Sleepy Reach - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday, we did a very early walk around this nearby village before it got too hot. There are no shops but it was an important port in Roman times and has had a fair since the 1200s.  Today, it feels like a sleepy backwater.

Oscar 100 geosynchronous - narrowband transponder activity

 In a word?   Dire.

Every few weeks I try to give a very unscientific appraisal of activity through the narrowband transponder on this geosynchronous satellite. I do this by looking at the web SDR at Goonhilly in Cornwall, UK. It is a while since I did an update.  This time it was a mid afternoon, mid-week, in Europe.

Whilst I admit that some have enjoyed the challenge of building or assembling microwave kit to create a ground station, the level of activity has fallen well below that I was expecting.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/ .

I have said before, I suspect the lack of commercial ready made gear has put off "appliance operators" who prefer to spend their money on shiny boxes from Japan.

In my view this tells us a lot about the state of amateur radio.  Most have become "black box" operators, who probably have no idea about the technology of the box they are using. Quite probably the vast majority of operators today have never, ever, done any experimentation. More than ever I can see the day coming when amateur radio ceases to exist.

Sunspots - August 1st

 Solar flux is 235 and the SSN 271. A=17 and K=4.

8m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

My 2.5W 8m FT8 is again on 40.680 MHz USB dial. No spots.

UPDATE 1525z: 9A4ZM (1289km) spotted on 8m  FT8, but nobody has spotted me! 😞

UPDATE 1726z:   Spotted by OE3FVU (1189km).

Sixbox

There is not much call for AM on 6m these days. That is a pity as designs can be simple and effective. This was my Sixbox that appeared in GQRP SPRAT magazine some years ago, I think. I say think as I cannot remember!

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/homebrew/sixbox.

Ready for harvest - NOT amateur radio

 

This field of corn, seen on our pre-breakfast walk, looks ready to harvest.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Wednesday)

My 10m WSPR beacon is on. I was surprised (again) to be spotted at 0034z by HB9TMC (905km). Es really is sporadic!

UPDATE 1007z:  8 stations have spotted me this morning.today.

UPDATE 2104z:  26 stations have spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR 

6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

For some reason my 6m QRP FT8  transmissions were not being reported. Perhaps my timing was badly off or for some other reason. Anyway, I resynced to internet time and restarted PSKreporter and am getting plenty of spots. Some look like Es.

UPDATE 0934z:  13 spots of my QRP 6m FT8 with the furthermost OH6CT (2012km).

UPDATE 1437z:  Having been RX on 6m FT8 for several hours, I am back on QRP FT8 TX again, although I might try 8m FT8 shortly.

Early morning walk - NOT amateur radio

As today is expected to be very hot, we went for a walk before breakfast. On the walk we saw this thistle.

Sunspots - Wednesday July 31st

 Solar flux is 220 and the SSN 261. A=23 and K=1.

It is hard to think we were fearing we were entering a Maunder Minimum just a few years ago. These numbers are good.