2m FT8

At about 1820z, I switched to 2m FT8, initially calling CQ. Best DX spot was by DL3YCX (475km), which is not bad with 10W to the big-wheel omni. In all 5 stations in 3 countries spotted me.

UPDATE 1855z: On 2m FT8 RX just 3 spots so far this evening.

UPDATE 2024z: A recent 2m FT8 CQ was spotted by 4 stations. On RX just 4 G stations spotted. In all, 7 stations have spotted my 2m FT8 CQs this evening.

UPDATE 2146z: A recent 2m FT8 CQ (10W) was spotted by 9 stations with best spot being by EI2FG (565km) in southern Eire. I shall probably remain on 2m FT8 RX overnight. 8 stations spotted so far on 2m FT8 RX in 4 countries. This is disappointing as it feels people have now had their FT8 fun and have "moved on", but what to and where?

Icom's IC-705

Image on the ICOMuk link shown

Great! ICOM has just announced a new multi-band QRP transceiver at the Tokyo Ham Fair. It should be available March 2020 and for less than $1000.  I hope they sell this world-wide as it exactly fits my needs.

See https://icomuk.co.uk/Icom-IC-705-and-IC-PW2-Prototypes-Shown-at-Tokyo-Hamfair-2019/2/1982/

See also https://dx-world.net/new-icom-ic705/

See also https://qrpblog.com/2019/08/icom-ic-705-hf-vhf-uhf-portable-transceiver-announced

See also https://icomuk.co.uk/files/icom/PDF/newsFile/IC-705_Tokyo_Hamfair.pdf

The last but one link has lots of photos. It looks to me like a great addition to the range and a bit like a 2020 IC703, but based on SDR technology!

Fred tells me 4m will be available on European versions - even better!

My thanks again to Steve G1KQH and Fred G4BWP for spotting this.

6m FT8

An earlier 6m FT8 CQ was spotted by 6 people including 9A5CW (1253km).  This looks like Es. It was very early. So far, I have just spotted a couple of Gs on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1040z: Quite a bit of Es now in 6m FT8. An earlier CQ was spotted by several Gs with one G QSO. Best DX this morning on 6m FT8 RX is UW1HM (2293km). In all, 34 stations from across Europe already spotted this morning.

UPDATE 1202z: Now 49 stations spotted today on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE  1532z: 50 stations in 13 countries spotted so far on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1605z: A recent 6m FT8 CQ was spotted by 3 G stations only.

UPDATE 1743z: A very recent 6m FT8 CQ resulted in no QSOs and was spotted by just 1 G station.

Darts with the grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

When all the grandchildren came to stay this week, a great hit was the new darts board. We attached this to a tree and we all had hours of fun.

Heathkit Twoer and similar

The older generations may remember the "Benton Harbour Lunch boxes" that were popular rigs back in the 1960s. These were 5W AM rigs with super-regen RXs. In many areas these were mainstays of VHF activity.

Compared with FT8 today we would be amazed. DX was 10 miles! On FT8 every day Germany is copied. With a super-regen and its broad selectivity even 50 miles would be considered amazing!

I always wanted the 2m version, but the nearest I got was the manual. Several similar designs were made by yours truly, but the styling never was quite as good.  To this day, I like the styling. As a QRP rig on any band I think this style is classic. Maybe one day I shall finish the Tenbox in a similar styling, although I would be very happy if someone else did this as my building skills are nothing like they were.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/lunchbox

Bike fun - NOT amateur radio

Our younger granddaughter riding her bike and having fun near her home yesterday.

137kHz transverter

Because of my poor health, it is some years since I have done any serious experimentation or building, so I hope some of the ideas on my main website inspire others to have a go. In many cases, the designs can be further optimised. If you can make a better circuit I shall be very pleased. Treat my ideas as starting points and don't be afraid to experiment!

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/mflf/137khz_tvrtr

Comments by "loan" - NOT amateur radio

It doesn't happen very often and as soon as I spot them, they get permanently deleted, but if you see a comment by "loan" let me know and then ignore it. These are irrelevant, off topic adverts. I hate them. Just go away.

Unless the comment has relevance to the post it will get deleted at the first opportunity. Such blatant ads have no place here.

Sunspots - Saturday August 31st 2019

Solar flux is 67 and the SSN is 0. A=10 and K=4.

Telford Hamfest - new location

Southgate News has a piece on the new venue for this Sunday's Telford Hamfest.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/august/telford-hamfest-at-new-venue.htm

6m FT8 RX

14 stations in 7 countries spotted from across Europe this morning on 6m FT8  Still Es about.

