10m FT8 RX yesterday

Stations spotted yesterday

Yesterday I was on 10m FT8 RX with the homemade 10FT8R RX with 4 transistors and the tiny indoor loop antenna. 127 stations spotted. Not bad for something so simple. Details are on the G3XBM website. 

10m FT8 RX (Monday) with the 10FT8R and the indoor loop

I have been on 10m FT8 RX for about 1 hour with the homemade 10FT8R RX with 4 transistors. It is now 1000z and so far today 25 stations have been spotted.

UPDATE 1037z:  35 stations spotted today so far. Not a bad start today on 10m Es with this 50cm indoor antenna and a DSB RX.

UPDATE 1324z:   49 stations spotted.

UPDATE 1520z:  68 stations spotted today with the 10FT8R direct conversion RX and tiny indoor loop. See illustration. OK, it is a rats nest!

UPDATE 1831z: 115 stations spotted on RX as the map shows.

On 10m FT8 RX (Sunday) with the FT817ND and tiny indoor loop

It is now 0807z.  For a short while, I have been on 10m FT8 RX. So far, 15 Spanish stations spotted and 1 Italian spotted.

UPDATE 0819z:  Now 25 stations spotted.

UPDATE 1031z:  101 stations spotted.

10m FT8 RX (Saturday)

Since before breakfast, I have been on 10m FT8 RX with the homemade 10FT8R RX and 50cm indoor loop. No spots yet at 0754z.

UPDATE 0835z: No spots.

UPDATE 1645z: No spots.

At first, I just thought this was a bad day. Then I looked at G0LRD's spots. He has a better antenna, but he had 333 spots, whereas I have none at all!! I have closed the program and restarted it and re-synchronised the time. If it is not this, I am puzzled. I did a Windows update yesterday. Just going to retune the loop in case someone knocked it off tune.

UPDATE 1650z:  Just swapped to the FT817ND RX.

10m FT8 RX with the tiny loop and simple 10FT8R RX

It is now 0825z. I have been on 10m FT8 RX since before breakfast. So far, 21 stations spotted. Mostly Es from across Europe. 

UPDATE 1735z:  183 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX so far today.  See map.

10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R and the tiny indoor loop antenna

In a few moments I hope to go on 10m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop antenna. 

UPDATE 1306z:   10m FT8 gear turned on 1256z.

10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R RX and the tiny indoor loop antenna

 For the last few hours I have been on 10m FT8 with the tiny indoor loop antenna and the 10FT8R RX. It is now 1143z and so far today just 4 stations have been spotted on RX. 

UPDATE 1251z:  7 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX so far.

UPDATE 2105z:   37 stations only spotted today with the tiny loop. QRT shortly.

10m FT8 (Tuesday) - late start!

At 1457z, I turned on the 10FT8R 4 transistor RX with the tiny indoor loop antenna. After under 10 minutes, 20 stations already spotted!

UPDATE 1711z:  191 stations spotted so far today on 10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R RX and the indoor tiny loop (see map).

UPDATE 1840z:  235 spots so far today on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 2110z: 240 stations spotted on RX today.  QRT soon.

Yesterday on 10m FT8

I was again on 10m FT8 yesterday with the tiny indoor loop and my 10FT8R RX.  In all, 314 stations spotted.

10FT8R - improved schematic

A few people have wanted a clearer schematic. I have now uploaded it to my website. It was produced by Jay W5OLF. 

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10ft8r-rx .

10m FT8 with the 10FT8R and the tiny indoor loop

Since before breakfast I have been on 10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R and the tiny indoor loop. 26 spots on RX so far (at 0803z). The loop is thin wire just 50cm across, indoors on the shack windowsill. The 10FT8R is a simple direct conversion receiver shown again below. 

As mentioned yesterday, I got the 14.040MHz crystal from 3rd Planet Solar in the USA. It was very inexpensive. The whole RX is incredibly inexpensive as you can see!  

My thanks again to Jay W5OLF for doing the schematic - much better than my hand-drawn effort!

UPDATE 0855z: At 0815z, I changed the thin wire on my tiny loop to 6mm diameter copper central heating pipe. It tunes more sharply so is probably a bit more efficient. At the moment, 52 stations spotted today on RX.

UPDATE 1018z:  Currently, 86 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX (see map).

UPDATE 1237z:  113 stations spotted on RX so far today.

10m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop antenna and the 10FT8R RX

As of about 0817z I turned on my 10m FT8 RX. As yet, just a spot of a Polish station. It is now 0836z.

