70cm FT8

Last evening was the 70cm activity contest. It never fails to amaze me what I can spot with just a 144MHz big-wheel omni antenna. 

The map shows the stations received here last evening.

6m QRP FT8 (Thursday)

My IC-705 at 6W was turned on at breakfast time.

UPDATE 0940z: 9 English spots of me.

UPDATE 1054z: 15 spots of me including some in mainland Europe. See map of stations spotting my QRP.

Sunspots - Thursday March 13th

 Solar flux is 160 and the SSN 90. A=32 and K=5.

70cm QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

Although the activity contest does not start until 2000z, I think there is a European 70cm FT8 contest earlier. I put my IC-705 on 5W FT8 at about 1900z. Already my station has been copied as far away as 150km has spotted me and I have spotted 2 stations on RX in Germany at 479km.  All this was with just a 144MHz big-wheel omni antenna!

UPDATE 2025z: My signal has been copied in Holland by PI4VPO (263km).

8m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

For most of the afternoon I have been on 8m QRP FT8 with my FT817ND.

UPDATE 1745z:   No spots of me. I suspect I will get no 8m spots today. It would appear that my 8m ERP is just too low most of the time.

70cm activity contest (UKAC)

 

Every month I put an entry in for this contest. Because of my poor voice, I usually stop on for about 30mins. Even this is hard with 10W and a 144MHz big-wheel omni antenna. I am always surprised to work anyone at all. 

If my voice was better and I stayed on longer I am sure a lot more stations would be worked. 

The map shows the stations worked.

Spring sun - NOT amateur radio

 

Yesterday we did a walk around our village. It was much colder with some showers. In between, the sun appeared.

6m QRP FT8 with the IC-705 (Wednesday)

My IC-705 is on 6m FT8 at 5W. It was turned on at 0900z.

UPDATE 1655z: Before QSYing to 8m early this afternoon my 6m QRP  FT8 was spotted by 20 stations including several in mainland Europe. See map of where my 5W was spotted.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Wednesday)

My QRP W5OLF 10m WSPR beacon was turned on at 0900z.

UPDATE 1718z: 5 stations spotting me including the German research base DP0GVN (13685km) in Antarctica.

Sunspots- Wednesday March 12th

 Solar flux is 161 and the SSN 90. A=10 and K=3.