80m ferrite rod TX antenna

After removing the tape, I was able to resonate W5OLF's ferrite on the 80m FT8 frequency. On RX it is copying lots of stations (45 so far) with best a Russian at 3300km.

No spots yet on TX (1W) but I shall keep trying. Both the ferrite and fixed capacitor are cold suggesting the ferrite is well below saturation. The ferrite is just sitting on the shack bench oriented for best NVIS pickup. See photo.

UPDATE 1902z: 211 stations spotted on 80m FT8 RX with the ferrite rod on the shack bench. No TX spots. Power increased to 2.5W. Still NVIS orientation.

UPDATE 1912z:  Changed orientation of antenna to vertical. Still no TX spots. Remember that FT8 is about 10dB less sensitive than WSPR.  Surprised that not a single spot yet received.

UPDATE 2012z:  264 stations spotted on 80m FT8 RX, but no spots on TX (2.5W) so far.

UPDATE 2023z: Switched to 80m WSPR at the same power although I am unsure how much WSPR there is these days on 80m. SWR is excellent.

UPDATE 2100: I am puzzled. I reset the WSJT-X program and copied a DL station on 80m WSPR RX, but this failed to upload to the WSPR database. I am pretty sure that my internet is working. On another site all seemed well. No TX spots on WSPR. HB9AFZ (900km) was a strong -14dB S/N on WSPR just now. Also copied were a couple of German stations. None of these stations appeared, so I am wondering if the fault is at the WSPRnet end?

UPDATE 2124z: Fault found!  I had my callsign with a space behind the last character. When this was removed the RX spots appeared. Still no TX spots, but I am pleasantly surprised by the number of WSPR stations active on 80m.

UPDATE 2230z: Just gone back to horizontal orientation on the shelf above the rig. No TX spots. I shall leave things running overnight. Rechecked the match is best. As I have received not a single TX spot all evening with the antenna vertical and horizontal, I am wondering if my signal is just too weak to be copied in the noise smog that many stations suffer from? If there are any automatic RX stations spotting through the night when noise tends to be lower, I might get the odd spot.