8m FT8 RX (Thursday)

My "proper" 8m dipole has still to be erected as I need some help putting it up as I am very giddy now on a ladder. 

Instead, I am on my endfed Par antenna on 8m FT8 RX where the match on 8m is not very good. This was the antenna with which I worked 2 Spanish stations on 8m FT8 over the summer. As the match on 8m is poor, I do not like to TX on 8m FT8 with this antenna for too long.

I hope to be on 8m QRP FT8 TX very soon with the dipole and a good match.

Stations monitoring
8m FT8 today

UPDATE 1435z:  No spots on TX or RX. I am briefly on 8m QRP FT8 TX. It is encouraging to see so many stations in Europe now monitoring 8m FT8 (see map). If you want to monitor this autumn 40.680 USB dial is where the FT8 activity is. The European DX record with just 10mW and a 35m longwire is now HA to EA8 (Canaries) which is a long way! Under ISM rules you do not need a permit, licence or even a callsign (certainly in the UK). In the UK ISM rules mean 2-way contacts are not the intention although I imagine OFCOM are unlikely to police this, especially if the intention is scientific research.

UPDATE  1723z: ZS3/V51NJ  in Namibia spotted calling CQ. No spots of me.