8m QRP FT8 (Friday)

My 2.5W FT8 was turned on at about 1415z. 

UPDATE 1620z:  No spots. F2 conditions seemed to have gone down a bit. Maybe we'll see a bit of winter Es at the turn of the year on 8m?

8m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

 My 2.5W FT8 gear was turned on just before 1000z.  No spots.

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

 My 2.5W to the dipole was turned on about 1040z. So far,  no spots.

UPDATE 1540z:  No spots today.

8m QRP FT8 (Monday)

 My 2.5W FT8 was turned on at 1347z.

UPDATE 1701z:  No spots all day. Now QRT.

F2 going "off the boil"?

This last week, I have not been spotted in the Caribbean on 8m with my 2.5W and dipole on FT8. I wonder if the autumn F2 has peaked with more to come in February/March? I am no propagation expert, but a few weeks ago I was spotted almost daily in the Caribbean on 8m FT8.

8m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

My 2.5W to the low dipole on 8m FT8 was turned on at 1110z. So far, no spots. My local reporter G4WSZ (12km) is in Germany, so local spots.

UPDATE 1715z:  No spots of me today, but I did spot ZS6WAB (8931km) in South Africa on 8m FT8 RX.

8m QRP FT8 (Friday)

 My 2.5W and dipole have been on for several hours. No spots at 1412z.

8m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

My 2.5W to the dipole was turned in about 1445z. Yesterday the SWR was higher than 3:1. Now it is perfect. I have no idea why!   Perhaps a bird was sitting at the feedpoint? I don't think it is wet in the coax as conditions at the moment are very similar to yesterday. No spots.

UPDATE 1730z:  No spots all day.

8m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

 At about 1430z my 2.5W 8m FT8 and a dipole was turned on. For some reason, my dipole has gone high SWR and it is actually lower on my triband V2000, so I am using this at present. Not quite sure what has changed.

UPDATE 1445z:  Just local G4WSZ (12km) has spotted me.

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

 My 2.5W and dipole was turned on about 1500z. This is later than usual. No spots.

UPDATE 1735z: Just local spots by G4WSZ (12km).

8m QRP FT8 (Monday)

At 1110z I QSYed to 8m FT8 with my 2.5W and dipole.

UPDATE 1450z:   No spots on TX. Just ZF1DM (7752km) on RX.

8m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

 My 2.5W to the dipole was turned on at 1100z. So far, no spots.

UPDATE 1145z:  Although ZS3/V51PJ (9081km) has spotted me this morning, no QSO sadly.

8m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

 My 8m FT8 gear (2.5W and dipole) was turned on at about 1030z. So far just spotted by local G4WSZ (12km).

UPDATE 1245z:  Spotted by HI0SDR/3 (7008km).

UPDATE 1440z:  Spotted by 5 stations today, with the most in the Caribbean.

UPDATE 1528z:  No further spots. Is that it for the day?

8m QRP FT8 (Friday)

My 8m 2.5W FT8 was turned on about 1240z. Just local G4WSZ (12km) spotting me so far today.

UPDATE 1505z:   4 stations have spotted me (3 in the Caribbean) on 8m FT8, with one QSO with a station in the Cayman Is..  At the moment, my 2.5W and dipole seem to cross the Atlantic most days.

UPDATE 1547z:  I have to pinch myself to remind me this is with 2.5W and a low dipole on a VHF band!  The table shows the stations that have spotted my QRP 8m FT8 to 1545z today.

UPDATE 1657z:  17 stations have been spotted on 8m FT8 RX today.

Stations received on 8m FT8 today

8m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

My 2.5W 8m FT8 was turned on after lunch. So far (at 1442z) local spots by G4WSZ (12km), but no DX.

UPDATE 1500z:  First transatlantic 8m spot today by WW1L (4976km).

UPDATE 1534z:  4 spots of my 2.5W 8m FT8 with 3 "across the pond".

UPDATE 1613z:  6 spots of me, of which 5 are transatlantic. Crossing the Atlantic on 8m is almost daily at the moment despite my QRP.

8m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

 My 2.5W was turned on at 0916z. So far spots from local G4WSZ (12km).

UPDATE 1201z: Spotted by G7PUV (158km) too.

UPDATE 1425z:  6 stations have spotted me including 2 in Florida, USA and 2 in the Caribbean.

UPDATE 1433z:   ZF1EJ was getting my 2.5W 8m FT8 at an amazing +21dB S/N. I don't think I have ever had a report this strong, from anywhere!!

UPDATE 1547z:   8 spots of my 8m QRP FT8 today. When F2 is good 8m behaves like 10m.

8m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

My 2.5W 8m FT8 to the low dipole has been on since mid-morning. Yet again, my signal has been spotted in the Caribbean. In the last 2 days I have had 8m FT8 exchanges with both ZF1EJ and PJ4MM. In all today, my 8m FT8 signal has been spotted by 7 stations with 5 "across the pond".

Whilst I am sure a small beam, higher up, and more power would help, this proves to me that even 2.5W can make it when F2 conditions are good.

Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF)

Around the sunspot maximum we can see the MUF going much higher than we are used to. Take for example the 8m band, which is allocated to the Amateur Radio service in some countries and available to some on an experimental basis. Quite regularly, my 2.5W 8m FT8 is copied in the Caribbean, USA and Canada. This is on 40.680 MHz USB dial. This suggests the MUF is probably at 41 MHz quite often even on E-W paths. The MUF is usually higher on N-S paths.

For a long time, I have been advocating that 5 kHz at 8m be made available to the Amateur Radio service, narrow digital modes only, strictly non-interference, secondary, in the ISM band, low power, by application only.  I can see this only really appealing to true experimenters. It would appear the FCC and OFCOM (and the RSGB) are dead against, but I struggle to understand why when so much propagation research could be done. Even it permits were limited to around the solar maximum it would be useful.  Instead, in the UK we have to pay to do research - total madness and stupidity.

8m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My 2.5W 8m FT8 was turned on at about 1025z. So far, spotted by nobody.

UPDATE 1208z:  Spotted by EI9KP (649km) and G4WSZ (12km).

UPDATE 1338z:   ZS3/V51PJ (9081km) has just been spotted.

 
UPDATE 1415z:   My QRP 8m FT8 now also spotted by WW1L (see map).

UPDATE 1445z:  On RX, I seem to spot South African stations far more often than stations in the Caribbean. N-S MUFs are often higher than E-W, but it could be my dipole is a few dB better in this direction. A few dBs could be the difference between being spotted and not.

UPDATE 1625z: 6 stations have spotted me including 4 "across the pond".

8m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

 My gear was turned on about 1225z. So far ZS3/V51PJ spotted on RX and G4WSZ (12km) on TX.

UPDATE 1727z:  3 stations in Europe spotted my 2.5W  8m FT8 today (see map).