Signs of life - NOT amateur radio

On our walk this morning we came home via the churchyard. There are stirrings in the ground (no, not ghosts!) with aconites just coming in to flower with their yellow flowers. Most snowdrops and daffodils have yet to come. These are a sure sign of better weather and lighter evenings on the way.

Incidentally although the late afternoons have been getting gradually lighter, the mornings get darker for a while into January. From this point onward it gets lighter here morning and afternoon. A corner has been turned.

15m FT8

It is now 0922z. For about 5 minutes, I have been on 15m FT8 RX. So far,  6 stations have been spotted. When on TX I use 2.5W to the indoor loop.

UPDATE 1525z: 259 stations spotted so far with the furthermost being YB6UAF (12009km) in Indonesia.  5 continents spotted.

Sunspots - Wednesday January 6th 2021

Solar flux is 75 and the SSN 0. A=11 and K=3.

2m activity contest

The first UKAC 2m activity contest organised by the RSGB was last night. I was on for about 50 minutes with 10W and the big-wheel omni antenna. 

In my view, conditions were poor and activity low. There were no portables (presumably because of lockdown). My best DX (lost before we could complete) was G4RRA in Devon. Had we completed, this would have been a good contact. It is much easier on FT8!

20m FT8 QRP (Tuesday)

Since about 1545z, I have been on 20m FT8 with 2.5W and the indoor loop antenna on the shack windowsill. So far, 1 spot on QRP TX and 10 stations in 3 continents spotted on RX, mostly in the USA.

UPDATE 2131z: QRT. 127 stations spotted today on 20m FT8 RX.

2014 FaceBook Memory - NOT amateur radio

One of my FaceBook memories today was this photo of me shortly after 3.5 months in hospital following a brain bleed. 

The hedge behind me is now fully mature and much bigger. 

Although still giddy all of the time and with a poor voice, I am otherwise in good shape. The Zimmer frame soon went! 

For several months I had most of my food and drink via a peg directly into my stomach. For many years now I have been able to eat and drink normally. Until you cannot, you don't realise how eating and drinking normally is so important. In hospital I used to dream about simple food!

20m FT8 WISPY RX?

A few days ago I showed the schematic for my WISPY RX. The photo shows the actual 10m WISPY RX. 

With a couple of low cost GQRP 7030kHz crystals in parallel this could probably allow a very low cost 20m FT8 RX to be made using the same idea and pulling the crystals upwards. 

If you have a source of low cost 7040kHz crystals, just one will probably allow you to get to half 14.074MHz. A 14.074MHz simple DSB based FT8 RX would be a fun winter project, guaranteed to spot lots of DX every day.

Just think - for the cost of a couple of coffees out (those were the days!) and you have a low cost way of spotting DX from across the world.

Come to think of it, a full 20m FT8 transceiver could be made for the price of a bag of fish and chips! Surely someone is up for the challenge. 

10m FT8

It is now 0950z. For the last hour I have been on 10m FT8 with 2.5W and the indoor loop on the shack windowsill. No spots yet on RX or TX.

UPDATE 1356z: I have just turned on the QRP TX again: it has been off for several hours whilst we went for a walk and had lunch.  On RX, just a couple of spots with the furthermost being MM0ZBH (482km).

Simonsberg South Africa - NOT amateur radio

 

This photo was taken in November 2020 in South Africa.

KW2000 series

When I was at the University of Liverpool (1967-70) we had a very good amateur radio society with the call G3OUL. A member at the time was Ian Vance G3WMS who later headed a major electronics company. I think he was made an MBE too.

Whilst there we had a KW2000. At the time we thought it was wonderful. I can recall working some impressive DX with it. I cannot remember the antenna we had, but I don't think we had a beam.  In the following years, we had a later version of the KW2000 and a KW linear. I think the original version was 90W pep. There was an article in Short Wave Magazine on the KW2000B.

I took my morse test in the Liver Building and used an El-Bug on CW with the KW2000. I also recall working ZB2VHF on 4m AM from the club on 70.26MHz with 4W.

See http://www.radiomanual.info/schemi/Surplus_Radioamateur/KW_Electronics_KW-2000B_review_1971.pdf