10m FT8 QRP - like a different band?

For the last few minutes. I have been on 10m FT8 QRP with the FT817. It is like a different band. Already, I have been spotted by 19 stations. On RX several South Americans spotted.

UPDATE 1945z: Spotted by 24 stations so far on 10m FT8 QRP.  All these were in Europe apart from 1 in Israel. No spots from South America.  Although there is a "hard core" of 10m WSPR monitors, one gets the feeling most are now using FT8.

Early morning walk - NOT amateur radio

Today is expected to be very hot today with UK weather records being broken, so we did an early walk.  It is currently late morning and it is already 31C. Our lawns are dry and brown.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Monday)

So far, just one station in Denmark spotting my 500mW QRP  WSPR beacon. There are good days and bad days of Es. Up to now, today has been a bad day.

UPDATE 1243z: 5 unique stations have spotted me today with the furthermost EA8BFK (2880km).

8m experiment (Monday)

I get the feeling that the 8m experiment is losing interest. There are still some monitors, but the Es season is coming to an end. There are still openings, but these seem less frequent. I have been on 40.680 MHz USB dial QRP FT8, but sadly no spots on TX or RX.

UPDATE 1514z: Still no spots today. I am beginning to think I can learn little more until a lot more stations are active.

Sunspots - Monday July 18th 2022

Solar flux is 166 and the SSN 166. A=6 and K=1.

Anglesey Abbey bridge - NOT amateur radio

This bridge is over the mill leat at nearby Anglesey Abbey, UK. Every year, they remove the duckweed that forms on the leat during the summer.

Es bad day?

 It is still quite early, but I get the impression that Es will be infrequent today on 10m and 8m. Of course, things can rapidly change! 

UK political cartoon - NOT amateur radio

I think this first appeared in inews.co.uk. It made me chuckle. The candidates for the Conservative party leadership election and the UK Prime Minister job do not exactly fill me with excitement. We lack leaders of substance at the moment. 

90MHz or 90 MHz??

After nearly 40 years as a professional RF engineer you would think that I should know!! 

Should there be a space after the number before the kHz, MHz or GHz or not? Can either be used? I should try to use the correct format.

One thing is clear. Most engineers don't care! 

Sub 10 kHz amateur radio

This photo was a Facebook memory from 2011 and shows my earth-mode signal at 6km away.