Trinity - NOT amateur radio

Living very close to the world famous university town of Cambridge we get to see some magnificent places.

These include  Kings College Chapel, St Johns and Trinity College.

Trinity is the subject of the photo, which shows the entrance to the college. Trinity boasts 32 Nobel Prize winners!

See https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/

Help please copying CDs! - NOT amateur radio

I need help doing something that I thought would be easy! We have a Windows10 PC and an external DVD/CD drive that plays audio CDs through the PC, so I know the external drive works.

How do I copy this audio CD to the hard drive of the PC?

The CDs are from Iceland and I think the group has disbanded, so we want to make backups in case the CDs get damaged. I did the obvious things (copy and paste) but this did not work.

Help!

UKAC 70cm this evening

This evening is the March 2017 70cm UKAC activity contest organised by the RSGB. Although I only use 5W SSB to my 2m halo fed with lossy coax, I try to get on for a while until my voice shouts "enough". Usually this means about 30-40 minutes. Often I am surprised how well this works.

See http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/contest_rules.pl?contest=70cmsukac

UPDATE 2056z: After 30 minutes I had to stop because of my poor voice. Best DX was a QSO with G4CLA (105km), which is not bad with 5W QRP and a 2m halo fed with lossy coax!

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday March 14th 2017

Solar flux is 72 today, but the sun remains spotless. A=3 and K=0. 10m? Anyone's guess!

6m MSK144 RX - 4 countries already!

At the moment I am on 6m MSK144 RX and already EI, GD, DF and F have been spotted and it is only 1013z.

MSK144 really does seem to change 6m. Unlike most other modes, it works without Es or F layer propagation, so 6m can be used whenever. All that is needed is patience: when a burst occurs signals are strong. Outside an MS shower these bursts come randomly and last only a few mS with my poor set-up. I am sure a few dB extra RX "system gain" e.g. a less lossy antenna or cable or another dB or so of RX sensitivity could make more stations appear more often. Pings that might be too short might be decoded.  Despite my poor system I still manage far better than I ever expected.

UPDATE 1932z: 10 stations in 8 countries today so far on 6m MSK144 RX. Best DX Sweden and Switzerland.

10m disappointment

All day long I have been putting out 500mW on 10m WSPR TX. I am transmitting 100% of the time with randomised frequencies each transmission.

I know my tri-band antenna could be better, but I have received not a single WSPR spot all day! Results are better on 6m MSK144.

What disappoints is the lack of G stations. Even with very poor 10m conditions I would have expected spots out to 60-100km on WSPR. It seems people are not interested in the challenge.

MS - NOT amateur radio

Multiple Sclerosis is a nasty condition, that is usually lifelong and unpredictable.  I know of one girl who died and three others suffering in different ways. The worst part is just not knowing what the future might bring. It is most common in people in the prime of life. One person I know was a very good cancer nurse. Sadly, she can no longer do this.

Research continues and there are some promising signs.  I certainly hope they find a cure.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39256584 .

481THz over the horizon

Facebook reminded me that 4 years ago I was doing QRSS3 tests with light at 4.8km over the horizon.

"Much better results this evening with 481THz light beam signals over the horizon at 4.8km. Last night I was 2.5 degrees out and signals were much weaker. Tonight QRSS3 could be comfortably copied at 20dB S/N in 0.34Hz bandwidth. At the receiving end the signal is not audible and nothing visible in the sky from the transmitter. Aiming is VERY critical just above the horizon."

The Future?

Several things act as warnings about the future of our hobby. Today, there was a piece in Southgate News warning of the lack of youngsters entering the hobby in the Netherlands. Although not true everywhere, ours is a hobby mainly populated by older people. This is definitely the case here in the UK. Most club members are grey-haired!!

In general, young people fail to "get the magic" radio was to us years ago. I have discussed this before, but in the age of worldwide video conferencing for free over the internet, young people think radio old fashioned. Our hobby will die unless we attract and keep young people. Clearly what "turns on" youngsters is not the same thing that attracted us. In the early 1960s if you wanted to talk around the world you had to become a radio amateur.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2017/march/shortage-of-young-dutch-radio-hams.htm#.WMZ8DoXXLIU

Newmarket - NOT amateur radio

We live about 4 miles from Newmarket, which is the horse racing capital of the world. The area is surrounded by studs, many of which are owned by rich Arab sheiks.

We do most of our food shopping in Newmarket. In this town, the horse is king and cars often give way to passing strings of horses being exercised. 

A trip up to Newmarket Heath is often accompanied by horses galloping.