Portugal - NOT amateur radio

We get home tomorrow after a great trip. My wife made this collage, which sums up our trip quite well.

This has been a busy few days, but we have seen and learned a lot.

For days we have been looking for bee eaters. Today my wife and I saw 4!

Right wing extremists - NOT amateur radio

The upcoming European elections will be test for the far right parties in many EU countries. Although fairly centralist politically myself, there is no denying that politics in many countries is moving further right.

Many of those who vote right wing are disaffected people who think (falsely) that right wing parties will bring back halcyon days without immigrants and the EU.  In my view all EU nations have changed forever and people are being misguided.

The UK and USA have been integrating immigrant people for a very long time. It is important that people coming into a country learn the language and integrate. It is very unlikely those who do not try to fully integrate will feel welcomed.

If right wing parties do well in the EU elections the EU could change radically in the years ahead.

See https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48264638

Even lower!

Stefan DK7FC has been doing experiments at even lower frequencies! This was posted a few days ago. His attachment has NOT been included.

"Hello SLF freinds,

Just a note from a recent experiment at 270.1 Hz.
 
On sunday morning, 2019-05-12_10:34,+150m, i've done a carrier transmission on my ground loop antenna again. I did not expect more than, hopefully, a detectable spectrum peak in 57.6 km distance, i.e. at my tree site. The tree receiver site was listening and recording data using vlf-rx tools.
One E field antenna and two orthogonal loops were listening. The loops have been improved recently! They consist out of a single circular turn of 1.2 m diameter using 10mm diameter copper tube (about 25 mm^2). It is a closed loop, non-resonated, with an impedance matching transformer. This transformer previously had 1:100 turns. Now it (they) has 2:240 turns, i.e. two turns primary (out of 14mm^2, AWG6). This improved the sensitivity below 2 kHz significantly ( abt. 4...5 dB).
Furthermore the TX antenna length and angle has been improved, resulting in about +3 dB more signal strength on the RX site!

In a previous experiment at 270.1 Hz, some month ago, there was no result at all, not the weakest trace, despite excessive tweaking of all parameters. So the question was, will the improvements result in a detectable signal now?

Several things went wrong in that experiment. I forgot a bag containing important equipment such as the power supply for the netbook that generates the carrier signal. Also the output power was not as high as planned, just about 380 W, giving 2.2 A antenna current (I measured 64.7 V at 1 A DC). Anyway i managed to improvise so the experiment was started, but with some hours of delay which meant i higher QRN background level. Then, on the WLAN link to the tree, there were several interruptions of the stream (i'll move to 5 GHz very soon!). I even got some QRM from my battery charger for some short time periods (forgot to disable the charger remotely). So there were several factors that could have been improved or avoided. And the middle of May is not the ideal time anyway.

Well, 270.1 Hz, that's the 1110 km band! The far field begins at 177 km distance, i.e. i am clearly in the near field here. Thus, from a 'magnetic' TX antenna, we would expect that the signal is mainly detectable on the H field, i.e. the loop antennas.
The first interesting results is that this expection is actually confirmed. There is nothing detectable on the E field but the carrier S/N in the H fields is close to 10 dB in the first run. Mixing the H fields and tweaking the filters rises the carrier S/N to 10.7 dB, see attachment.

So far not really an undoubtly detection but it is a candidate for optimism! With a few less problems during the experiment there is a chance for 14 dB SNR. Also, there is quite much sideband QRM arround 300 Hz which makes 270 Hz a bit harder to work on.

73, Stefan"

Sunspots - Thursday May 16th 2019

Solar flux today is 73 and the sunspot number 13. A=6 and K=2.

Portugal Birds - NOT amateur radio

Bird spotting in Portugal continues. As well as masses of storks today I spotted cattle egrets and a grey shrike as well as lots I could not identify. I was hoping to spot a bee-eater, but no luck so far. I've seen them in Spain before, so was hoping to catch at least one here.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bee-eater

Chapel of Bones - NOT amateur radio

This macabre but fascinating Chapel of Bones in Evora, Portugal is plastered with the skulls and bones of 5000 monks. It was created in the 17th century and aims to encourage people to contemplate their own mortality.

