have spotted me.
The president of the USA gave another press briefing in the White House. I was not very impressed, although I accept others may not agree.
Amazon home delivery gets a bad press. I have used it trouble-free for 26 years.
Some refuse to use it at all saying it will be the end of conventional shops. Yes, that is true, but people have already changed shopping patterns. Home shopping is now far more common in the last few years.
In my view, there are two sorts of high street shops (1) those that do not adapt and fail, and (2) those that adapt to internet shopping (browsing hubs?) and succeed.
Let me give you an example: at about 2230 last night I ordered 3 charging leads for my iPhone. By about 1500z the very next day they were on my doorstep delivered by Amazon.
The alternative would have been to take a bus ride into Cambridge and go to the Apple store. Assuming they had stock, I would expect to pay far more for just a single lead!
No, times are changing. We have to adapt.
UPDATE 1506z: A single charging lead from the Apple store in Cambridge would have been more than 3 times the price of 3 leads online.
This morning I noticed that advertisements were appearing in the main body of the blog. I find this intrusive and will try to stop them.
UPDATE 1111z: I think I have removed them.
At the moment there is a move towards off-grid reliable communication that does not need the internet or mobile phones.
As far as I can tell there are 2 systems coming to the fore Meshstastic and Meshcore.
Both (I think) are in their infancy and which system is better depends on where you live.
The systems are licence free, meaning anyone can use them. They’re based on either 868MHz or 915MHz if you are in the USA.
As it is meshed-based the more users the better. Often sparsely populated places have poor coverage.
As far as I know, this is just a messaging service as the data rate is low. In Romania YO6DXE has been experimenting with solar powered repeaters to extend range. He has made a video as part of his DX Explorer series.
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It was a success with good weather, plenty of vehicles and people.
As it’s been very hot and dry, I was a bit concerned that a fire might be triggered, but it was fine.
My beacon was turned on at about 0620z.
UPDATE 1912z: 23 stations spotting me QRT soon.
Some PTTs have allocated radio amateurs access to 8m. Almost all, probably all, operation is purely experimental. In the UK we have to pay £50 every year to do 8m experiments!
The RSGB seems positively anti, which I find really sad. They could very easily provide (via OFCOM) radio amateurs access to 40.680 - 40.685MHz, low power, narrow digital only, by NoV, strictly no interference.
Instead we have hit a brick wall with what appears an obstructive RSGB attitude, with no support whatsoever.
Ideally I would like to see a tiny 5kHz CEPT wide allocation, with a strict no-interference clause. This would allow real experimentation.
I am sure that OFCOM would be happy as they have allocated quite a few 8m I&T permits, some at far higher power and with far greater band coverage, all modes, with absolutely no means of tracing.
The RSGB appears to be the block, sadly. You would think we are asking for the impossible when they have already made available (via OFCOM) 2MHz of VHF spectrum for DTV and similar!
Come on RSGB!!! Provide some support please.
Research into nuclear fusion seems to have been going on for decades. Every time it seems to hit a problem. If all the problems can be overcome, it promises almost limitless energy without the problems associated with nuclear fission.
It seems that problems are gradually being solved. As computing power increases I think we will eventually get there but it may be after I am dead.
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| My single 70cm SSB contact |
Usually I manage a few contacts and give up after about 30 minutes. This time I gave up after a single contact. I get the impression SSB activity is going down. I may be totally wrong. It is a shouting match that I find hard these days.
FT8 amazes me as I consistently spot stations at vast distances and have no trouble being received at distances I only dream about on SSB.
President Trump has, allegedly, promised to make the Strait of Hormuz USA territory after he wins the war with Iran.
With President Trump it is hard to separate fact from bluster. In my view, Iran has "all the cards" to use a phrase he used last year.
Ever wondered why we say CQ and 73 and a host of other codes in CW and voice modes? Peter's video may give some clues.
My beacon was turned on at about 0820z.
UPDATE 1941z: Spotted by 90 stations in Europe, presumably via Es. It never fails to amaze me how well just 200mW 10m WSPR performs. Now QRT.
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It was about 2cm long and seemed to like my shirt and shoes!
In the end it flew away.
It is pretty certain that Ben Meiselas has a very low opinion of President Trump judging by his videos.
For years the Chinese have been on the edge of the amateur radio market. Their products are usually far less expensive than their Japanese counterparts, but there has often been a question mark about quality and reliability.
It is my view that they will soon match the Japanese and grab the amateur radio market.
Already, many consumer products are "made in China" even if they were designed somewhere else. They take advantage of low labour and material prices.
They like volumes, so expect amateur radio and CB products to be similar. It would not surprise me if they had a product that was basically a commercial, amateur radio and CB transceiver that was basically the same radio to, effectively, increase volumes.
No, the Chinese are coming. Give them a few years.
My beacon was turned on at about 0950z.
UPDATE 1012z: Spotted by nobody yet.
