15m FT8 RX (Wednesday)

 For a change, I QSYed to 15m FT8 RX at about 1545z.

Each to their own

Yesterday, I chanced upon a Facebook page of a radio shack. The guy had all manner of radios and linears. I would  guess there was over $30000 worth of kit. Now, how people spend their money is entirely up to them. 

What I would like to say is I bet I got as much fun from a homemade transceiver that used about £20 worth of parts as he did. I recall the chap in Chicago saying "who is that calling me on CW?".  He was on 15m SSB. DX? About 4000 miles. 

For months that was the only rig I used.

See https://g3xbm-qrp.blogspot.com/search?q=pipit

15m 5W FT8 (Thursday)

 After a very brief TX period (no spots - RF feedback from the end-fed?), I am RX only on 15m FT8. 

Although things are better on 15m, I am still convinced that conditions are not great. So far, just 14 stations spotted . See map.

UPDATE 1750z: 147 stations spotted here.

15m 1W FT8 (Sunday)

Just 2 Russian stations spotted so far this morning although it is early.

UPDATE 1251z: Spotted by 30 stations with the best JE6WOJ (9302km). See map.

15m 1W FT8 and WSJT-X 3.0.0

Amateur Radio Weekly reported that WSJT-X is now on general release 3.0.0 so I have upgraded.

HF conditions must be poor today. Having failed on 10m 200mW WSPR, I am now on 15m 1W FT8. I am being spotted in Europe, but even on 15m FT8 RX things don't seem exactly wonderful.

15m 100mW WSPR (Saturday)

 For a change I am on 15m 100mW WSPR. Lots of spots.

UPDATE 2030z:  19 stations have spotted me. See table. The impression I have is that results with 100mW WSPR are broadly similar to 5W FT8.

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.