10 Jul 2020

10m FT8

The last day on 10m FT8 TX
(5W and indoor loop)
There is no doubt that WSPR works with far weaker signals than FT8. However, there would appear to be far more FT8 activity.

Take for instance 10m. Yesterday I went on 10m WPSR for about 6 hours with 500mW WSPR and got not a single spot. I switched to 10m FT8 with 5W (again using the indoor loop) and was spotted by 57 stations. Even the 10dB more ERP cannot account for this.

This morning (it is now 0819z) I am on 10m FT8 with 5W and the indoor loop. Already, 7 spots of me!

UPDATE 1351z: Stations spotted in 4 continents on 10m FT8 RX.  19 stations have spotted me so far today and 1 QSO had.  Still running 5W to the indoor loop.

Stations spotting me on
10m FT8 today so far
UPDATE 1811z: 49 stations have spotted me today on 10m FT8 with 5W and the indoor loop. On 10m FT8 RX several USA stations spotted. Several QSOs with EU stations too.

UPDATE  2049z:  Now QRT.  67 stations spotted my 5W to the indoor loop. Quite amazing. I am really impressed how well the indoor loop works.

1 comment:

PE4BAS, Bas said...

WSPR is nice for antenna research. But no for propagation research anymore. There are far more FT8 stations around on any band. 73, Bas