Sunspots - Saturday May 8th 2021

Solar flux is 75 and the SSN 15. A=3 and K=1. 

South Africa - NOT amateur radio

Some years ago we had a holiday in South Africa with Saga. It was one of the best holidays we have ever been on. 

Hotels and food were excellent and we were quite unprepared for the huge variety of scenery. In some parts it was like Scotland, others like the Med and others scrub. 

We saw "the big five" wild animals and many more. I still can't get over seeing monkeys and ostriches on the beach on the way to the Cape.

I expected to see lots of insects, but we see far more in our garden!

G3XBM website progress

All being well, I shall swap my website to the new format in the next few days. It is mostly done, although I need to find a way of attaching some files and making some schematics clearer. On the old pages, clicking a schematic usually brought up a "pin-sharp" image. There must be a way to do this, but I have still not found out how yet, HI.

At some point I shall swap over, but some pages may not be complete yet.   As time goes by I hope to iron out any omissions or errors.

Please give me feedback on the site when it "goes live". When the new site is ready I shall say so on this blog.

In the end, it should be at least as good as the old site and, I hope, better. Converting the pages appears to have been easier and faster than I expected.

You should still be able to go to www.g3xbm.co.uk  as before. It is just that the pages you see will look different.

Shopping - NOT amateur radio

This morning, we went shopping at one of the larger UK supermarkets beginning with T. It wasn't too busy. We stocked up on the wine I like, which was very inexpensive. I do not have great tastes! 

My wife drove as I was too giddy. 

Also she was unable to find a certain yeast extract at the shop beginning with W. There were huge stocks at this shop today so we bought a jar!

10m FT8 RX with the IC-705 and indoor loop

Since breakfast, I have been on 10m FT8 RX with the indoor loop and IC-705. 2 stations spotted so far by 1002z.

UPDATE 1532z: So far today, 53 stations have been spotted on RX. My new leads (USB to USBmicro) are due before 1900z. I hope this solves my FT8 TX issue. Otherwise it is finger trouble or even rig trouble.

UPDATE 1732z:  111 stations so far spotted today on 10m FT8 RX.

Sunspots - Friday May 7th 2021

 Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 0. A=4 and K=1. 

On our way to vote

These flowers were seen on our way to vote this morning. 

FT8 on the IC-705

It works on RX, but not (yet!) on TX. The drivers have been correctly installed on the PC and appear in the device manager. The audio CODECs appear too. Yet it still says the TX does not work as it cannot see the TX audio CODEC. 

Perhaps the lead does not have the TX audio connection? I have a new lead (USBmicro to USB) coming and will try this tomorrow. 

It could be finger trouble!

Looking busy

Earlier today, I was sent this photo of G3TFX as he was in 1974.  

I speak to him on 2m FM most weeks.

He is using a Marconi 995 signal generator. These were common in the early 1970s. They drifted a lot and we had to wait hours for these to settle down!

Voting - NOT amateur radio

In the UK, we have been voting in some elections. These are not for seats in the House of Parliament. We voted this morning. The polling station was set up to ensure Covid-19 security.