6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

 My 6m FT8 QRP (2.5W to a vertical omni V2000 antenna) is on.  So far just a spot by M1ABK (70km).

UPDATE 1140z:  3 stations have spotted me with the furthermost SM7KOJ (935km).

UPDATE 1405z:  11 stations have spotted my QRP (better than I was expecting), but I  am unsure of the propagation. I am sure it is not F2 backscatter, so it is possibly aircraft scatter or patches of Es. 

UPDATE  1445z: No further stations spotting me, suggesting the propagation is some short-lived mechanism such as aircraft or Es that quickly went.

UPDATE 1701z:  12 stations have spotted my 6m FT8 today.

HF propagation

Conditions on HF do not seen exceptional today. I am not expecting to get any spots on my 0.5mW 10m WSPR beacon, but you never know!

See https://prop.kc2g.com/ .

500uW (0.5mW) 10m QRPP WSPR

At 1017z, no spots. 

UPDATE 1700z:  No spots all day.

Scenes around Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

 

My wife took the photos in this collage last week. At least one place  should be familiar!

630m QRP WSPR overnight

 

18 stations have spotted my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR in the last 12 hours.

Sunspots - Sunday January 21st

 Solar flux is 166 and the SSN 144.  A=6 and K=2.

Sunday plans

My intention is to continue my tests with 500uW (0.5mW) 10m WSPR, but I may go on 6m FT8 rather than 8m FT8.  6m has the advantage of more people monitoring, both in the UK and Europe. If things look very promising, I might try 8m FT8 in the afternoon.

Changing world order - NOT amateur radio

Most of us have grown up in a world dominated by western democracies. We have been told countless times that this fair and just: it is the right way for people to follow.

However, things are changing. Increasingly, developing countries are looking towards China and Russia. Many of their ways appear bizarre to those of us in the west.

We have to admit that western democracies are not perfect. Under capitalism the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The gap gets ever bigger.

The world was once in the thrall of the USA. This is no longer the case.

In the end, things will (I hope) sort themselves out.  Capitalism is not perfect and neither is communism or extreme right wing politics.

630m QRP WSPR (Saturday)

 My 10mW ERP was turned on at 1700z. 4 spots on the first transmission.

UPDATE  1807z:  9 stations have spotted me.

CEPT 8m amateur allocation?

Before I start, there are no plans for this. 

However, the band is now available to radio amateurs in at least 2 CEPT countries and in many CEPT nations some are experimenting on 8m with special permits. 

From figures provided to me by an amateur in Belgium, radio amateurs would produce less interference than ISM users between 40.66-40.70MHz.  It would be great if CEPT allowed radio amateurs access to the band.

These are my proposals for an 8m amateur band:

• 40.675-40.685 MHz (just 10 kHz wide in total, in the ISM band. A minimum would be 40.680-40.683 MHz)
• Secondary
• Only available by application (NoV or equivalent)
• 5W maximum
• Narrow digital only (modes like FT8, WSPR and CW), no phone
• Strictly no interference
• Only available to full licencees

My assumption is CEPT is more likely to be receptive if we ask for the minimum.

Almost all the activity on 8m is propagation research. Such a small CEPT amateur allocation could really advance radio propagation science.

Please approach your national society and licencing authority for an 8m amateur band.

See https://www.itu.int/dms_pubrec/itu-r/rec/sm/R-REC-SM.1056-1-200704-I!!PDF-E.pdf .