Oscar 100 activity

My usual peek at activity levels on Oscar 100 yesterday evening in Europe show activity still quiet. My recommendation is still not to bother. 

Getting worldwide QSOs seems easier and far less expensive with an Android phone with Droidstar and DMR.

Sunspots - Friday November 4th 2022

Solar flux is 125 and the SSN 65.  A=26 and K=4.

23cm transverter

According to my tracker, this arrived in the UK on October 24th. It has still to be delivered. It is now November 3rd.

8m QRP FT8 TX (Thursday)

S50B reports he has been spotted on 8m in the USA this morning. It sounds like the E-W MUF went to 8m, which is promising. 

I have gone on 40.680 MHz QRP FT8 TX (first) and RX hoping to be spotted in the USA.

UPDATE 1930z:  No spots. QRT. 

Rallies this weekend

The following rallies have been notified to me. It is always a good idea to check with organisers if going any distance.

Sunday Nov. 6th - Bushvalley ARC Rally, Limavady (NI). BT49 0DF.   No contact details given.

Sunday Nov. 6th - Holsworthy Radio Rally, Devon. m0omc@m0omc.co.uk.

How do you start on 472 kHz (630m)?

This is a question I am often asked. Many people are under the illusion that huge antennas and extensive grounds are needed. This is definitely not true!! I am sure that if you want to work vast distances then these would help, but I have had great success on WSPR around Europe with just my simple QRP transverter and my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. I have also had some international QSOs with these around Europe.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/630m-472khz-transverter .

Old voice recordings - NOT amateur radio

There are some very old voice recordings on the Internet. I have a link to some of these on my main website.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/non-amateur-radio/old-recordings .

DMR - like repeaters?

Monitoring DMR on my Android phone with Droidstar, it sounds like a repeater.  At the moment a Welsh station is chatting with a station in Arizona in the USA. 

Like Oscar 100, it seems the fun is getting the gear going, then it is fine for chats, but people soon get bored with nothing much to say. It is OK to listen to in the background or for nets and skeds.   It does not give me much pleasure.

UPDATE 1212z:  Some transmissions are quite broken up either because stations are coming in via repeaters or packets are being lost over the internet. Some signals are very good indeed. It is amusing to hear stations all over the planet chatting like locals.

Teenage home - NOT amateur radio

This is Kingsbridge in Devon where I lived in my teenage years. The water is the Kingsbridge Estuary. 

10m FT8 RX (Thursday)

At the moment, I am on 10m FT8 RX. At 0910z, 99 unique stations spotted.

Stations spotted
by 0952z

UPDATE 1430z:  864 unique stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX.