My QRP TX was turned on at 0807z on 40.680 MHz USB dial FT8.
UPDATE 0815z: No spots.
UPDATE 1257z: 3 stations have spotted me so far on 8m FT8.
UPDATE 1920z: 6 unique stations have spotted my 8m FT8 TX today. I have now been spotted in 11 countries. Not bad for a few watts and low wire dipole. I just wish the UK had a very small 8m
amateur allocation by NoV, digital only. Stupid, short-sighted, OFCOM and stupid, short sighted RSGB. We need self training and research....and real RF engineers!!
UPDATE 1932z: This will probably not happen with my low ERP, but I still hope for an FT8 spot by a station in the USA. I live in hope!!
As I don’t seem to get ANY spots using wspr on 8m, I modified my outside 40m dipole as a trapped dipole to cover 8m, hoping it would work better than my attic fan dipole. Despite running 1watt on three 8m freqs, 40.013, 40.680 and 40.662 sequentially, I spent all day with no spots. There are stations listening as they show up on wsprnet.org, but signal seem to fly over my head.
ReplyDeleteI have even built a battery powered monitor station with an 8m converter to. U3S rx and a raspberry pi reporting received sigs. That sees my 8m signal and reports is as ok so I am mystified why no-one else hears me. Using the same tx on 6m and 10m gets lots of spots, even to a mismatched antenna.
Maybe this ism band is so full of qrm, no-one can hear much?
You seem to do quite well on FT8, but my calls to you have not got thru yet. I am hearing you.
73 Ken g4apb