20 Mar 2024

8m WSPR RX (Wednesday)

As a Canadian is doing some transatlantic 8m WSPR tests, I shall be on 40.680MHz WSPR RX for the next few days during the daytime.

UPDATE 1614z:  No spots. I notice there are no other WSPR 8m spots.

UPDATE 1652z: I am wondering about the next Es season on 8m. I was considering using 10mW ERP under ISM rules. FT8 might be a better mode, but is less sensitive. On the other hand the TX burst is only 15 seconds whereas WSPR needs almost 120 seconds, so FT8 would be better on short openings. Operating under ISM rules (certainly in the UK)  implies 10mW ERP and meeting IR2030, but is open to all without the need for a TX permit to beacon WSPR or FT8. I would expect 8m FT8 would be much harder than WSPR, but there might be more monitors? Last Es season I was running 2.5W, so I would be far weaker.  The difference is 24dB, so most of the time I would be far too weak to copy on FT8. Perhaps some local FT8 tests at 10mW ERP are called for?

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