19 September 2021

Another weekend of tinkering. I built the strange antenna with the 
planar loading. It involved a lot of taping for each section and I 
ended up with loops instead of squares. The SWR is at 1.4 for 20m but 
very low on 17m and 15m. I seem to be able to tune at 40m as well. 
WSPR lead to a nice spread into the USA on 20m and same with FT8. No 
contacts but plenty reporting that they have heard my calls for CQ. A 
moderate success it seems. The comparison of 20m against my inductive 
loaded 40m antenna shows the 40m wins at 40m but the 20m wins at 40m. 
No surprise there! 

I spent far too long trying to get readline working for common lisp on 
SDF. It did not work but I learnt about the product range. Lisp seems 
like something vaguely useful to learn but I don't know why. It is 
almost too vague in the tutorials for me to work out what to do. Then 
I returned to another pet project..... Trying to get XFEMM working. I 
progressed much further than I have managed before today. Still got to 
work out how to write the description file which can then be 
manipulated and analysed. Lots of baby steps eventually get there. 

The rest of the day has been spent watching the latest series of Sex 
Education. A series which seemed daft when I first heard about it. A 
series set in the UK but with a US style high school. However, great 
writing, a wonderful soundtrack by the lovely Ezra Furman and an 
intersting sense of style turned me around. The third series appeared 
and it is still as funny and emotional as the first. The choice of the 
Wye Valley was an interesting one but it pays off with sheer beautiful 
shots. It is well worth watching if you are looking for something 
different.