Pye Telecom PF1 on 70cm

Back in the late 1960s these were revolutionary radios bringing communications to beat policemen. 

A few found their way on to 70cm although they were only about 50mW. Years ago I built a 2m super-regen RX in a PF1 RX case.

See the Pye Telecom History website for details. 

2016 - NOT amateur radio

 

This photo shows our back garden 5 years ago. It is similar this year. We have no pears as frost killed the blossom, yet we have a laden crabapple tree and sunflowers yet to come out. The first ones were eaten by the Muntjac Deer! 

Sunspots - Monday August 16th 2021

 Solar flux is 75 and the SSN 23 .  A=10 and K=3.

Almost normal - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday we went to Bury St Edmunds as an earlier post shows. It felt almost normal, which was good to see. 

Bury St Edmunds is a delightful place. If you live in the UK and have never been, I thoroughly recommend it.

10m WSPR TX 500mW (Sunday)

 Transmissions started at about 0840z. No spots yet.

UPDATE 0918z: 3 unique spots already. Promising!

UPDATE 1055z:  4 unique spots of me so far today. 

UPDATE 1355z: 7 unique spots of me today on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW.

6m FT8 (Sunday)

 After a very brief TX period with 2.5W to the vertical omni antenna (3 G spots), I am RX only. At 0855z, 8 stations spotted. Some evidence of Es.

UPDATE 1100z:  42 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today so far. Plenty of Es. 

Stations spotted on
6m FT8 RX to 1350z

UPDATE 1350z: 93 stations spotted.

Bury St Edmunds - NOT amateur radio

It was good to see things almost normal yesterday with my wife and 2 of our grandchildren in Bury St Edmunds yesterday. The gardens were stunning 

Sunspots - Sunday August 15th 2021

 Solar flux is 73 and the SSN 47.  A=4 and K=3.

Five years older - NOT amateur radio

This afternoon we went to nearby Bury St Edmunds with 2 of our grandchildren. One insisted on reproducing a photo from 2016. 

Before and after are shown in the photo. It was taken in the Abbey Gardens that were a riot of colour. 

Bury seemed normal i.e like it was pre-pandemic.

Look carefully at the left picture you will see she insisted on wearing odd shoes!

Are they joking?

On the back of the latest RadCom is an advert by a UK dealer for a certain brand of antennas. Now I have no doubt these will be good.  

Then I saw the prices!!! 

Someone is making loads of money out of stuckers. Probably the dealer and manufacturer are both making handsome profits. I shall not embarrass them by adding names, but remind all this is just a hobby. 

I am all for dealers and manufacturers charging fair prices and making fair profits, but do not exploit your customers please.

Are we being ripped off? I stand to be corrected. Perhaps the dealers and manufacturer would care to let us know the profits? Perhaps they would rather not. 

This same dealer recently announced it was the sole UK dealer of a German radio that retails at over £12k!! Again, big fat profits come to mind. I would be surprised if the components cost more than £200. OK, they have to recover development and selling costs, but that still leaves a huge profit for the dealer and manufacturer. Once again, if I am wrong I shall happily retract how I "sense".

They sell at high prices as people are prepared to buy at these high prices.  Now, each to their own and spend your money as you want.