Sunspots - Tuesday August 6th 2019

Solar flux is 68 today and the SSN 12. A=35 and K=4 .

Trump NOT amateur radio

As usual, lead by example?  Inane comments.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49230861

A blast from the past on 2m SSB/CW

Back in the 1970s, in the early days of 2m SSB, the most popular rig was the Belcom Liner-2.

Hot on its heals a few years later came the IC202 from ICOM. I had one of these and even used it on 10m with a Microwave Modules transverter. With internal batteries it could be used portable and even handheld. Some great DX was worked with it on 2m SSB and on 10m SSB using that transverter.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/ic202

Roses - NOT amateur radio

These fine roses are in a neighbour's drive. They are keen gardeners. They have a big garden that needs a lot of attention. The hedges alone must be 200m long. It's a good job they enjoy it!

Sunspots - Monday August 5th 2019

Solar flux is 66 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=1.

It still feels like sunspot minimum to me.

First FT8 160m QSO with new rig

160m FT8 log 
(stations that spotted me)

Earlier I worked G0BLB (211km) in IO81 in daylight on 160m FT8. This my first 160m QSO with the new radio. So, I think I have solved the mystery with the rig on HF and FT8. This was on the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. Hopefully after dark some Europeans will be spotted.

UPDATE 2030z: My brief 160m FT8 CQ to the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground resulted in 9 spots. The best was a spot by DJ9PC (821km). On RX my best spot on 160m FT8 RX is R2AL (2417km) near Moscow.

160m FT8 spots this 

evening of my CQ calls

UPDATE 2102z: A recent 160m FT8 CQ call (no QSOs resulted) was spotted by 15 stations with the best spot being by OL7M (1126km).

160m FT8 tonight

All being well, I intend to be on 160m FT8 this evening. I will be using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground with about 10W from the FT991A. As for the ERP, probably low mW!

On WSPR this (with even lower power) has got me to Sweden with this "antenna".

The 160m FT8 frequency is 1.840MHz USB digital. I have not tried FT8 yet on 160m.

UPDATE 1625z: I put out a couple of CQ calls, but no spots. I guess this is far too early as it will be light for hours yet.

FT8 issue fixed?

Yesterday I reported that I was struggling on FT8 RX on 20m, and other bands like 70cm RX. I knew the PC settings were right as these worked on 6m and 2m, so the issue had to be with the rig settings.

It appeared that the bandwidth settings on bands other than 6m and 2m was 500Hz. Setting this to 3000Hz seems to have fixed the issues. I am now receiving stations on 20m FT8 on 14.074MHz USB digital with the loop on the back of the rig. I have no idea why these settings were as they were. Maybe I can try 160m FT8 with the earth-electrode "antenna" tonight?

On TX with 8W I have not had any spots yet, but at least there are now RX spots from all over Europe on just the tiny loop.

UPDATE 1342z: Best DX on the tiny loop on 20m FT8 RX is RA1OD (2920km). Another CQ call got no spots.

80m QRP - the XBM80-2 transceiver

About 7 years ago I designed this ultra-simple QRP transceiver for 80m. It managed some local QSOs. These days, following my stroke, designing and building things is hard.

There is a YouTube video too shown here.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/80m_xbm80

Crossing the channel - NOT amateur radio

Today, a Frenchman crossed the channel between England and France by flyboard. I prefer the shuttle!

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-49226353/man-crosses-english-channel-by-flyboard