Dayton

17-19 MAY : DAYTON HAMVENTION

Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center, Dayton, Ohio.

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

Little things please little minds! - NOT amateur radio

This sign, seen today in Portugal, amused me. I think it is actually to do with key cutting.

Sunspots - Wednesday May 15th 2019

Solar flux is 74 today and the SSN 24. A=36 and K=1.

70cm activity contest this evening

Starting at 1900z (8pm UK clock time) is the May leg of the RSGB's 70cm UKAC activity contest. SSB activity is better than usual and even 5W to a 2m halo usually gets me QSOs up to over 100km.

Lisbon trams - NOT amateur radio

Lisbon, built on 7 hills like Rome, is famous for its old trams.

It suffered a major earthquake in 1755.

Solar Cycle 25 predictions

This is getting more like BREXIT everyday with major disagreements amongst the "experts".

They all seem to agree that the size of the next solar peak will be similar to the last one, but there are major disagreements about the depth and length of the preceding minimum.

See https://www.weather.gov/news/190504-sun-activity-in-solar-cycle

HF beams

A few days ago I reported seeing no HF beams in Portugal. Yesterday, I saw 2. Perhaps they are more affluent further south?

FT4

Digital mode FT8 has become enormously popular. Apparently a new release candidate of the faster FT4 is due out in a few weeks. I have yet to try FT4.

Sunspots - Tuesday May 14th 2019

Solar flux is 76 today and the SSN 24. A=4 and K=2.

Mobile phones and driving - NOT amateur radio

Some of you may remember that one of my sons lost a brother-in-law in 2017 when he was ploughed down by a driver who went through a red light in Australia. It took him 5 weeks to die. He was in his late 20s.

Never, ever use your mobile phone whilst driving. Even hands-free can be distracting. If you can, put the phone in a glove compartment! I was appalled to see this video. I hope he was banned from driving for years and was sacked by the owners of the lorry. Stay safe.

Oscar 100 - still very quiet

When I took a quick look at the Goonhilly SDR relaying the narrowband transponder just now there was only one QSO going on.

See https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/

Viseu, Portugal - NOT amateur radio

Viseu Street

Yesterday we were in Viseu, whereas today we are much further south near Lisbon. We saw plenty of storks near Coimbra, but none since. I keep looking for bee-eaters. but have seen none.

Web SDRs

Southgate News has a piece about the Farnham Web SDR. These days there are web SDRs all over the world, so you can take a peek at what things are like from other places. It seems odd to listen to a UK 10GHz beacon in Lisbon!

See http://www.websdr.org/

Sunspots - Monday May 13th 2019

Solar flux is 77 and the sunspot number 24. A=4 and K=1. Still looks (to me) like we have passed the solar minimum.

Oranges - NOT amateur radio

Today was hot in Portugal! Earlier in the week we had had rain and clouds, but today could hardly be more different. Even at midnight it is expected to be 24 deg C. On the way towards Lisbon we stopped at Obidos where these oranges were on display.

Lightning maps

Periodically I take a look at the lightning maps to see how near storms are. At the moment they are well away.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/blitzortung/europe/index.php?lang=en

Sunspots - Sunday May 12th 2019

Solar flux is 76 today and the SSN 25. A=8 and K=3.

The Moon this afternoon - NOT amateur radio

This was the Moon at about 1430z this afternoon near Viseu, Portugal. And to think men walked on here in 1969.

Who do you believe?

When it comes to solar forecasts it is hard to know who to believe. For some years I have been following this forecast and at the moment it seems to be accurate.

Sunspots - Saturday May 11th 2019

Solar flux is 76 today and the SSN 25. A=8 and K=3. Certainly these figures suggest we are starting the climb.

Amateur radio antennas

When abroad on holidays I do a very sad thing. I count the number of HF and VHF beams I spot. In the USA and South Africa I spotted quite a few. So far in Portugal I have seen none. Well, I did say "sad"!

