5 Mar 2018

The G3TFX experiment - 2m FT8 RX vertical

As promised, today I am monitoring 2m FT8 but using my V2000 vertical instead of the horizontal big-wheel. This was suggested by my old work colleague Richard G3TFX in Cambridge.

Already I am surprised by the number of stations still being received. This suggests that these stations are less dependant on polarisation than I thought, suggesting either aircraft reflection or random MS rather than tropo.

UPDATE 1015z: 12 uniques in 4 countries, despite being vertically polarised.

UPDATE 1130z: Now 19 uniques in 4 countries.

UPDATE 1405z: Now 28 uniques in 4 countries.

UPDATE 2105z: Well, the experiment has ended. Conclusion? Polarisation does not matter, so probably most DX received by aircraft reflections. Amazing. Map show stations received on 2m FT8 today with vertical polarisation.

1 comment:

Todd Dugdale said...

Maybe a lot of other stations are using verticals for FT8, to get omni coverage?