Haircut day - NOT amateur radio

On Wednesday I had my hair cut in the garden by my son as the photo shows .  My wife had her hair cut too at a local salon. 

Shack some years ago

The photo shows my shack some years ago. I am a dedicated QRPer and rarely use much power. 

Sunspots - Friday April 16th 2021

Solar flux is 72 and the SSN 22.  A=15 and K=3. 

At the seaside - NOT amateur radio

 

The photo shows one of our granddaughters eating chips on the beach at Felixstowe today. 

Looks like they have good weather.

Another cancelled rally

The Hack Green rally, due this Sunday, has been cancelled. I presume this is as a result of Covid.

70cm FT8 QRP

Last evening there was a 70cm FT8 contest. For most of the time I was on my V2000 vertical antenna with 2.5W. Quite a few UK stations were spotted and I worked one. I wonder if some were spotted by aircraft scatter? 

Clovelly, N. Devon - NOT amateur radio

In 2012 we went on a holiday to North Devon. Remember holidays 😉? The photo shows the village of Clovelly. 

Sunspots - Thursday April 15th 2021

 Solar flux is 74 and the SSN 17.  A=7 and K=3.

Grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

For the first time in many months our grandchildren met up together, socially distanced. 3 of our 4 are in the photo. One is just off the photo.

I shall be glad when they can all meet properly again inside houses.

IC-705 software bug?

Until this evening my IC-705 has been superb. It has firmware 1.12 and needs upgrading to the latest version. 

This evening it went on DV and seemed to freeze. I have no idea what I did. I recently bought a copy of the "Radio Today Guide to the IC-705" which went through how to do a reset if the rig "froze". In the end I did a full hardware reset which seems to have done the trick. Luckily, nothing of mine was yet stored in memories.

I have ordered a micro SD card and hope to upgrade the firmware as soon as I can. I hope this fixes the software bug. I think the latest firmware also adds some new features too.

As a professional RF engineer, I was used to software bugs especially with early releases. Often later releases fixed these. Often bug cures were hidden alongside new features. Most punters did not realise that these releases were primarily to fix the bugs!

Granddaughter, Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

 

The photo shows one of our granddaughters yesterday in Cambridge. I think that swan looks puzzled!

10m FT8 RX with the improved indoor loop

At about 0800z, I went on 10m FT8 RX with the indoor loop antenna. Unsurprisingly, no spots at 0810z.

70cm activity contest (April)

Last evening, I went on the 70cm UKAC activity contest organised by the RSGB. I was on for 1 hour with 10W and the 144MHz big-wheel omni. It is great fun, but more than an hour is impossible with my voice.

Sunspots - Wednesday April 14th 2021

 Solar flux is 73 and the SSN 16. A=5 and K=1.

Anglesey Abbey walk - NOT amateur radio

We are lucky to live just a few miles away from Anglesey Abbey, which is a great place for a walk. We went there after lunch with one of our grandchildren. 

Even though it was meant to be cold we actually felt quite warm. It was very sunny with clear blues sky.

Pedestrian portable?

With the better weather and the easing of UK lockdowns, you may want to think about pedestrian portable operations once again. 

Especially in the Es season, lots of Europe may be worked from the UK with just a whip, a counterpoise and low power on the higher HF bands and 6m SSB. 

One advantage of pedestrian portable operation is the angle of the antenna may be easily adjusted to get the strongest signal.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/pedestrian .

Bishop's Palace, Ely - NOT amateur radio

Right next to Ely Cathedral is the Bishop's Palace, used as such until the early 1940s. For a while it was a hospital (my dad who was a Pathfinder in Lancasters had his appendix removed here as a precaution). Later it was a Sue Ryder home. Now it is the 6th form centre for the King's School, Ely. It was built in the 1400s.

40m FT8 RX overnight with the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground

Overnight I was on 40m FT8 RX. So far, 942 stations have been spotted in 5 continents. It is now 0700z. 

UPDATE 1154z: 1060 stations spotted on 40m FT8 RX. At one point last evening I counted 42 stations in 2.7kHz!!

UPDATE 1435z: 1107 stations spotted so far in the last 24 hours on 40m FT8 RX with the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.

UPDATE 1848z: 1346 stations spotted on 40m FT8 RX in the last day with an antenna that nobody realises is even there!

N. Devon cottage - NOT amateur radio

This delightful cottage is where we stayed in N. Devon some years ago. 

Sunspots - Tuesday April 13th 2021

 Solar flux is 83 and the SSN 16.  A=5 and K=2. Sunspots return. 

40m FT8 RX with the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground

 Even though the SWR was too high to TX, I decided to take a look at 40m FT8 with the earth-electrode "antenna" on RX. It is now 1849z and already 117 stations have been spotted with the furthermost UA9MA (4598km) in Omsk. This was after just a few minutes.

UPDATE 1930z: 276 stations have been spotted so far on 40m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 2107z:   505 stations spotted so far on 40m.

20m FT8 RX

At 1450z, I QSYed to 20m FT8 RX with the indoor loop. So far, after a few minutes, 41 stations spotted. There is little doubt that most daytime FT8 DX is to be found on 20m.

UPDATE 1517z:  94 stations spotted.

UPDATE 1825z:  317 stations spotted in 5 continents on 20m FT8 with the indoor loop.

