4m is increasingly popular on modern rigs as the band is now widely available in Europe. When I was first on the band in the late 1960s there were very few countries on.
This transverter may give you some ideas for a winter project. It is well capable of reaching many European countries by SSB in the Es season. I am sure it can be improved.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/homebrew/4m-transverter .
In all, 236 stations were spotted yesterday on 10m FT8 RX. In the end a string of South Americans were spotted. Yesterday Jan was wondering if the Europeans were F2 backscatter. Indeed this is possible, although I would have expected more pure F2 stations from Ukraine, Russia, Lebanon and Israel if this was F2 backscatter. Mind you, I am no expert!
When we talk about the universe, the numbers are truly mind-blowing.
The Milky Way has an estimated 1000000000 stars and at least as many planets. It is estimated there could be 2000000000000 galaxies in the observable universe.
If there are just 2 intelligent civilisations in our galaxy, there could be 4000000000000 intelllgent civilisations in the observable universe!
My brain hurts! 😁
In a few moments, I intend to turn on my 10m FT8 RX system. With the SSN being 0 and the solar flux being lower than for a while, I am unsure how it will be today.
UPDATE 0908z: System on at 0807z. 8 spots so far - all in Europe. I suspect with suspect with a higher antenna (possibly a beam) I might spot signals 10dB weaker. No doubt the "big guns" will be working 10m FT8 signals I cannot even spot! I have absolutely no intention of erecting a mast and beam. If I miss some does it matter? No.
UPDATE 1020z: 42 stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX with furthermost 9G5FI (5189km).
UPDATE 1200z: 79 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX. Furthermost is A65BR (5454km).
UPDATE 1253z: 97 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today. 94 have been in Europe. Many (possibly most) of these will be via Es propagation, underlining the value of FT8 in showing there is still Es well outside the traditional Es season. If things go as previous days, the Americas will start to come through shortly.
In all my time I have only had a single QSO through a satellite. That was probably in the 1980s. I have been interested, but not enough to get me active.
My interest was first sparked by listening to USA stations on 2m SSB during late night passes of Oscar 6 and 7. In those days this was a real novelty. This would have been in the mid-1970s. They would appear, briefly, then they were gone over the horizon.
These days there are lots of amateur satellites including 1 geosynchronous one called Oscar 100.
We may get inspiration from the AMSAT Colloquium online on Sunday, October 24th. You have to register beforehand I think.