UPDATE 2109z: Spotted by 16 stations have spotted me with the best V51RS (8481km). QRT.
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My beacon has been on most of the morning.
UPDATE 1316z: Spotted by just 1 PD station in the Netherlands. It looks like days on end of good 10m Es are drawing to a close. The usual pattern in that Es openings become far less frequent as the months progress. There is (for some reason) a small peak around New Year.
I was very underwhelmed.
In the full eclipse in 1999, it was very noticeable that it got darker. It went a bit darker, but not very dark. As we had no eclipse glasses, I used a kitchen colander. After all the hype, a bit of a damp squib.
In Russia there has been a move away from the digital economy to cash.
My concern has always been that we rely on the internet more and more so that an internet outage here could cause real issues in the West too. Just imagine if we had no internet!
The issue in Russia is one of lack of trust.
My beacon is on.
UPDATE 0917z: 17 stations have spotted me in the last hour - all in Europe.
This video is mainly about the UK,, but probably applies across the world. It argues that every politician should be asked about the assumptions they are making and are there alternatives.
I left my beacon intentionally on again overnight. Plenty of spots again from Europe.
In the world at large, the USA has, sadly, become the butt of jokes. It once was a super-power and envy of the world. At home in the USA gas prices remain high. I must admit that every USA person I have ever met has been kind and generous.
My beacon was turned on just before breakfast.
UPDATE 1918z: 84 stations have spotted me so far. Es continues.
Ukraine has changed its war strategy to hit oil refineries deep in Russia.
It has been trying to sell some of its oil abroad using shadow tankers.
These countries are now being hit by secondary sanctions. Much of this Russian oil is being held on tankers on the high seas with nowhere to go.
Tomorrow evening there is an eclipse which can be widely seen in Western Europe and Northern Canada. In some places it is a total eclipse, but in many places the sun is widely covered.
See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-2a268141-80ca-480d-bd04-6cf688bcc3dd .
From outside of the USA, it looks like President Trump is struggling.
At home and abroad things do not appear to be going his way.
I can only judge by what I see and hear. He is not projecting a positive view of the USA sadly, in my view.
This meteor shower peaks (I think) tonight. It is not unusual for VHF contacts to be made via meteor showers. Often returns are longer in a shower.
There is a new video from DX Explorer about the Thinknode M1 LoRa transceiver.
Where he lives Meshcore seems more common than Meshtastic.
Range is always better if there are more stations in the mesh and there are well placed repeaters. As time progresses things will continue to get better.
I have no idea which system is more popular in your area. I see that Amazon sell these.
My beacon was turned on at about 0600z.
UPDATE 2105z: 54 stations have spotted me. Still good Es. Now QRT. The most distant station was in the Canary Is..
President Trump seems to be in real trouble.
It looks like his stance on Gaza and Iran have failed dramatically.
At the moment I do not own or use the QMX from QRP Labs. It is tiny and packs a lot of radio in a tiny space.
Looking from the outside, you get the impression that the USA is on the way down and China is in the ascendancy.
More and more the USA is seen as an unreliable ally that cannot be trusted.
After WW2 the USA was seen as a world model - not any more, sadly. Would I trust the USA? No longer, I am afraid.
In China they have just launched mining trucks powered by sodium-ion batteries.
Sodium is a very common material. Capacity is less than lithium batteries but they fully charge in just 12 minutes and work well in very cold weather.
Cars with sodium-ion batteries will follow.
You get the feeling China is winning in EVs.
My beacon is back to full power: 200mW!! It was turned on at breakfast.
UPDATE 2023z: 48 stations have spotted me. I really like my ZachTek WSPR beacon. I usually turn it on about breakfast and check on WSPRnet where I am reaching. QRT.
You can pick your own with the money going to charity.
They are such a sunny flower.
The photo shows me with my son.
The Times Trump Report (I think this is genuine) is talking about a row between President Trump and Pete Hegseth. I have no idea if this true.
These days it is very hard to tell what is really said and what is AI created. Even with sources you know and trust it is hard to tell if this is just an AI creation aiming to get money from clicks.
My advice has always been to use multiple sources.
Maybe it is safer to get videos from the original site so you can check the URL?
Yesterday, whilst we were at Ely, there was a gathering of the MG MX-5 owners club.
At a guess there were about 100 cars there, maybe more. I can imagine the conversations!
A gentle reminder that all comments are vetted by me first. Any that are basically adverts will NOT appear on this site. Comments that are relevant will usually appear within hours.
2 stations were worked on SSB in the first 13 minutes then I QSYed to 6m FT8. Many more would have been worked if I stayed longer. Maybe another time I should really try for longer?
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It seems to work well.
You do NOT need big towers, high power or beams.
My beacon was turned on early this morning.
UPDATE 1550z: Spotted by 23 stations. Good Es. Best is a spot from Israel.
For some reason, remote islands have always fascinated me. This video describes 8 remote Scottish islands.
