Sunspots - Sunday March 11th 2018

Solar flux is 68 today and the sunspot number zero still. A=12 and K=2.

QRP HF

At one time the Yaesu FT817 led the way.

These days there are lots of good QRP rigs available such as the KX2 and KX3 and the uBITX kits, as well as many others. The FT818 really looks pathetic by comparison.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/ft817 . This page is mainly about the FT817, but it also looks at the FT818.

See also http://www.hfsignals.com/ .

Cambridge Posters - NOT amateur radio

All around the city you can see posters. These were in Bene't St. The yellow one is advertising my wife's concert on April 7th. In the background is Old School Lane, the site of the original Cavendish Laboratories, where many a Nobel Prize was won. The world famous Kings College Chapel is about 300m away.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bene%27t_Street .

2m FT8 RX (this is getting too easy!)

Yet again, I am monitoring 2m FT8 RX on 144.174MHz. 31 unique stations in 7 countries spotted so far today.  Best DX spotted is DK2DTF (644km).

UPDATE 1242z: 35 uniques in 7 countries so far today.

UPDATE 1526z: 42 uniques in 8 countries on 2m FT8 RX so far today. When I was briefly on TX (2.5W) this morning, 3 stations spotted me including GW6TEO (371km).

UPDATE 1604z: In the last 15 minutes I briefly transmitted with 2.5W to my big-wheel antenna. I got reports from as far away as Devon. In just the last 2 hours 22 uniques in 5 countries spotted.

Sunspots - Saturday March 10th 2018

Solar flux is 67 today and the sunspot number zero. A=12 and K=4.

MLS "something for the weekend" deals

Every weekend, MLS offers discounts. If you are intent on buying one of the items listed, it is worth checking these deals.

See https://www.hamradio.co.uk/ .

Useful Website

Steve, G1KQH has sent me a link, which has a lot of useful links.

See http://www.solorb.com/elect/

Pacific FT8 drone

Southgate News has a piece on a drone slowly floating from Hawaii to California. There is a KX3 on board with FT8 capabilities.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/march/pacific-ham-radio-drone-kh6jf-mm-using-ft8.htm#.WqKwz0x2tMs .

2m FT8 RX

This never fails to amaze me. Today again lots of stations spotted with best DX DF5VAE (902km) not far from the Polish border.

The map shows the stations spotted on 2m FT8 in just the last 12 hours. Quite amazing seeing I am just using an FT817 with a big-wheel horizontal omni antenna. The big-wheel is about 4m above ground at the rear of the bungalow. It is just visible above the front door in the picture. It just clears the roof. The V2000 is above the garage. This is fed with cheap CB RG58 coax. The big-wheel had decent coax.

UPDATE 1715z: Now 41 uniques in 8 countries spotted on 2m FT8 today since breakfast. I suspect most of the DX is by aircraft reflection. As experiments earlier in the week showed, using the V2000 vertical gave much the same results, so this is definitely not tropo.

UPDATE 2152z: I am still monitoring 2m FT8 this evening. Even in the last hour, I have spotted 12 unique stations with best DX DL1DBR (546km).

More OFCOM

Apparently they are taking steps to improve mobile coverage and steps towards 5G. I guess writing this crap beats real work, especially if you have a domestic science qualification and know nothing about RF allegedly.

See http://ofcom.createsend1.com/t/ViewEmail/i/634274CBE08C0A5B2540EF23F30FEDED/59D1BD3EA2F08127C67FD2F38AC4859C