My 4W FT8 is on.
UPDATE 0910z: 9 stations have spotted me this morning (see map). I am unsure of the propagation mechanism but 4W FT8 and an omni V2000 vertical antenna seem to be enough.
14 Dec 2025
Christmas comes early?
Retailers have had a hard time lately.
Is it me or did Christmas come early this year? I am sure this was to make sure profits were maximised.
To me, the Christmas season starts no earlier than December 1st. Some shops were having Christmas goods as early as September. It seems Christmas has morphed into a commercial business.
Sadly, I am glad these days when all the hype is over.
10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)
My beacon was turned on at about 0700z.
UPDATE 0855z: 3 spots by YO3IVV (2078km).
6m failure!!
Just for fun I let my IC705 on FT8 during the Geminids meteor shower, but copied not a single station! Late last night a few stations spotted my 4W FT8 but I don’t think this was MS. One was in Germany. Oh well, I tried, ho ho. I know MSK144 would have been a better choice but wanted to see if anyone was copiable on FT8.
13 Dec 2025
6m 4W FT8 (Saturday)
My 4W 6m FT8 was turned in at about 2030z.
UPDATE 2036z: So far, 4 English stations have spotted me. No great DX.
6m FT8 in the Geminid MS shower?
For MS most people (I think) use MSK144. I am tempted to leave my 6m FT8 on RX overnight to see what happens. I am wondering if I might copy some people on 6m MS on FT8? In a big shower I would expect some bursts to be quite long, more so on 6m than 2m.
In my experience MS signals can be quite strong, but quite brief.
1W 10m FT8 (Saturday)
My gear was turned on at about 1200z.
UPDATE 2018z: So far 246 stations have spotted me. See map. QRT soon.
12 Dec 2025
A good use of AI
AI frequently gets a bad press, but there are some things it is very good at.
Today I chanced upon a movie on YouTube of London in the 1700s. It was created using old black and white prints from that time.
The finished movie gives you a great impression of how it must have been.
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