Call me a born skeptic, but I do not believe many of the sightings of UFOs are evidence of alien life.
There have been many theories about what happened at Roswell, USA in the summer of 1947. Many conspiracy theories have emerged. This video may just be another.
What I do think is that there is very likely to be some form of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, although I am surprised that in over 60 years of looking (via SETI) we have found no evidence.
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Basically a community co-ordinator is told about any suspicious activity in the area and he circulates the information to neighbours. We have a good set of neighbours.
We had an informal gathering earlier this week.
My beacon was turned on at 0613z.
UPDATE 1533z: So far, spotted by 47 European stations.
This video is produced from a USA perspective, but is probably universally true.
Several factors have combined and this affecting used gear prices and this disrupts the whole amateur radio economy.
In the USA licence numbers are up and attendance at major amateur radio gatherings is at an all-time high.
In my view the amateur radio hobby will be very different within 20 years.
During June and July they scream about the sky. Then you notice they have flown and the skies are quiet.
There may be a few stragglers, but most have gone until next May as they have been doing for thousands of years. Humbling.
My beacon was turned at about 0825z.
UPDATE 1808z: 31 stations have spotted me, all in Europe.
I can trace my dad's side without a break to the mid 1500s in a few parishes in South Devon including the one in the photo, Hope Cove, which was a small fishing village.
If you go back to the mid 1500s you have to have had about 8000 people for you to be here. If you go back another 500 years you would probably have had to have more than the entire population of England at that time!
As far as I am aware I am not senile, just getting old!
These are the things that affect me:
My beacon was turned on at about 0645z.
Yet again, Iran and President Trump are centre stage. To a casual observer, things are worse.
I seem to recall President Trump claiming he could stop the war in Ukraine in 24 hours? Hmm.China is coming up fast in the amateur radio market. There is a lot of interest in the new Xiegu G7250 transceiver.
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We usually have a cooked breakfast a couple of days a week.
My shack PC (an Asus) runs Windows 10 with updates turned off. My internet provider provides free security so I thought this would not matter. I also have Windows Defender and CCleaner. The PC is only really used for WSJT-X. I browse and email on a Chromebook in the lounge or on my iPhone SE.
Of late it seems to have developed memory faults and tries to reference memory locations it cannot find. It looks like my hard drive is failing.
Apart from moving to Linux, any suggestions please?
My beacon was turned on at about 0618z.
UPDATE 1707z: 5 stations spotting me. These are probably Es.
As you may recall, I have used my ZachTek WSPR beacon most days (and some nights!) on 10m and I have been very pleased with it.
There seems to be a move to close the remaining longwave and mediumwave AM transmitters.
The BBC recently closed Radio 4 on 198kHz longwave and there are fewer and fewer stations remaining on longwave and medium wave AM.
In the end I can see a day coming when all broadcasting is via the internet and not "over the air".
I would not be surprised if we see the end of linear broadcasting completely. Instead people would watch what they want when they want whether radio or TV. The danger is if we ever lose the internet we lose all broadcasting. This could be hacking or just a fault.
As mentioned earlier, my beacon is on.
UPDATE 1455z: 9 stations have spotted me since breakfast. Es presumably
Overnight (suitable supervised - the TX is about 3m from the bed)) I left my 10m QRP WSPR beacon running again.
Yet again I was spotted in Spain and the Canary Is. throughout the night. Es is definitely not just a daytime thing!
Allegedly, President Trump has called off the latest strikes against Iran as they are desperate for a deal. We have heard this before.
As an outsider, it appears Iran has the USA "over a barrel" with a stranglehold on Western oil trade amongst other things.
President Trump likes to be a powerful winner and he does not like small countries that appear to have got the better of him.
On Sunday August 16th they are holding their annual Classic Car Day. It is always very popular and attracts lots of old cars, motorbikes and people.
DX Explorer appeals to me.
He is a real experimenter and learns through doing. One of his videos shows his experiments with an ATU for his end fed antenna trying to use it on other bands.
BYD (allegedly) has just filed some new patents. BYD is working towards a future electric car that is designed for the mass markets (i.e. low cost, fast charging and decent range). I am sure other car manufacturers are racing to achieve this.
My beacon was turned on at breakfast.
UPDATE 2036z: 55 stations have spotted me with lots of Es. Best is 5Z4ZO (7269km).
I am operating portable from my mother's garden in Devon on 10m SSB with 1W to a vertical mag-mount on the grass. It worked very well.
Italian radio amateurs have again been granted access to the 8m band. It is a real pity that in the UK the RSGB (or parts of it?) seem so against 8m when all we need is a 5kHz sliver, non-interference, narrow digital only, when several EU administrations have granted access. Also, judging by the I&T licences, I do not think OFCOM is anti, just the RSGB.
Petition the RSGB - 5kHz wide only, narrow digital only, strictly non-interference, NoV required.
My beacon has been on since about 0530z.
UPDATE 0806z: So far 34 stations have spotted me.
