Wet King's College, Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

 

My wife took this photo last Tuesday. We missed most of the rain. This is the path up to King's.

How efficient is my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground on 630m?

My best comparison is with Jason M0NYW who is using the same G3XBM transverter, but I believe a more conventional antenna. He is also reporting his ERP as 10mW. Jason gets better results that me. In the last 12 hours he was spotted by 39 stations, whereas I was spotted by 16.

How much difference is there? Clearly, he is getting better results, so his antenna and ground are better. Most of my reports are quite close to the limit. Also, for some stations, the local noise can put a stop to very weak signals being decoded. When near the limit of decode, a few dB could make a great deal of difference.

So, it is very hard to say how much better Jason's system is than mine.

All I can say is a more conventional setup is better. What I can say is the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground does work and is just about invisible.

10m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

 My 2.5W 10m FT8 was turned on about 0915z. So far, 10 spots of me by what looks like single hop F2. For some reason PSK reporter was not reporting my spots. I have restarted WSPR-X. Since restarting, I am getting spots from all over the world appearing on PSKr.porter.

UPDATE 0950z:  My 10m QRP FT8  has been spotted by 26 stations and 82 stations spotted here.

UPDATE 1012z: 43 stations have spotted my 2.5W 10m FT8 with the furthermost VK8DNT (13807km). 135 stations have been spotted here.  At the moment, 10m really is too easy.

UPDATE 1033z:   57 stations have spotted my 2.5W and 175 stations have been spotted here.

Sunspots - Saturday November 18th 2023

 Solar flux is 120 and the SSN 26. A=3 and K=1.

630m QRP WSPR (Friday)

My 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground was turned on about 1855z. So far, 2 UK stations have spotted me.

Black Friday "deals" - NOT amateur radio

In recent years we have seen this import from the USA. I think the original idea was to make consumers buy things over a longer period. Just now I looked on the Asus website for deals and, quite frankly, I think consumers are being taken for a ride.

As a "boring old fart" (BOF) I think this whole "Black Friday" thing is stupid, and this is one more import from the USA that they can willingly have back. 

I am sure it is aimed more at the seller than the consumer. Retail outlets are having a hard time and their business models have to change to compete with online sellers.

However, Black Friday is one innovation we can do without.

Leonid meteor shower

This peaks about now. I have no idea how good it is as an MS propagation mode. What usually happens is the trail causes ionisation that reflects VHF signals.

See https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/leonid-meteor-shower-when-and-where-see-it-uk

10m QRP FT8 (Friday)

 As 8m was poor, I have QSYed to 10m FT8 with 2.5W and my end-fed antenna. The switch was made at 1506z.

UPDATE 1527z:  5 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 112 stations already.

UPDATE 1655z:  35 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 443 stations.

Stations spotting me today on 10m FT8 with 2.5W

UPDATE 1830z:   614 stations have been spotted here on 10m FT8 RX.

8m QRP FT8 (Friday)

My 2.5W was turned on at about 1400z. No spots. 

Rural England - NOT amateur radio

Many think of England as a crowded country, but there are plenty of very nice places. As an example, this is the village of Lode near Cambridge. This is the village cricket green.