No 4m on European IC-705

Last night ICOM announced that the European IC-705 will not have 4m. See their website.

Maybe later with a firmware upgrade? Perhaps they ran out of time and wanted to capture market share before the competition? I cannot see other players not wanting this market. Without 4m this could dent European sales, especially at the price. It would be good if they could say it will be available later as a firmware upgrade.

2m Es?

Just after 1000z I turned on 2m FT8. I am hoping to catch some 2m Es.

UPDATE 1404z: Plenty of stations have spotted me, but no Es noted.

6m FT8 DX

Several Gs and others in western Europe are working Japanese stations on 6m. This is regular at this time of year. Sadly I am not copying these. I guess my simple system is not good enough. This is where a few more dBs would make all the difference. Imagine what difference 10dB could make.

Lots of Es to Europe and the Gulf states.

10m WSPR TX using 500mW

Overnight I stayed on 10m WSPR TX. I was surprised by how many spots there were even in the middle of the night. Even using just the indoor loop some reports were incredibly strong.

UPDATE 1402z: No less than 63 unique stations have recently spotted my 10m WSPR.

Sunspots - Saturday May 30th 2020

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=3 and K=1.

Bury St Edmunds - NOT amateur radio

Bury St Edmunds is a lovely East Anglian place. Unlike many places, it's not "up itself". The main people you're likely to see are locals. It has fine Abbey Gardens and the remains of an abbey.

Covid-19 hope? - NOT amateur radio

Today is the first time I can remember when Covid-19 cases in this county have gone down not up. This may be a blip, but it is a hopeful sign.

10m WSPR TX

As yesterday, I am on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW to the indoor loop. TX is 100%, but the frequency is randomised every 2 minutes. No spots yet.

UPDATE 2120z:  Amazing! 29 different stations have spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR today. And I thought 10m WSPR was passe!

6m today

Already (last 6 hours) 607 spots of my 6m FT8 10W to the vertical V2000 omni antenna. Most spots are for EU stations by Es. Over 300 stations spotted on RX.

Spots of my 10W FT8 6m today

UPDATE 2115z: 1251 stations have spotted me today so far. For the second evening in a row I was spotted in the Caribbean. Also spotted in Gabon and Kuwait.

6m transatlantic finally

Spots of my 10W FT8 6m yesterday

For the first time since 2007 my 6m signal has crossed the Atlantic. Last evening my 10W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni was spotted by FG5GH (6691km) in the Caribbean.

I am perfectly sure better equipped stations with more power and better antennas are capable of far more.