This week we are remembering the dreadful events of D-Day in June 1944. I cannot imagine the sheer terror of those brave solders landing in Normandy. Many must have feared they would be dead in the following few minutes.
This makes the events in Ukraine and the Middle East even sadder. None of the waste of human life is needed. Why can't people live in peace with each other? It would seem that aggression of this kind is sadly part of the human condition and we seem incapable of learning from history.
What Hamas did on October 7th 2023 was evil, but so are deaths of over 36000 Palestinian people.
All I wish is that people can live at peace with their neighbours. Nobody is ever perfect. Let's just accept our differences and failings.
On the face of it, it offers DX over a good proportion of the planet, without fading, linears, beams or towers. Antennas are small, can be low and are fixed.
I very much doubt the Japanese big manufacturers will do anything as the satellite footprint does not cover Japan or the USA.
It is many years since I did any CB operation. I think the last time was testing a couple of single channel hand portables. I guess that was in the 1990s.
I see on this week's Amateur Radio Weekly that there is a field day for "freeband" enthusiasts at 11m. The legality of this is not known although there is an ISM band around here.
How much power can legally be used will depend on where you are. In the UK, it looks like the limit is 100mW ERP according to IR2030.
Although I get a few spots a week with this tiny power, I get very few spots overall. Maybe there are fewer people using 10m WSPR?
My conclusion is this is just too little power. It is surprising to me as I was expecting to be spotted more often on Es, as signals can be very strong. I suspect that much of the time I am below the noise floor with many stations. For now, I shall stick with this power on 10m WSPR.
UPDATE 1209z: No spots. Next week, I may try 10mW on 10m WSPR to see if that is better.
I decided to stay on 6m QRP FT8 overnight. In all, 386 people spotted my 2.5W 6m FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna. The band did not open (for me) to the USA, which I was hoping for. Almost all of these spots were Es.
UPDATE 1021z: 121 stations have already spotted my QRP 6m FT8 signal this morning. There seems to be plenty of Es about.
It was hard to avoid the impression that most attendees are boring old farts (BOFS) which are mainly old white males. This does not bode well.
Although today has been my best day this season on 6m, the Es map (see below link) would suggest otherwise.
See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ .
UPDATE 1106z: It has just suddenly changed!
My 17m QRP FT8 (about 4W) was turned on at about 1618z. Within a few minutes, I was spotted by 33 stations, See map.
