As my 8m system is currently out of action, I am again on 6m FT8. So far today 14 stations have spotted using my 2.5W to the V2000 vertical omni antenna with the furthermost US2YW (1864km) in Ukraine. On 6m FT8 RX 4 stations spotted. There would appear to be far more people monitoring 6m than actually TXing.
Mine was built ugly style, but worked well. It would make a great club project for a winter evening on a PCB. It would surprise me if it cost you more than a few cups of coffee out.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10ft8r-rx.
We had a companion for lunch: a robin that came to our table and, at times, was just a few inches away. I am sure it would have eaten out of my hand given more time. As it was, it had some of my wife's cheese scone when she was not looking!
My gear (2.5W to the V2000 vertical omni) was turned on at 0741z. So far (at 0757z) just spots by 5 Gs and no Es. On 6m FT8 RX 3 Gs near Birmingham spotted.
UPDATE 0816z: Spotted a station in Ukraine on RX. He has also spotted me on QRP TX. Must be some Es about ,even though it did not look too great. See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/.
UPDATE 1126z: 24 spots of my 6m QRP FT8 and 21 stations have been spotted here on RX. Plenty of Es.
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| Stations spotting me at 1306z |
As in many countries, the high rate of inflation, higher fuel costs and higher interest rates are fuelling a round of strikes by people who are finding the cost of living too high. I am not sure of the answer, but remember the painful days of high inflation in the last century.
