6m FT8

Most days I go on 6m FT8 with my QMX+ transceiver. I think that every day I have been on recently I have been spotted somewhere in continental Europe. 

If I am able to do this with just a few watts and a vertical omni antenna, it proves how useful 6m can be. Imagine if you had a reasonable beam and more power. You would have an ERP increase of several dB improving the chances of being copied even more.

In the last 30 minutes I have been spotted in Latvia, Germany and Holland on 6m FT8.

Working Russians

Well before the end of the USSR, I remember working loads of stations in the USSR and getting QSL cards. 

I have no problem at all with the people in Russia and am happy to work them or get reports on FT8 or WSPR.   

In a small way, amateur radio breaks down barriers. I like to think that whatever the race, colour, wealth or nationality, it makes no difference. After all, we all share this planet and are all human beings.

Nice pile - NOT amateur radio

As a young child, I spent my childhood living in Salcombe, Devon. 

This property is on the market not far from Salcombe, so I could move back. 

Just one problem!  It is on the market for £8.5 million, so I think I shall give it a miss!

After Christmas - NOT amateur radio

My younger son and his kids have gone home and Christmas is almost over for another year. 

We have given the birds the leftovers.

10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)

 My beacon was turned on about 0950z.  5 stations have spotted me at 1051z.

UPDATE 1532z:   28 stations have spotted me. Spots from the USA started at just after 1200z.

6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My gear has been on since about 0950z. So far, just English stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 2015z:  31 stations have spotted my QRP 6m FT8 including one in the USA. On RX a couple of stations spotted in the southern USA.

Very clever people

Somehow I missed this on Amateur Radio Weekly. It describes how someone hacked a Casio wristwatch to act as a transceiver on 70cm and 33cm. 

As I said, there are some very clever people. I would not know where to start!

Mid winter Es

Don’t ask me why as I don’t know the answer, but there’s a small Es peak in the northern hemisphere around now so it is worth keeping an eye on 6m . I suppose this could link up with F2 propagation further south to result in some spectacular DX on 6m.

Sunspots - Sunday December 29th

 Solar flux is 260 and the SSN 213.  A=4 and K=1.

Stiff competition

Since the Yaesu FT817 was introduced almost a quarter of a century ago, a lot has changed. There was serious competition e.g. the ICOM IC-705, many Chinese radios, plus the offerings by QRP labs, HF signals and Elecraft,  There are others.

At one time Yaesu had a captive market. This is far from the case today. There are still loyal Yaesu fans around, but the new FTX-1F will have to be very good and keenly priced for volumes to be high.

I was puzzled when ICOM introduced their microwave transceiver as I could not see many being sold.

No, the amateur radio market is changing and fierce. Many will fall by the wayside in the next 10 years.