At about 0914z, I turned on my 10m QRP FT8 with 2.5W and the tiny indoor loop antenna. G0FWX (160km) copied immediately.
I have gone back to the thinner loop wire as I was a bit concerned that the higher RF voltages with the copper pipe inductor, although higher Q and more efficient, could have damaged the matching parts on TX.
UPDATE 1308z: 3 stations spotted with the furthermost OH6EJD (1874km). Nobody has spotted me. I think this is Es.
With a bit of luck, I may have this working by the weekend. It is a DSB RX for 10m FT8. It means the "big rig" can be used for other things and 10m FT8 can be continuously monitored.
Southgate News relays some information on the EI7GL blog that the South African 8m beacon has been copied in Greece. There is even a recording on John's blog. There was a earlier report of it being copied in Portugal. Both these look like TEP.
This afternoon we are meant to be visiting friends for tea in their garden. Even since last night the BBC weather app has changed its forecast! Despite super-computers it would appear nothing beats a look out of the window!
Overnight I was on 160m FT8 RX only and spotted 144 stations. Unlike previous occasions, nothing was copied from the USA.
I am running 2.5W to the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. The return wire is hardly off the ground and buried in shrubs most of the way. Even I can hardly see it and have to check it is still intact!
Solar flux is 78 and the SSN 54. A=7 and K=1.
We have not seen sunspot numbers this high for some years.
The photo shows my pass when I was at Philips Paging in California back in the late 1990s. I worked for Philips Paging for a few years. Unlike Private Mobile Radio, pagers were consumer products. We made more in one night than we made certain PMR products in a product lifetime. Every penny really really mattered as did the slightest of blemishes. We made pagers in Cambridge, Mexico and Singapore.