1.095kHz earth-mode 10 years ago

One of my Facebook memories today was this photo of my VLF experiments with earth-mode communications. I was using a 5W beacon and was a very solid signal at 4.5km as the photo shows. As I recall signals tended to be better as frequency was reduced. 

17m FT8 RX

At 1335z I QSYed to 17m FT8 RX using the FT817ND and the improved indoor loop.

UPDATE 1431z:  23 stations in 4 continents spotted so far.

Muntjac deer - NOT amateur radio

This young one had its nose against our garden room door. 

If open, I am sure it would have come in out of curiosity. It disappeared into the bushes.

Mars helicopter - NOT amateur radio

Southgate News has a report about the helicopter on the latest NASA Mars lander.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2021/april/mars-helicopter-flight-delayed-to-no-earlier-than-april-14.htm#.YHQk6SjYrrc

See https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter .

Snow! - NOT amateur radio

Our back lawn earlier

Last week it was mid 20s C and "shirt sleeve" weather.  

What did we get this morning? Snow! April can certainly be changeable! Most had gone within a few hours.

160m FT8 QRP

Stations spotting my
QRP on 160m FT8

In the last half day my 160m FT8 QRP with 2.5W to the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground has been spotted by 36 stations across Europe with the greatest on TX a spot by IK8FJW (1653km). 

On RX both North and South America spotted on 160m FT8 as well as Asiatic Russia.

10m FT8 RX

With the improved loop, I am on 10m FT8 RX at the moment. I must like punishment! It would not surprise me if I get no spots all day. Certainly, the morning was poor with not a single spot.

UPDATE 1333z:  No spots.

Think I shall QSY to 17m FT8 RX.

Sunspots - Monday April 12th 2021

 Solar flux is 73 and the SSN 0. A=6 and K=1.

160m FT8 QRP (Sunday)

At about 1915z, I QSYed to 160m FT8 QRP with 2.5W and the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.

UPDATE 1923z:  Already my QRP has been spotted by 3 stations on TX and I have spotted 14 stations on RX.

Stations spotting
my 160m FT8
QRP this evening

UPDATE 2132z:  23 stations have spotted my QRP on 160m FT8 TX this evening.  on 160m FT8 QRP with the furthermost DL0PF-RP (1016km).

20m FT8 RX

I have just switched to 20m FT8 QRP with 2.5W QRP and the (improved) indoor loop. I was very briefly on TX, but mostly on 20m FT8 RX. 

Furthermost on 20m FT8 RX was W7RIS (7963km) on the west coast of the USA in Oregon.  In all, 107 stations spotted on RX.

UPDATE 1904z: 251 stations spotted. Furthermost is ZS6LKF (9089km).

Ely Cathedral earlier - NOT amateur radio

As it was sunny this morning, we did a walk around Ely. The cathedral is very very old and stands on a hill and can be seen for miles, a bit like Chartres in France. Centuries back the central tower collapsed and they replaced it with the wooden octagon.

Flags are at half mast as the Duke of Edinburgh died last week.  All the flags we saw were at half mast.

Last weekend the university boat race was held at Ely for the first time since 1944.

It is a nice city.

Dalham stream - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows the view over the stream at Dalham, near Newmarket. 

This is a delightful village with lots of thatched cottages next to the stream.

160m FT8 RX overnight

Stations spotted
overnight on
160m FT8 RX

Overnight I remained on 160m FT8 RX. 246 stations including several in the USA. Furthermost was K4ODL (6722km) in Georgia.  

Stations spotting
my 2.5W QRP FT8
on 160m last evening

Last evening, I was on TX too and my 2.5W was spotted by 22 stations in western Europe.  1 QSO with a French station.  The stations spotting my QRP TX last evening are shown in the map.My TX technique is to call CQ and work anyone that calls me. I am sure more QSOs could be had if I "went looking".

As usual, using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground which works so well. 

17m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

At the moment I am on 17m FT8 with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop antenna.  At 0725z, no spots on RX or TX. It is very early.

UPDATE 0805z:  No spots.

UPDATE 1122z: 42 stations spotted on RX.  I may try TX again later.

Modified
loop

Stations spotted on
17m FT8 RX

UPDATE 1415z:  Replaced the wire used on the loop with copper central heating pipe (see photo). Q is higher suggesting better efficiency. Hope the higher RF voltage will be OK.  Since making the change one Italian has spotted my QRP TX. 100 stations spotted on 17m FT8 RX today. Mostly on RX currently. See map of stations spotted on RX.

HF beacons

Thanks to the blog at EI7GL, this is a list of HF amateur beacons which is regularly updated. 

See http://dl8wx.de/BAKE_KW.HTM .

Sunspots - Sunday April 11th 2021

 Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0.  A=4 and K=2.

160m FT8 QRP (Saturday)

At 1942z, I turned on 160m FT8 using 2.5W and the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. Immediately, 13 stations across Europe were spotted on RX and my own QRP was spotted by 10 stations on TX.  All this within about 5 minutes! By contrast, I was on 10m FT8 all day without spotting anyone. 

UPDATE 1951z:  Amazing! 22 stations spotted on RX and 12 stations have spotted my QRP on TX.

UPDATE 2041z:  66 stations spotted on RX and 18 stations have spotted my 160m FT8 QRP on TX.

Pheasant breakfast - NOT amateur radio

My brother has tame pheasants in his garden in Devon as the photo shows. 

Here they are eating breakfast. They eat from his hand.