My 500uW 10m QRPP WSPR beacon was turned on at about 0830z. European Es looks quite promising, so I am hopeful.
See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ .
UPDATE 1117z: No spots.
UPDATE 1738z: Just a single spot of my QRPP by DK6UG (633km).
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| Es map of Europe |
UPDATE 1026z: 5 spots of my 10mW 6m FT8.
UPDATE 1731z: 10 stations have spotted me.
See https://www.iswl.org.uk/ .
My 630m 10mW ERP WSPR from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground was turned on at about 2040z.
UPDATE 2115z: 2 stations have spotted me so far this evening.
My beacon is on and sync'd to internet time. No spots.
UPDATE 1839z: 2 spots in Germany of my 500uW WSPR. A reminder that my WSPR beacon is hard programmed to report 0.5W even though with the PA turned off it is actually 500uW only. I think these German spots were the first in several days.
At the moment European Es does not look too great although things can quickly change.
See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/.
My QRPP 6m FT8 was turned on at about 0750z.
UPDATE 0830z: No spots.
For a change, I am again on 630m WSPR with my 10mW ERP from my earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.
UPDATE 1908z: So far, just spots by G8OCV/SDR.
At the moment, I remain puzzled: at 10mW I was surprised that FT8 worked at all on 6m. Already today (presumably by Es) 10 stations have spotted me on 6m FT8 at 10mW.
At 13dB weaker my 10m WSPR at 500uW remains unspotted. I had assumed that signals 13dB weaker might have been harder, but then WSPR works with signals considerably weaker than FT8.
Probably Jan OZ9QV is correct, that the far shorter TX period for FT8 (about 15 seconds) catches very brief Es bursts with FT8 that the 120 seconds needed for WSPR does not decode: the Es cloud has to remain around for longer. Perhaps Es just bubbles up for very short periods more than we thought. Maybe FT4 would be better still, even though it is even less sensitive?
With FT8 I am pleasantly surprised how well just 10mW works with 6m FT8. Of course the WSPR signal at 500uW is more likely to be buried in noise too. Overall, I suspect the briefness of FT8 must help more than I was expecting.
The following rally has been notified to me. As always, I recommend contacting organisers to check details.
Sunday May 26th - Durham and District ARS Radio Rally. Bowburn, DH6 5AT. Contact dadars@gmx.com .
At the moment, Es in Europe looks promising. Time will tell.
See https://www.tvcomm.co.uk/g7izu/radio-propagation-maps/europe-sporadic-e/ .
These were planted yesterday. I hope they grow and thrive.
Once again, I am on 6m FT8 with 10mW and the V2000 vertical omni antenna. So far, no spots.
UPDATE 1220z: 8 spots so far.
