My elder grandson (15) is mad on bell ringing. He has now rung in nearly 130 towers and 2 cathedrals (it may be more). Last night he rang a quarter peel in Newmarket.
See https://drive.google.com/file/d/1873O6zPsert2bTsPCLItIGJ2QtAf4pMW/view?usp=sharing.
My 2.5W QRP FT8 was turned on before breakfast. I was called by a station in Portugal when there was already widespread Es.
At 0830z 82 stations have spotted me (all in Europe) and I have spotted 50 unique stations.
UPDATE 1303z: 131 unique spots of me so far today.
UPDATE 1702z: 261 unique stations have spotted my 2.5W 10m FT8 today.
My favourite site for solar data has just been updated. It still show the peak of solar cycle 25 as November 2023 with a peak of 144.2 (this is up slightly). This seems early, but it has been late this year now for a very long time. If so, conditions could still be good for several years to come. It is definitely worth watching 10m FT8. I suspect 10m will remain open far more than we thought.
For a change, I am on 10m (not 6m) FT8 with my 2.5W. The 10m antenna is a low Par end-fed. At 0816z 3 stations spotted on RX with the furthermost FR4OM (9763km) on Reunion in the Indian Ocean. Just 3 spots of me, all in Europe.
UPDATE 0842z: 7 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today (see photo).
As well as the usual crop of 6m FT8 European stations received via Es yesterday I spotted D2UY (6525km) . Call me suspicious, but I suspect this was a pirate in Europe. Does anyone know if this is genuine?
Someone posted on Facebook today that the FT-710 is about 10dB deaf on 8m. It can be persuaded to TX on 8m by putting it is engineering mode by pressing buttons. However use outside of offered amateur bands probably invalidates your warranty. I have no idea what power it puts out on 8m as I never tried it. I sold the FT-710 some time ago.
