After a walk this morning, I turned on my 2W FT8 on 40.680 MHz from the QMX+ to the low wire dipole.
UPDATE 1542z: No spots. Probably, I have found out all I need to know about 8m. My main experiment was to find out just how useful really low ERP could perform on this band. It would appear that my 2W to a low wire dipole is quite enough to reach the Caribbean, USA, Canada and South Africa if the F2 MUF goes high enough. For Es, it behaves much like 6m. I am not sure I shall learn much more now. It is a pity more countries do not allow radio amateurs access to the band. As I have said many many times (I can say it no more!) just 5kHz wide, low power, narrow digital only, would be enough. It would appear the FCC and OFCOM (and probably the RSGB) seem dead set against this sadly. It makes you wonder what our hobby is really about.
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