As there seems little prospect of even a tiny 8m amateur band by NoV, I have asked OFCOM if it will renew my T&I licence when it expires in April. Awaiting a response. If it and the FCC are so dead set against an amateur band at 8m for research at least they could explain why.
31 Dec 2022
30 Dec 2022
No SDR testing today?
Most of the day, I have been busy and I have not got around to testing the SDR. Unless I get it tested tonight, it will have to wait until the weekend.
Sunspot maximum late next year?
The site I most use for data is still predicting that solar cycle 25 will peak in November 2023. This seems quite early. Certainly conditions have been good for some time now.
Even if this is correct, we can expect solar conditions to remain good for several years. I was quite surprised how FT8 proved solar conditions were respectable north-south even when there were no sunspots.
Often there is a second peak about a year after the first. Fingers crossed!
Plans for Friday
As I did not get around to trying my SDR yesterday, my main aim is to get this going. If time allows, I hope to be on 10m QRP WSPR TXand 8m QRP FT8.
8m permits in 2023?
It would be really great if many more people could come on 8m TX in 2023. What would be helpful would be if many asked for limited access i.e. for a fixed time with limits. The reason is radio science research around solar maximum.
Please ask your local body responsible for permits for limited 8m access. The following would be what I would suggest you ask for:
- 40.680-40.685 MHz (just 5 kHz within the ISM band limits)
- 100W ERP
- Narrow digital only e.g. CW, QRSS,FT8 or WSPR
- April 2023 to September 2023
- Strictly non-interference i.e. if any harmful interference the station can be told to immediately go QRT.
29 Dec 2022
Ultra simple 80m transceiver
If you get bored this holiday, you may get some ideas from the XBM80-2 transceiver on my website. It really works!! You would be hard pressed to find anything simpler.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/80m-xbm80-2 .
8m QRP FT8 (Thursday)
About 10 minutes ago, I switched to 8m QRP FT8 on 40.680 MHz. So far today (it is now 1435z) no spots.
UPDATE 1643z: No spots. QRT soon on 8m. I suspect that with my low ERP, I miss a lot on 8m. Still that was what I wanted to find out: just what could be achieved with an ultra-simple QRP 8m set-up. I think I now know what my limits are and also the limitations of the 10mW ERP (the legal 8m ISM limit for ALL in the UK without a licence) locally. I shall probably renew my T&I permit for another year, although I doubt I shall learn much more. It would be really helpful if more tried to get 8m permits, if only for the Es season. Wouldn't it be great if many countries had 8m FT8 or WSPR access next year?
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