15m 100mW FT8 (Saturday)

At 1217z, I changed from 100mW 15m WSPR to 15m 100mW FT8. Now, FT8 is about 10dB worse than WSPR, but there is more activity on FT8 these days.

UPDATE 1340z:  Just. one spot of me by SP9WTC (1480km). Maybe I am being clobbered by a stronger station? Also, I suspect it is increasingly likely that QRP signals are now buried in noise, making QRP operation harder than it once was. Even with a 15dB attuenuator in circuit right next to the rig I am spotting 119 stations. This suggests an effective power of low watts if they were running 100W.

UPDATE 1708z:   Well it helps if you use a 15m antenna!  I discovered I was using my 2m big-wheel antenna rather than my end fed HF antenna. So I am surprised to have got any spots with 100mW 15m FT8.

100mW 15m WSPR (Saturday)

For a complete change I am trying 15m 100mW WSPR.

UPDATE 1117z:  Just 6 spots from a station in Austria.  These days, although less sensitive,  there seems to be far more activity on FT8  than WSPR.

UPDATE 1212z:  Still just 6 spots of me from OE3GBB/Q (1233km). If I was starting out, I think you are more likely to have success with QRPP on FT8 rather than WSPR. QSYed to FT8.

Wednesday plans

 Later, I shall probably try 10m, 12m, and 15m 1W WSPR frequency hopping. Maybe some 10m QRP FT8 later.

WSPR frequency hopping

 Today I am on WSPR with 2W.  I am hopping  on 10m, 12m and 15m.

Stations spotting my 2W 10m WSPR this morning

UPDATE 1353z:  Plenty of spots on all bands. Australia has been spotted on 10m,12m  and 15m.

15m 5W FT8 (Friday)

 Earlier, for a change, I went briefly on 15m FT8. I did not stop on long.

Pipit QRP CW transceiver

 

Way back I designed and built this QRP transceiver for 15m CW. For many months it was the only rig I used. It was really fun and worked remarkably well. It appeared in GQRP SPRAT and is on my website. It produced about 800mW.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/15m-qrp-cw-pipit .

15m 1W FT8 (Sunday)

 For a change I have QSYed to 15m FT8 with 1W.

UPDATE 1816z: After a few minutes on 15m FT8, spotted by 141 stations. See map.

UPDATED  1846z:  180 stations have spotted me. Now QSYed to 6m 2W FT8.

15m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

For a total change I tried FT8 at 5W on 15m. It was too easy with spots on RX and TX from across the planet. 

15m QRPP FT8 (Friday)

As I was having no luck with 63mW 10m FT8, I QSYed to 15m at 1658z, where I have been spotted by 1 station in Estonia so far .

UPDATE 2140z:  7 stations spotted my 63mW 15m FT8. QRT now.

15m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

At about 1545z I QSYed to QRP 15m FT8 with the IC705. So far, 50 spots of me in 4 continents. It's too darn easy!  Someone called me so I had a quick QSO.

UPDATE 1556z: 63 spots of me. See map.

15m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

For a change, I am trying 15m QRP FT8 with my QMX+ transceiver. Within a few minutes I was being spotted by 48 stations and I had spotted 38. 

The map shows the stations spotting my 15m QRP at 2150z. 223 stations have spotted me.

15m QRP FT8 (Monday)

 At about 1840z, I QSYed to 15m. So far (at 1851z) 11 stations have spotted me, all "across the pond".

UPDATE 2102z: 51 stations have spotted my QRP 15m FT8 this evening. See map.

Valve QRP

This was several years ago at the QTH of G6ALB. Andrew did the building of this valve Sputnik TX and I did the operating. After about 10 minutes a CQ call on 15m resulted in a contact with a station in the USA. Present were G4NUA (SK), G6ALB and G3XBM (me). What fun we all had!

15m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

So far today my 15m QRP FT8 has been spotted by 156 stations worldwide (see photo) with the QMX+ transceiver.

UPDATE 1348z: 233 stations across the world have spotted my QRP 15m FT8 today.

QMX+ on 15m (Sunday)

Just for fun, I tried the QMX+  on 15m. It was not for long. Several Es spots of me.  Looking at the bars on the TX monitor I would reckon about 3W power.

15m QRP FT8 with the tiny QDX (Sunday)

At the moment I am trying 15m FT8 with the tiny QDX transceiver. Conditions are better than 10m, but still pathetic compared with yesterday.

UPDATE 1513z:  I have gone RX only after a brief period on TX. 

Stations spotted on 15m
FT8 RX today to 1518z

UPDATE 1618z:  326 stations spotted on 15m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1923z:  720 stations spotted.

UPDATE 2132z:  877 stations spotted. Now QRT. The QDX RX works really well.

15m QRP FT8 with the QDX (Thursday)

Stations spotting my QRP FT8 on 15m today

As 10m FT8 is so poor, I have QSYed to 15m. So far, I have been spotted by 14 stations with the furthermost WA4MIT (7015km) and I have spotted 21 stations.

UPDATE 1643z: 45 stations spotted and I have been spotted by 41 stations.

15m Pipit transceiver

This photo of my homebrew 15m QRP CW transceiver was found when I was looking through some old stuff. This was an 800mW transceiver. It worked very well and was the only rig used for several months.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/15m-qrp-cw-pipit .

QDX on 15m FT8 (Saturday)

A few minutes ago I QSYed to 15m FT8 with the little QDX transceiver. 10 stations have spotted me, but (according to PSKreporter) I have spotted zero stations, whereas locally there are plenty shown! Either this means I am not uploading spots to PSKreporter or there is a delay with RX spots.

UPDATE 1932z:   Plenty of spots now appearing, so looks like there was a delay reporting RX spots.

UPDATE 1941z: Windows was updating, which may have had some effect.

15m

At the moment 15m is a very useful band. It stays open longer than 10m and with the high sunspot count, it is capable of worldwide DX.  Although many people have migrated to FT8 to chase DX, some may still go on CW.

Back in the mid 1970s I designed the QRP Pipit CW transceiver. For many months it was the only rig used. It worked really well with just a low dipole.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/15m-qrp-cw-pipit.