Sunspots - Wednesday December 6th 2023

 Solar flux is 142 and the SSN 133.  A=11 and K=2.

630m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

My gear (10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground) was turned on at about 2045z.  

Looking at my NanoVNA the SWR is far higher than it should be. Tomorrow, I shall see if the match may be improved.

UPDATE 2136z: 8 spots of me.

NanoVNA

Recently, I purchased one of these, mainly to measure the VSWR of my various antennas. At the moment, I am still learning to drive it. 

There are a few YouTube videos that help too. You seem to get a lot for your money.  I am also charging the battery. At the moment, I am still learning.

On my "to do" list is measuring the VSWR of all the antennas I use. 

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

 My 2.5W and dipole was turned on about 1500z. This is later than usual. No spots.

UPDATE 1735z: Just local spots by G4WSZ (12km).

Please explain in plain English - NOT amateur radio

This morning I received this from Google. 

"Google Cloud BigQuery works with Google Analytics 4 to help you become more data-driven and unlock AI. Bringing Google Analytics data into BigQuery can help you reveal business insights across more data and build ML-based audiences to increase marketing ROI."

I have no idea what ML means and many will not know what ROI means!  

10m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

My 10m WSPR TX beacon is back on at 500mW.  500mW seems like QRO compared with 500uW!!  At 1045z, no spots.

UPDATE 1132z:  12 spots of my 500mW. Reports suggest 500uW would not be copied. 50mW would have got some spots, even 5mW.

UPDATE  1738z:  34 spots of me.

UPDATE  1915z: Quite a few stations might have copied me at 500uW (see table).

Earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground

Let me say from the outset that I have no firm conclusions on how this works, but work it definitely does.

My theory is that it forms a loop in the ground, so the effective loop area increases as the frequency is lowered. If the spacing between the electrodes is increased the effective loop increases in diameter. This structure has been used (by others) for amateur radiated tests at extremely low frequencies. In my case it has proved effective with QRP up to 60m. On 630m WSPR it has proved very effective with reports from Finland with low mW ERP. It is almost invisible, with the XYL and neighbours not even aware it is there! 

If the loop theory is correct a low impedance is needed as the electrodes enter the ground, but a high impedance between the electrodes so the effective loop diameter is large.

At present, I am using a mains earth (please check your mains earth is suitable) at one end, but tests at the old QTH showed that using 2 electrodes in the ground worked just as effectively.

Before anyone says that it is the wire back from the far electrode that is doing all the radiating, I tried putting the return wire on the ground with very little difference in performance.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/earth-electrode-antennas .

630m QRP WSPR overnight

 

In all, 9 stations spotted my 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground (see table).

Infected blood - NOT amateur radio

At the height of the AIDS epidemic, the UK government effectively gave infected blood to people suffering from hemophilia and other conditions.  Many caught AIDS. Many died.

Years later those affected are still awaiting full compensation. Last night the government suffered a defeat in Parliament as many MPs sided with the opposition parties on this scandal, demanding that compensation be paid within 3 months of the bill passing.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67615379 .

Unexploded bomb - NOT amateur radio

On the news was a piece about a couple that had an unexploded bomb in their flowerbed. It had been there for many decades and they always assumed it was safe. It was found to be live after all! The wife frequently used it to bang her trowel on!