My local tests to see if 10mW ERP 8m beacons could be useful have concluded. The results are on my 8m web page.
The conclusion is that 10mW ERP really is useful.
My own reading indicates that anyone in the UK may without a licence operate 40.66-40.70 at 10mW ERP as long as they meet the technical requirements and IR 2030.
Now, I am no legal expert, so you have to make sure of your legality.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/8m-band.
On Mondays, I have been attending lectures in Cambridge on cosmology. This is part of my University of the Third Age course. It is very hard, quite the hardest course I have ever attended
Now, one thing is clear. We really know so very little. Yes, the theories hang together pretty well, but there is so much we do not understand. Take, for example, dark matter. Apparently this has to exist for the universe we know to exist. Sadly, we haven't a clue what dark matter is!
Also, time. We experience this as linear flowing from the past into the future. Some think time itself is an illusion created by man. Some think there are an infinite number of universes.
All we can be sure about is that whatever we believe today will be wrong or, at best, incomplete.
Despite all that I have learnt, I am left with a feeling that some time in the next 100 years a new theory will emerge that we will find hard to fathom at first, yet will soon help to comprehend some of what we do not understand.
It is hard to think about what we don't know about. Early in the last century, the Internet was impossible to conceive. What will the next 100 years bring?
Again, I am on 10m WSPR TX with 500mW QRP from the W5OLF beacon. So far, just the usual spots from the Canary Is.
UPDATE 1223z: Still just spots of my QRP from the Canary Isles. 66 spots of me so far today.
Today I intend to reduce my 8m WSPR power to 10mW ERP and use the call 8M3ISM to see who, if anyone, can still spot me locally. Yesterday, with 5 local monitors, I was widely spotted with 1W WSPR. Judging by the reports yesterday, things will be far harder today.
Although Keith yesterday told me of an easy way to reduce power of the FT817ND by 20dB using the power slider in WSJT-X, I cannot see a way to do this with VOX control and a SignaLink USB, so I will add a 20dB attenuator temporarily.
I need to work out the correct values for a 20dB pad, which will go right next to the rig so there is no radiation risk from the coax cable. As I intend to keep the 1W power setting from yesterday, I need to ensure the attenuator is suitably rated for power handling. Looking at the calculator, I can use 100 ohm resistors in series and parallel to get the values and power handling. The calculator is on the site shown.
See https://leleivre.com/rf_pipad.html .
UPDATE 1215z: 10mW WSPR running with the callsign 8M3ISM.
At the moment I am doing some local tests to see if people can copy 10mW ERP on 8m locally. This is the UK ISM limit. As calibration, I am sending 1W WSPR on 8m before trying 10mW ERP. Initial tests suggests this is too low to be copied, but might just be possible with 2el 8m antennas.
UPDATE 1928z: This is an update on the 8m ISM tests locally so far. At the moment, I expect to switch to 10mW ERP WSPR later this week with the call 8M3ISM. A 20dB pad will be added right next to the FT817ND.
It has been pointed out to me that the capital of Greenland is called Nuuk. Of late, the US president-elect has shown an interest in buying ...