UPDATE 1116z:  96 stations spotted on RX so far today. 

UPDATE 1506z: 237 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today with the 10FT8R RX. Most look like Es. See map.

UPDATE 1848z: 343 stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R RX and the tiny indoor loop.

UPDATE 2150z: 403 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today. Now QRT. 

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10ft8r-rx

10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R and the tiny indoor loop

At about 0900z I turned on the 10m FT8 RX. No spots yet. The 10FT8R is a 4 transistor direct conversion RX for 10m FT8.

UPDATE 1220z:  So far today, 23 stations spotted on RX, mostly in Spain with 1 in Slovakia and 1 in the UK. 

UPDATE 1435z:  36 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX. Best DX is EA9ABC (1873km) in Ceuta, N, Africa.

UPDATE 1945z:  QRT. In total today 4 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R and the tiny indoor loop.

10FT8R active

At 0800z, I again turned on my 10m FT8 RX using the homebrewed 10FT8R RX and the tiny indoor loop. No spots yet. 

UPDATE 0826z:  So far 1 spot on RX probably by Es - OE3FVU (1189km).

UPDATE 1334z:  25 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R RX and the tiny indoor loop.

UPDATE 1424z:  Still 25 stations spotted.  It would appear this Es opening has stopped although I noticed a Swedish station a few minutes ago.

UPDATE 1950z: 27 stations spotted today on RX. Now QRT.

QSY to 160m FT8 QRP

At 1919z I QSYed to 160m FT8 QRP with 2.5W and the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. Already there are Germans coming through strongly after just a few minutes. I guess it is now dark over much of the path.

UPDATE 1948z: One spot of my QRP TX by G4UDU (160km) and 9 spots so far on 160m FT8 RX.

10m FT8 RX (Thursday) with the 10FT8R and the tiny indoor loop

At 0745z, I turned this kit on. Already, 10 stations spotted by Es. 

UPDATE 0847z:  48 stations spotted so far today.

UPDATE 1113z:  141 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today so far. 

UPDATE 1651z:  251 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today so far. Not bad for such a simple RX and tiny antenna! The furthermost is KP4UA (6841km). The map shows the stations spotted so far today.

UPDATE 1904z:  For some time now, I have been stuck on 252 RX spots on 10m FT8 today suggesting that is it for the day. I shall probably go QRT shortly on 10m.

160m FT8

Just after 1800z, I QSYed to 160m FT8. Very briefly I was on QRP with 2.5W TX and the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. At the moment I am on RX only. As it is still daylight, I am not expecting any great DX until after dark.

UPDATE 2005z: European DX coming through now now it is dark.

10m FT8 RX with the 10FT8R

Just before breakfast I turned on the 10FT8R RX (4 transistors) with the tiny indoor loop antenna. It is now 0818z and 29 stations already spotted via Es.

UPDATE 0835z:  34 stations spotted so far.

UPDATE 0915z: 50 stations so far spotted today.

UPDATE 1131z: 101 stations spotted so far on 10m FT8 RX with the little 10FT8R receiver and the tiny indoor loop.

UPDATE 1426z: 164 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX so far today.

UPDATE 1740z: 222 stations so far spotted on 10m FT8 RX with the furthermost W1JR (5267km) in New Hampshire, USA, I think this was Es (see map). No South Americans logged today on the tiny indoor loop.

10FT8R - continued experiments

This morning, I am again on 10m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop. Late yesterday, I removed the last AF stage, but spotted no stations. There were lots of spikes and I am not sure what they were. Later, I shall stick the last audio stage back again to see if this was important.

UPDATE 1010z: Something is wrong. On the 10FT8R RX no spots, yet when I went back to the FT817ND spots right away. Some spots were strong. I must be doing something stupid. More investigation needed.

UPDATE 1206z:  9 spots so far.

UPDATE 1411z: I have put back the final audio stage on the 10FT8R RX and the spikes have gone (no idea why) and I am spotting lots of stations again with this little RX connected to my indoor loop. At the moment this is the RX being used on 10m FT8 RX. So far, since reconnecting it, 20 stations spotted.

10m FT8 grabber

One of the things now possible on my new web pages is embedding. This has allowed me to add a grabber, so you can see what I am doing on PSKreporter maps. I think you can change the menus. Certainly I can. At the time of writing, I am looking at the last few hours on 10m FT8 RX.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/10m-ft8-grabber .