The micro-SD card for the IC-705 has arrived. Tomorrow, I may try a firmware upgrade. Others tell me this is straightforward. I certainly hope so! I am not sure of the latest firmware (1.24?), but I am sure I shall find the latest on ICOM Japan website.
18 Apr 2021
2m FT8 QRP (Sunday)
At about 1900z, I QSYed to 2m FT8 with 2.5W and the big-wheel omni antenna. It is now 1915z and I have been spotted by 5 stations on TX and I have spotted 4 stations on RX.
10m FT8 RX
At 1419z, I turned on the FT817ND and the indoor loop tuned to 10m As yet (it is now 1432z), no spots.
The sunspot count is slightly lower than yesterday and conditions more disturbed.
UPDATE 1730z: Just G0LRD spotted here and on PSKreporter by me. A PY seen mid afternoon, but this doesn't appear on PSKreporter. Overall, this has been disappointing. I'll give it a bit longer before QSYing. Looking at all the results David G0LRD has got (111 10m spots!!) he is certainly being widely spotted on 10m FT8 today. Not sure what David is using for antenna and power.
If you are looking for a 10m grabber, check this one out in Alaska at http://kl7l.com/28Alaska00000.jpg . If you know of others, please let me know. I see there is a 10m QRSS grabber at https://qsl.net/g4iog/ .
The 4m (70MHz) band
At one time very few countries had access to this band and there was no commercial gear. Now it is widely available, especially in Europe and several transceivers now include 4m. One place for data is the 4m website that has quite a bit about the band. It is some years since I was active on 4m.
In Es openings, many European countries can be worked with simple antennas and low power. One possibility is my simple transverter.
See https://70mhz.org/ .
Homemade pasties - NOT amateur radio
This morning I felt inspired to have a go at making some pasties using up some of the food that might have been wasted. I am quite pleased. The photo shows the results. Mostly cheese, mushrooms and onions.
They taste good too.
17 Apr 2021
2m FT8 QRP (Saturday)
At 1820z, I QSYed to 2m FT8 QRP with 2.5W and the big-wheel omni antenna. So far (it is now 1830z) 3 stations have been spotted on RX and 6 stations have spotted my QRP TX.
See http://82.71.9.63:8080/cap/ . This is the FT8 grabber at G0LRD.
Royal Funeral - NOT amateur radio
I am not a great royalist and cannot imagine the royal family surviving another 50 years unless it changes. When the queen dies the English royal family will be in mortal peril. No, I think what was really being mourned was the end (or very near end) of an era.
Privilege, as a result of who you are, will end. Minor royals who live wealthy lives off UK taxpayers will end. I think the royal family has to evolve. I cannot think of a suitable president should we become a republic. No, I think we will still have a royal family, but very different.I feel very sorry for the queen who has lost a lifelong husband and companion. They we married for 73 years, which is a long time!
10m Phaser FT8 kit
As well as my DSB rig, the 10FT8R, this is a project I must build.
Yet more incentive to get my external 10m antenna up!
Twente SDR
My very first post was about the web SDR at Twente in the Netherlands. That was in 2008! It is still there.
10m FT8 RX
My 10m FT8 gear (2.5W to the indoor loop) was turned on at 0808z. After a very brief TX period, I am on RX only. So far, no spots.
UPDATE 1018z: Just G0FWX (160km) spotted so far. No Es or F2 propagation evident here yet.
UPDATE 1120z: 7 stations spotted. Looks like Es to Iberia.
UPDATE 1700z: 11 stations spotted today. See the log for details including one from Brazil.
Sunspots - Saturday April 17th 2021
77 19 5 Solar flux is 77 and the SSN 44. A=19 and K=5.
16 Apr 2021
Loops
Home video conversion - NOT amateur radio
We should have done this years ago, but I suspect, like many, we were nervous of sending these precious memories away. What if they were lost?
In the end, we used a company called EachMoment who were excellent. At every stage of the process we were kept informed. The resulting DVDs came back with the original tapes about 2 weeks later. Thankfully, even after all these years, they copied fine.
I would have no hesitation using them again.
Haircut day - NOT amateur radio
15 Apr 2021
At the seaside - NOT amateur radio
The photo shows one of our granddaughters eating chips on the beach at Felixstowe today.
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
14 Apr 2021
Grandchildren - NOT amateur radio
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!
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)
13 Apr 2021
Anglesey Abbey walk - NOT amateur radio
Pedestrian portable?
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.
Bishop's Palace, Ely - NOT amateur radio
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!!
Sunspots - Tuesday April 13th 2021
Solar flux is 83 and the SSN 16. A=5 and K=2. Sunspots return.
12 Apr 2021
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.