UPDATE 1224z: Now 79 stations spotted this morning on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1934z:  224 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today with best DX being EK7DX (3590km) in Armenia.

UPDATE 2134z: Now QRT. A recent FT8 CQ was only spotted by a couple of Gs.

Very old photo - NOT amateur radio

We found this very old photo hand-tinted and on a metal plate whilst clearing my mum's house after she died many years ago. This lady (in mourning?) has family features and we think it dates from the mid 1800s. We think it could be a great great grandmother.

Sunspots - Friday August 30th 2019

Solar flux is 65 and the SSN is still zero.  A=5 and K=1.

Bury St Edmunds - NOT amateur radio

Earlier this week one of our sons went to Bury St Edmunds with my wife and his 2 children.

This is a photo of him with his children in the Abbey Gardens with St Edmundsbury Cathedral behind.

Rallies this weekend

Saturday 31 AUGUST : TELFORD HAMFEST BUILDATHON

Event to be held in the evening of 31 August in Telford. Details to follow. Contact Martyn on 01952 255 416.


1 SEPTEMBER 2019 (new venue) : TELFORD HAMFEST & G-QRP CONVENTION

Harper Adams University, near Telford, TF10 8NB. More information and e-mail details may be found on the Telford HamFest website www.telfordhamfest.org.uk or by contacting Martyn, G3UKV on 01952 255 416.

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

DRM+ at low VHF?

According to John's excellent blog, the FCC in the USA has had a request to open up 45-50MHz for DRM + broadcasts in the USA.

On a slightly different subject, I have heard of no progress on a small 8m (40MHz) allocation in Europe. There are a very few enlightened national organisations, but sadly very few!

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2019/08/fcc-petitioned-to-open-up-45-to-50-mhz.html

6m FT8 Es

Overnight I again remained on 6m FT8 RX. Already stations from all over Europe being spotted with LA9VFA (2460km) in the very far north of Norway as the best DX spotted so far.

UPDATE 1537z: So far today 138 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX, with best DX spotted being 4Z5AV (3633km) in Israel. A recent 6m FT8 CQ was just spotted by 7 G stations.

UPDATE 1924z: In the last 12 hours 132 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX. As this is fewer than earlier, it suggests there was some very early Es propagation. At the moment we are still seeing 6m Es. Usually there is some Es throughout the year with the peak in the summer.

Sunspots - Thursday August 29th 2019

Solar flux is 66 and the SSN is still zero. A=5 and K=1.

Grandchildren together - NOT amateur radio

Today for about 6 hours we had all our 4 grandchildren together. It was great.

The boys played well together as well as the girls.

My wife and I are behind.

6m FT8

6m FT8 RX today

Once again, Es on 6m FT8 has been good. As the internet returned, uploads to PSKreporter worked.

UPDATE 1910z: 390 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today. Another great Es day on 6m. As the internet was off most of the morning I may well have spotted far more than are shown on PSKreporter maps. The maps shows the stations spotted so far today on 6m FT8 RX.

Internet back? - NOT amateur radio

About an hour ago our internet came back after about 36 hours. There was a fault preventing our box in the road getting any signal. I hope it stays on!

Luckily we had 4G phones which still worked.

Sunspots - Wednesday August 28th 2019

Solar flux is 65 and the SSN 0. A=10 and K=2.

Cooling off - NOT amateur radio

Today it felt even hotter than yesterday, but the grandkids found a way to keep cool as the photo shows.

More on the threats to 2m

You may be aware that France wants to discuss the possibility of Aeronautical Services having access to the 2m band. Apparently Germany has opposed this. This may be discussed at WRC 2023. 

6m FT8 overnight

Although 6m FT8 RX was running overnight, nothing was spotted.

UPDATE 0833z: As the Internet is still offline nothing I spot will reach PSKreporter. On the PC screen I see that Italians, Spaniards and Sicilians have been spotted probably by Es. A brief FT8 CQ was spotted in Spain at 1366km.

UPDATE 1320z: My Internet is still offline, so I cannot upload to PSKreporter. A CQ with FT8 resulted in a couple of Es QSOs on 6m.

UPDATE 2023z: Still no Internet apart from 4G. Hopefully it will be on later.

Sunspots - Tuesday August 27th 2019

Solar flux is 67 and the SSN 0. A=6 and K=3.

Bikes - NOT amateur radio

One of our sons is staying with us with his son and daughter until later in the week. Th photo shows them on their bikes last night. Luckily it is very quiet here with very few cars.

