Keeping an eye on the neighbours - NOT amateur radio

Our neighbours were asked to keep an eye on their neighbour's house and garden when they were away on holiday. My neighbour decided to rebuild the fence. I think his neighbours have some leaks! 

20m FT8 (4W to indoor loop)

Since just before breakfast I have been on 20m FT8 with the tiny indoor loop antenna. It is now 1140z. So far, my 4W has been spotted by 14 stations in 2 continents and I have spotted 198 stations.

UPDATE 1545z: 13 Europeans plus 1 on the Canary Is have spotted my 4W 20m FT8 today so far. On RX, 424 stations spotted with best DX YB2HAF (11989km).

Stations spotted in
the last 12 hours

UPDATE 2057z: 708 stations spotted in the last 12 hours and 23 stations spotted my 4W to the tiny indoor loop.

Cambridge Radio Club (CDARC)

In the last few months I rejoined the Cambridge club as a country member. Meetings are currently held as Zoom meetings online and these have been very good. I do not like driving far, if at all, at night these days. Zoom meetings suit me well. This week, we had a joint quiz and social by Zoom with a club in Northern Ireland. This worked out really well.

See http://www.cdarc.org.uk/ 

Coastal erosion - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows the coastal erosion that occurs in some parts of north Norfolk. This photo was taken at West Runton. 

Sunspots - Friday September 18th 2020

 Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=0.

Return to 20m FT8

At about 1345z, I returned to 20m FT8 using 4W and the indoor loop. So far, in about 12 minutes, 47 stations have been spotted, although no-one yet has spotted me and no QSOs.

UPDATE 1425z: Plenty of DX being spotted with the best being LU4EFC (11336km). 4 continents spotted so far in this session. 88 stations so far spotted this afternoon. 179 stations spotted on 20m FT8 today.

Stations spotted

Stations spotting me

UPDATE 2020z:  437 stations spotted here in the last day in 5 continents on 20m FT8 RX.  20 stations including 3 in the USA have spotted my 4W 20m FT8 TX to the tiny indoor loop. I remain amazed that this tiny antenna works so well.

2m big-wheel omni antenna

As mentioned in the last post, I use a Wimo big-wheel omni antenna for 2m SSB and FT8. This is horizontally polarised and has a slight gain (2-3dB?) in all directions. It works very well. It was erected some years ago by David G0LRD. 

It is also used on 70cms for SSB and FT8. 

It suits my operating perfectly as no rotator or beams are needed.  It is ideal for FT8 and monthly activity contests on 2m and 70cm SSB. For FM I use a vertical V2000.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/bigwheel

2m FT8 (10W to big-wheel omni antenna)

At about 0940z I QSYed to 2m FT8. Already 41 stations have spotted my 10W in 6 countries (see map). 22 stations in 4 countries spotted on RX (at 1018z). 1 QSO so far on 2m FT8.

UPDATE 1113z: Now spotted by 45 stations and 2 QSOs. It could be aircraft scatter, but this seems too random. I personally think some other scatter mechanism is responsible for the spotting of some of these. Just now, again, I was spotted in 5 countries. A very useful resource is the grabber at G0LRD. David monitors WSJT-X on 144.174MHz. See http://82.71.9.63:8080/cap/. It was G0LRD who erected my 2m Wimo big-wheel some years ago. I see he has one now!

UPDATE 1235z:  63 stations in 8 countries have spotted my 2m 10W FT8. 3 QSOs today on 2m FT8 TX with 10W. 46 stations in 7 countries spotted today on 2m FT8 RX. As I mentioned earlier in the week, 2m seems far from dead. I guess there is now far more FT8 and far less SSB and FM.

Cromer church - NOT amateur radio

A few days ago we visited Cromer in north Norfolk. It has a fine church (see photo) that was sadly locked. You can see the church from miles away. 

20m FT8 Thursday (4W to the indoor loop)

At about 0700z, I turned on my 4W 20m FT8 to the tiny indoor loop. The loop is about 0.5m across, made of thin wire (1mm diameter?) and sits on the shack windowsill. It is hardly a great 20m antenna!! So far, after 15 minutes, 14 stations have been spotted and 1 station has spotted me.

UPDATE 0925z:  So far, 97 stations spotted with the loop on 20m FT8 RX with the best DX being RV0AR (5577km) in Asiatic Russia.  On TX, 6 stations have spotted my 4W (see map).