At the moment (0824z) I am on 10m FT8 with the little QDX transceiver. I have yet to check conditions this morning! So far, just a couple of Europeans spotted, but nobody has spotted me yet.
UPDATE 09427z: 25 EU stations have already spotted my QRP 10m FT8 today, so I may QSY to 8m QRP FT8 and 10m WSPR with my 500mW WSPR beacon. On RX, stations as far as Western Australia have been copied on 10m FT8.
When this is available, I quite fancy one. My transverter produces about 10-12W of WSPR on this band. It would be good to try the QDX-M next winter, on 630m, if available. I think the output would be about 5W on the QDX-M.
At the moment I am trying 15m FT8 with the tiny QDX transceiver. Conditions are better than 10m, but still pathetic compared with yesterday.
UPDATE 1513z: I have gone RX only after a brief period on TX.
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| Stations spotted on 15m FT8 RX today to 1518z |
As 8m seems quiet compared with yesterday, I am on 10m FT8 with the tiny QDX transceiver. At most, it puts out 5W and it is probably nearer 4W. Conditions do not seem very great.
At the moment my furthermost report is from IM0LZK (1589km) on Sardinia. To be honest, conditions seem really poor on 10m. On 15m, I was spotted in the central USA, but I did not stop on very long.
This quote was in the Knowledge today. The Knowledge is a free email newsletter that condenses the news from various world sources. As far as I can tell, it is pretty neutral. I find it very good.
"Remember yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present."
The IC-705 is a great rig, although it did have noise issues when a USB cable was connected between the rig and a PC. This issue was overcome with a decent, filtered, cable, but this was a design fault that should have been fixed.
I am still surprised Yaesu seems to have dropped out of the HF QRP market when they were clear market leaders at one time.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/commercial-rigs/icom-ic-705 .
At about 0840z, I turned on my 500mW W5OLF 10m TX WSPR beacon. So far, just FR1GZ (9724km) spotting me.
For 10m WSPR, I usually sync time using my atomic clock in the shack. For 8m FT8 and WSPR, I usually sync to internet time using the built-in sync with Windows 10. For some reason (too busy?) this sync was not happening earlier. I shall try again later. As far as I can tell my PC clock error is just a few seconds at most, so I hope this is OK for now.
The photo shows Trinity Street in Cambridge, UK. In the right foreground is a bookshop that has been a bookshop for centuries.
