MF bands and local comms

This morning with my 20mW ERP on 500kHz I worked G3XIZ around 45km away on CW. Chris gave me 569 (on his meter) when using his loop antenna on RX. He was a very good signal here. Earlier I copied the other stations in his net M0JXM and G3DXZ. Yesterday G3KEV was a good CW signal and PA0A was copied later today.

500kHz QRP transverter with ferrite rod ATU on bench

The new 472-479kHz will be an ideal band for local area CW nets: as my far less than ideal set-up here proves, one can work up to around 45-50km without any problem even with very low ERPs. Running 6dB more power from the PA (I currently have just 5W out) will help further.

This afternoon my 500kHz OPERA has reached yet another new station: G8ALS in Coventry 126km away. My maximum daytime range on OPERA OP4 mode seems to be around 220km, although a few more stations reporting may increase this.