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).
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.
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.
My IC-705 is on 6m FT8 at 5W. It was turned on at 0900z.
My QRP W5OLF 10m WSPR beacon was turned on at 0900z.
In my view tariffs are a bad thing.
What President Trump is trying to do against Canada wins him no friends. The USA is hardly seen as a role model any more by the third world, who will increasingly be attracted to China. Sadly, the Trump administration comes across as power hungry and greedy. These are not values that many in the world see as good.
Although I understand what President Trump is trying to achieve, this reminds me of King Canute trying to control the tides!!
It may encourage USA firms to make parts, e.g. for cars, in the USA, but I struggle to see how they can make them inexpensively, stoking inflation in the USA. Far Eastern manufacturing will always be less expensive unless they use robots thereby reducing US jobs.
One upside is the dollar is now far weaker against the UK pound, making oil (for us) less expensive.
See https://qrp-labs.com/qdx.html
UPDATE 1625z: 64 spots of me so far. 438 stations spotted here. USA starting to receive me now on TX.
The whole cathedral was built in a time before CAD, lorries and cranes. I still marvel at the octagon every time I see it remembering that much of the cathedral is hundreds of years older!
Last night I looked on the Japanese website of Yaesu, hoping to find some clues about the FTX-1F such as price, recent specs, availability etc.. My Japanese is poor (well non-existent!) so I searched all categories. On the Japanese site I could see no mention of it at all!
These are the rumours (that I have seen so far):
I may be very very wrong, but I am surprised we have heard nothing factual since last summer. even though it was due to be released in "early 2025".
Hmm.
On present form I give Yaesu less than 5 years to quit the amateur radio market.
One of the problems, especially in built-up areas is high local noise. This video is an attempt to make it better.
They get plenty of weather up there interspersed with decent days. There is plenty of wind and just a few trees.
The cathedral is next to it, dominating the fen countryside.
Ely is an old island, famous for eels!
My QDX at 2W was turned on 10m FT8 at about 0723z. Quiet start.
UPDATE 1347z: Spotted by 72 stations on 10m QRP FT8 TX. Furthermost is K5WBM (7359km). On RX I have spotted 303 stations.
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| Stations spotted here today on 10m FT8 at 1625z |
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/crystal-set-dxing .
From a very young age I was brought up as a Church of England Anglican. In my late teenage years I had quite a strong belief, if unconventional!
As an adult I am more aware of other belief systems, sincerely held by those who believe in them. I am sure if I was brought up in the Middle East I would probably be a devout Muslim. Likewise if I was brought up in the Jewish faith or in India I would have been equally devout in some other religion.
They cannot all be right or wrong.
What puzzles me is the holy books. In every world religion (I think) there is a holy book that is very thick, composed of writings written down for adherents to follow. What makes something sacred?
It is only a few hundred years since we believed in witches and supported slavery. In the last century we put to death millions of Jews.
Although I still remain agnostic in my beliefs I prefer to think that all religions are attempts by humans to explain their place in the universe. Hints. I think every religion has compassion and kindness at its heart.
No, religions puzzle me.
My 2W from the tiny QDX was turned on at about 0915z.
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| Stations spotting my 2W 10m FT8 today |
One solution is to use a separate antenna for receive and transmit. One approach is a low dipole for RX and a vertical on TX as in this video. Vertical antennas can pick up lots of local noise.
My QDX at 2W has been on FT8 since breakfast.
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| Stations spotting me at 1030z |
As I was having no luck with 63mW 10m FT8, I QSYed to 15m at 1658z, where I have been spotted by 1 station in Estonia so far .
Landwade is not far from Newmarket, the home of horseracing.
My QDX at 2W (or less) was turned on at 0858z. There are 5 diodes dropping the supply volts.
UPDATE 0911z: Although I have received 27 stations from across the planet but not one of me. Is something wrong or am I being clobbered by a stronger station?
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| Stations spotting my 2W 10m FT8 at 1222z |
UPDATE 1222z: 52 stations have spotted my 2W 10m FT8 today. For fun, I may add the 15dB RF attenuator soon.
UPDATE 1228z: 15dB attenuator added so the power out is now 63mW.
UPDATE 1550z: Although I am still getting plenty of spots of other stations on 10m FT8 RX even with the 15dB pad in the antenna line, I have received no spots at all on TX. This may be because I am being clobbered by a co-channel station or just that I am too weak.
Buskers do no harm and are part of the Cambridge "scene" making the city vibrant, especially in nice weather.
After breakfast I returned to 10m FT8 QRP using the QDX at 2W again.
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| Stations spotting my 10m QRP FT8 today at 1326z |
After breakfast my plan is to go on 10m FT8 with my QDX at 2W.
My QDX at about 2W has been on 10m FT8 since just after breakfast.
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| Stations spotting my 2W 10m FT8 QRP today |
This is not my personal idea of amateur radio. My QDX is about a fiftieth of the size and very inexpensive as a kit. Even built it is not expensive. As I said, each to their own.
Having said all this I would happily accept one if someone bought me one! Probably very very unlikely!
By the way what does this mean please?
"Economical SO2R Solution: Support (OTRSP) in One Radio"My QDX (at about 2W) was turned on at about 0745z.
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| Stations spotting my 10m QRP FT8 today |
