The following has been notified to me. As this is an automatic email, it is advisable to check it is on and the information is correct.
Sunday April 30th - Ripon Radio Rally, Ripon, HG4 2PT. Contact https://www.g4sjm.co.uk/contact-us .
27 Apr 2023
Low key? - NOT amateur radio
On Saturday week, our new King Charles III is crowned. At the moment things feel very muted. For example, John Lewis in Cambridge, a major department store nationally, has nothing for the coronation, that I could see, on display. I guess they are worried about excess stock on their hands in hard times. This small display was at the back of a pub in Ely yesterday.
It is a very long time since Queen Elizabeth II was crowned and this was shortly after WW2 when there was a national support for the monarchy. These days, many younger people are not in favour of a monarchy and do not like wealth and privilege just because people inherited it. The problem is who would be president?
Personally, I think (just) I am in favour of a symbolic monarchy as long as it is considerably slimmed down.
Worked all Cambridge(shire)
The Cambridge club (CDARC) is launching a scheme like a mini WAB scheme called "Worked all Cambridge (or is it Cambridgeshire?)". The object is to work stations in all the Ordnance Survey 10km squares in the county. For example, I am in TL56 square. I think it runs for a year, but as I do not have details yet, I have no idea how many squares there are. I can imagine some in the Fens are quite hard. What a fun scheme for a club.
10m FT8 QRP with the QDX (Thursday)
Shortly, I intend to try 10m QRP FT8 with the tiny QDX transceiver.
UPDATE 1110z: 80 reports of my QRP 10m FT8 TX. Now RX only. Panic at first when my SWR bridge showed no power and a high SWR. It turned out it was the lead to the SWR bridge, not the QDX! Stations across the planet spotted on 10m FT8 RX.
UPDATE 1248z: 220 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX.
UPDATE 1319z: Briefly on 10m QRP FT8 TX with 13 stations spotting me in the last.15 minutes. Now back on 10m FT8 RX only with 261 stations spotted so far today.
UPDATE 1544z: 376 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX. 106 stations have spotted my QRP 10m FT8 today. I am operating as a beacon and not really after QSOs.
26 Apr 2023
8m WSPR for anyone, without a licence
Correspondence with OFCOM in the UK has convinced me that anyone may TX with a WSPR, FT8 or QRSS beacon in the ISM segment of 40.66 - 40.70 MHz without the need for any licence as long as the technical requirements and IR2030 are met. In the UK this means 10mW ERP.
This is NOT the Amateur Radio Service.
Today, on 10m WSPR many stations (with a quiet noise floor) would have copied me with 5mW ERP, so I am convinced that at 8m, such signals could be widely copied. In Australia we know that 5mW of 8m WSPR has spanned 5000km.
What I am advocating is stations check the ISM rules in their country and set up a network of 8m WSPR beacons. If possible, randomise frequencies to avoid interference and stick within the WSPR window 40.680 MHz + DF 1400-1600 Hz. This will give us all maximum chances of being copied on 8m.
In the UK, callsigns for ISM beacons are optional, but I suggest something that WSPRnet can report and QTH locators are essential. This is an experiment and the more people taking part the better.
The Es season has arrived
Judging by the results on 10m WSPR, the Es season has arrived. I must give 8m another go and 4m. As the season gets underway we can expect widespread openings from the UK to Europe and similar distances in North America. On 8m, the main issue will be too few people monitoring.
My free PDF G3XBM Project Scrapbook
In my life in the amateur radio hobby, I have been very fortunate. If others can have as much fun as I have, it will please me greatly. My website has a link to the latest version of this book. It is totally free and money is not expected. Just have fun!
You can just browse it, download the lot or just the bits that take your fancy. As I always say, I am sure my projects may be improved, so treat these as starting points.
At some point, I must update it as there have been a few changes of late.
Peacocks in Ely - NOT amateur radio
This was where we had lunch today: Peacocks in Ely, Cambs.. It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. We tried to take a friend there on a Tuesday, but found it closed!
Behind King's College Cambridge - NOT amateur radio
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| Behind King's Cambridge |
The field behind King's College has been cut in half so one part is cut and the other left as a wild flower meadow. At the moment it is ablaze with cowslips. Not visible in the photo (just in front of the cows) is the River Cam beloved by punters.
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