Snail - NOT amateur radio

This was taken some years ago and appeared as a memory today.

6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

 My 5W gear was turned on early at 0458z. Just UK stations spotted and nobody spotted here.

UPDATE 0545z: 5 stations have spotted me including one in Germany. 

UPDATE 0923z: 26 stations have spotted me. Definitely Es.

UPDATE 1412z:  52 stations have spotted me.

Local supermarket - NOT amateur radio

This is where we do most of our food shopping. It is in Newmarket. 

Sunspots - Tuesday June 17th

 Solar flux is 148 and the SSN 125. A=10 and K=2.

Treeless landscape - NOT amateur radio

One of my friends on 365project.org lives in the Shetland Is. It is pretty treeless up there with a fair bit of wind.

10m 500mW WSPR (Monday)

My beacon was turned on just before breakfast.

UPDATE 1220z:  Just one spot by F/DK4NL.

UPDATED 1858z:  Now 19 spots of me.

UPDATE 2031z:  35 spots of me. 

UPDATE 2055z:  Now QRT.

Quiet close - NOT amateur radio

This is a quiet green in our village, surrounded by houses. We like to photograph this in the autumn when the trees lose their leaves.

6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My 6m FT8 was turned on at 0600z. 

Stations spotting me at 0830z

UPDATE 0850z:  65 stations have spotted me. It seems to me that those interested in 6m have now got bored with Europeans and are coming on the band to work "super DX" from the Far East, North and South America, Africa and the Caribbean. They do this by being alerted and not coming on so often casually.

UPDATE 0924z: 75 spots of my 5W QRP to the vertical omni. I suppose we occasionally get Es linking with TEP further sound bringing stations far further south in Africa and South America within range on 6m.

UPDATE 1641z:  289 stations have spotted me including DS1JFY (8751km) in South Korea.  Judging by his other spots, this could be genuine. 196 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE  2034z: 328 spots of me. QRT soon.

UPDATE 2050z:  Now QRT.

Sunspots - Monday June 16th

 Solar flux is 148 and the SSN 141.  A=11 and K=2.

Crystal receivers

This was one area of radio that fascinated me, although I have not explored it recently. At one time, my ambition was to build a crystal set that covered VLF to over 1 GHz with maximum sensitivity. 

Remember, crystal sets are passive receivers generating all their power from the TX. Some designs use the rectified signals from many stations to bias the detector on or to power a small amplifier.

These days there are fewer English language broadcast stations on short wave.

In my time I have received stations from all over the world, not via relays that can be much nearer. I have heard amateur and commercial stations too.

Most crystal sets can copy about 1mV signals, although I expect optimised systems can receive far weaker signals.

There is a page on my website about these.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/crystal-set-dxing