Angry sky - NOT amateur radio

We are on holiday in Portugal. So far, we have had lots of rain, although it is already much sunnier and drier. Tomorrow is expected to be warm (24deg C) and sunny.

Plenty of swifts, swallows, house martins and sand martins about.

Yaesu's flagship

Although far more than I am willing to pay for amateur radio gear, Yaesu is trying hard with their new flagship, SDR based radio called the FTdx101D being demonstrated at Nevada according to Southgate News.

I hope they introduce a real FT817 replacement later this year, SDR based. We should know next week.

If they "miss the boat" again, I give them 5 years or less before they quit this market. Of late, they have been followers rather than leaders. It is almost as if they have lost their way and are in "catch-up" mode. Over the years I have been a keen Yaesu man and it pains me to say this. If I was to say who might survive, my money is on ICOM.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/may/demonstration-and-talk-on-the-new-yaesu-ftdx-101d-transceiver.htm#.XNUQDfZFy00.

See also https://www.nevadaradio.co.uk/amateur-radio/

See also https://www.hamradio.co.uk/amateur-radio-base-station-radio-yaesu-base-station-radio/yaesu/yaesu-ftdx101d-pd-8964.php

Sunspots - Friday May 10th 2019

Solar flux is 75 today and the SSN 25. A=7 and K=2.

Porto - NOT amateur radio

It rained today in Porto, northern Portugal. In fact as I write it is probably typically English weather - a mix of mist and rain!

One of the joys today was a visit to the cellars of Cockburn's who make port and have done for centuries.

Anywhere looks drab in bad weather. Certainly Porto is not a place I would rush to return to.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto

Dayton Hamvention

This ham gathering is perhaps one of the biggest in the world and a place, traditionally, where the big manufacturers launch new products, often long before they are actually available. You can just imagine the engineers rushing to meet Dayton deadlines: you must meet these dates!

I am expecting several SDR based offerings. It would be nice to see a real FT817 replacement. The FT818 was a great disappointment. It was clearly aimed at keeping Yaesu factories going and not offering the features many expected.

Dayton dates are May 17-19th 2019.

See https://hamvention.org/

Crystal replacements

It is a very long time since I was fit enough to do serious project building work, but I know that buying crystals, unless you are buying very common frequencies, is expensive. Many now use synthesised sources instead as this can be much less expensive. Sadly, health issues have precluded me doing my own experiments. At one time, synthesised sources could be noisy, although I expect things have improved in the last 10 years. If you have used synthesised "crystal replacements" I'd be interested to hear what good solutions there are now.

Many years ago, I had ideas for a low cost 10m DSB rig. With the sunspot count likely to soon be on the up, perhaps it is time to dust this off.

Sunspots - Thursday May 9th 2019

Solar flux is 78 and the SSN 27. A=5 and K=0.

DX VHF FM QSO

The IARU VHF/UHF Region 1 Newsletter has details of the FM 2m QSO between ZS3 and ZD7,

See https://www.iaru-r1.org/index.php/vhfuhsshf

Southgate News

Southgate News is a good source of information about amateur radio, Today includes news of a big solar flare amongst other snippets.

Swifts - NOT amateur radio

Today, I saw my first swifts (birds) this year. They migrate up from Africa, returning in August. The only problem was these were in northern Portugal! What is amazing is these could be the very same ones we see in our village stopping for a "pits stop" to re-feed before flying on northwards. When I see swifts I think summer.

Sunspots - Wednesday May 8th 2019

Solar flux is 78 today and the sunspot number 27 (quite decent for this part of the cycle). A=5 and K=0. It looks to me as of we have passed through the minimum, although this could be just a blip. At the last minimum we went months without spots.

2m activity contest this evening

As this is the first Tuesday in the month, it is the RSGB's UKAC activity contest starting at 1900z for 2.5 hours. Activity levels are usually high on SSB. This is a fun contest.

Sunspots - Tuesday May 6th 2019

The solar flux is 75 today and the SSN 14. A=4 and K=1.