At the moment, I am on 40.680 MHz QRP FT8 . No spots. I am pretty sure that with 2.5W and the low dipole, I miss out on quite a bit, although this was my experiment.
G9PUV must have a much greater ERP and must be the most successful UK station on 8m. I estimate Paul's ERP must be at least 10dB better than mine. It would not surprise me if his ERP was 20dB up, which is a huge difference. Despite this and despite the few monitors on the band, it has already proved to me how useful 8m could be.
As mentioned before, I am pretty sure that anyone could legally use the 8m ISM band for beacons in the UK without a licence as long as the technical requirements and IR 2030 are met. In the UK this means 10mW ERP. With WSPR this would span 1500km at times. This is not amateur radio. Not being a legal expert, you have to decide. In the UK, I am pretty sure OFCOM would not come knocking - in 50 years I have not once been inspected. The last time was when repeater GB3PI was first operational. All the man really wanted was a cup of tea!
UPDATE 1200z: No spots.
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