10m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My 10m 6W FT8 was turned on late this afternoon. I think there was an issue getting spotted on PSKreporter earlier, so I gave up. 

UPDATE 1621z:  So far, 38 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1944z:  58 stations have spotted me. See map. QRT soon.

10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)

 Just spots by EA8BFK and EA8/DF4UE today in the Canary Is..

Knitted Bible - NOT amateur radio

 Whatever our views on religion, Easter is a time for peace and kindness. So, I wish everyone a very happy Easter. There is an exhibition of knitted bible figures that is currently in our church. It is currently going around the country.

DE G3XBM JO02

I have been experimenting with formats that show up on PSKreporter when I am beaconing. 

The above format seems to work and does not show that I am actively seeking out stations for a QSO as "CQ de G3XBM JO02" does.

In future, when beaconing,  I shall use this format on FT8.

 "BCN de G3XBM" is another format that seems to work, but does not show my location.

Sunspots - Sunday April 20th

 Solar flux is 157 and the SSN 114. A=20 and K-=5.

The future of AI - NOT amateur radio

To say I am amazed and frightened by AI is an understatement. 

Recently I watched a video imagining a street scene in 1897. I have used AI every day to get the daily sunspot number. I put a few placenames in AI and got back huge amounts of accurate data. A friend said he used AI for most of his software coding. 

A few years ago AI often produced rubbish and could not be trusted. Now there are far fewer occasions when it "goes rogue". Today I discovered a painting produced by a humanoid robot that sold at action for over £1M. As time goes by AI will get even better! Imagine AI in 40 years' time.  It cannot be uninvented. There is little doubt that many jobs will be done in future by AI. 

We have to adapt.

See Meet the AI robot whose artwork sold for over $1m - BBC News

Lunch - NOT amateur radio

We quite enjoy thermidor for lunch occasionally. This one was king prawns.

Beaconing and PSKreporter?

Unless I am wrong, I do not think there is way of showing up on PSKreporter without calling CQ. It would be really good if messages like "BCN de G3XBM" would show up so stations could clearly see you are not currently looking for QSOs. On many occasions I just want to see where my QRP signal reaches.

More on regen receivers

 Yesterday I mentioned  just how effective regen receivers could be. They are especially suited to "first time" builders as they can be extremely simple, but remarkable receivers. If you have never tried one, I highly recommend you build one and try.

New life - NOT amateur radio

 

These horse chestnut trees in our village churchyard are very old. They were planted to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. 

Generations of children have collected conkers from these and I hope many more will do so. 

The rooks are busy mending nests high above.