Early 6m Es

Although it is very early and I have not yet had breakfast there are several Italian stations coming in already on 6m FT8. This is a promising start.

UPDATE 0740z: Amazing! Already 76 stations from all over Europe spotted today on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 0836z: Already 120 stations spotted on 6m FT8 this morning! Many (most) are Es.

UPDATE 0948z: My 6m FT8 CQ (10W) was widely copied in southern Europe. So far this morning, 170 stations have been spotted on 6m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 2120z: Quite an extraordinary day on 6m with hundreds of stations copied via Es from all over Europe and North Africa. I am beginning to wonder if there is some correlation between climate change and Es?

Sunspots - Monday August 26th 2019

Solar flux is 66 today and the SSN is still 0. A=4 and  K=2.

Cricket - NOT amateur radio

Usually cricket can be quite boring, but the last ashes test against Australia was extremely tense until the very last ball. It could have gone either way.  In the end England won with a superb last wicket stand that will go down in history as one of the very best ever. The photo shows me with my son and grandson watching the match.

6m FT8 - no Es yet today (but it came later!)

In the last hour, I switched to 6m FT8. As yet, just Gs spotted here apart from DF4UE (756km). On TX (10W to the V2000 omni vertical) just 6 G spots so far today.

UPDATE 1050z: Later there was, again, plenty of 6m Es. I have, so far, spotted 20 stations (many probably Es) and I have been spotted, and worked, in Eastern Europe. Many were in response to my 6m FT8 CQ.

UPDATE 1114z: Plenty of Eastern Europeans spotted and several worked on 6m FT8.

UPDATE 2004z:  137 stations spotted on 6m FT8 today as the map shows. It seems still that there is 6m Es there for the taking. Another good day. Best DX spotted was EA8AQV (2989km).

2m FT8 - still a lift?

There still seems to be a lift on 2m FT8 with EA1SA (1034km) being spotted. Although I called him, I was not successful. He was the best DX spotted this morning.

2m Fredbox

Many years ago, I designed this 2m QRP AM transceiver. This was in the days when 2m AM was very popular. For its day, it was very small!

I do not recommend you copy this design nowadays, but you may find some useful ideas here.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/fredbox

Sunspots - Sunday August 25th 2019

Solar flux is 66 and the SSN 0. A=5 and K=1.

Overnight on 2m FT8

After calling CQ, I am now on 2m FT8 RX overnight. On TX just a single QSO with a fairly local station, although 9 stations spotted me with EI2FG (565km) the best DX spot. On RX the best so far is PA0O (437km).

Miracle Whip? - NO

It is years since I last used my Miracle Whip, so I thought now was a good time to try this on 10m FT8. Sadly I can't find it anywhere! The last time I used it must have been 6 years ago. I shall have to try it out another time.

10m

Since buying my FT991A, I have not been on 10m as my antenna blew down. Then it occurred to me that I had a Whiz Whip antenna that although small and indoors would at least tune on 10m.

So, I connected this to the back of the rig (it is a loop about 0.5m diameter) and went on 10m FT8. On 10m FT8 RX I have already spotted stations all over Europe (37 so far at 1312z) and on 10m FT8 TX my 4W has been spotted by several stations (6) with best DX spot by IK8YFU (1963km).

6m Es .....again

Why do so many desert 6m when it is so good?

On and off I have been on 6m FT8 again this morning with 10W and the V2000 vertical omni. Already  (1118z) 78 stations spotted from all over Europe. There was an SM0 coming through at an incredible +17dB S//N. When I called CQ I was spotted all over Europe and worked an Italian.

Honestly, I don't think there has been a single daytime time this month when there has not been 6m Es. It seems every time I look there is Es propagation. In the past I know I have worked Scandinavians in September with QRP SSB on 6m.

Stations that spotted my 6m 10W 

FT8 to the V2000 vertical to 1838z.

UPDATE  1833z:  With 261 stations spotted and 68 people spotting my 10W to the V2000 vertical, this is one of my best days on 6m FT8.

UPDATE 2130z: Still 261 stations spotted today on 6m FT8. I think that is it.

Crab apples - NOT amateur radio

We have one crab apple tree. Two years ago we had about 500 fruits and made crab apple jelly which is delicious with some meats. Last year we had just 15!  This year we have a bumper crop as the photo shows. Someone once told me these are good every other year.

See https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7661/crab-apple-jelly

2m FT8

There seems to be a lift on. Stations in Devon and North Wales called me after my 10W to big-wheel FT8 CQ calls and I am copying stations on 2m FT8 in Northern Spain. 2m FT8 is busy!