6m 10mW WSPR (Saturday)

Once again, I am on 6m with my 10mW WSPR. Although I have been copied locally, I have yet to get any Es spots. 

I am trying to simulate what would happen with ISM powers in the UK on 8m, which is open to all without a licence in the UK. I remain convinced this is enough power on WSPR to allow Es spots from Europe on 8m. 

With FT8, conditions would have to be exceptional to be copied I suspect.

UPDATE 1234z:  My experiment has worked. Quite a few European spots of my 10mW 6m WSPR. Some reports suggest even FT8 might have worked. Starting next week I shall try 6m QRPP FT8 at 10mW. It is my conclusion that 10mW ERP WSPR on 8m (available to all in the UK without a licence) would work under Es conditions.

UPDATE 1548z: I decided to try 6m FT8 at 10mW this afternoon i.e. earlier than planned. Already spotted by 14 stations across Europe (see map). Perhaps the shorter TX period of FT8 catches shorter openings than the 120 seconds of WSPR?

6m 10mW WSPR (Friday)

My 10mW 6m WSPR is on again. As you will know this is to find out how well 10mW ERP might perform on 8m, which is available to all (certainly in the UK) under ISM rules without a licence. I am guessing there are more monitors on 6m.

UPDATE 1900z:  No 6m spots of me today. Unexpectedly, 3 UK stations were spotted on 6m WSPR RX despite the large pad on the rig output!

UPDATE 2135z: G0VQH (15km) has spotted my 10mW 6m WSPR very strongly (+2dB S/N) 

6m 10mW WSPR (Thursday)

My 10mW 6m WSPR is on, but no spots of me at 0835z.

UPDATE 1920z:  No spots of me all day.

6m 10mW WSPR (Wednesday)

My QRPP 6m WSPR was turned on at about 0830z.

UPDATE 1606z:  No spots. I am beginning to think that 10mW 6m WSPR is harder than I was expecting. When I went on earlier I noticed that there were quite a few lines of interference. This, if typical, could make reception of weak signals hard.

10mW 6m WSPR (Tuesday)

This is really to see how 8m WSPR would work under ISM rules (10mW ERP). I am testing on 6m as I hope there will be more monitors. 

If it works on 6m, I am pretty sure it would work on 8m. On 6m QRPP WSPR I am using a unique callsign so I can ID spots at 10mW.

UPDATE 2000z:   No spots of me all day.

6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

My 6m QRP (2.5W to the V2000 vertical) is on and 4 stations have spotted me at 0816z.

UPDATE 0838z:  7 stations have spotted me. All of these are in England.

UPDATE 1430z:  40 stations have spotted me. Plenty of Es.

UPDATE 1826z: 49 stations have spotted my QRP FT8 today.

6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

With spots of my 2.5W 6m QRP FT8 to the vertical omni antenna from Germany 🇩🇪 , France and Denmark already, there looks like Es is about.

UPDATE 1131z:  23 spots of me. Plenty of Es.

UPDATE 1653z:  34 spots of my QRP so far today. See map.

6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna was turned on at about 0915z. So far, just one local spot.

UPDATE 0950z:  9 spots of me.

UPDATE 1823z:  22 spots of my QRP with the furthermost SE3X (1447km) in northern Sweden.

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

My 2.5W FT8  to the V2000 vertical omni antenna is on. So far, spotted widely across Europe (see map) by 20 stations.

UPDATE 1052z:   38 stations have spotted me.

Stations spotting my
2.5W 6m FT8 today

UPDATE 1529z:   45 stations have spotted me today. Now switched to 10mW 6m WSPR.

UPDATE 1810z: No spots of me on QRPP WSPR.

6m QRP FT8

My 2.5W to the V2000 vertical has been on for about 40 minutes and has been spotted by 7 stations. Some look like Es. 

On 6m FT8 RX I have spotted a station in Norway.

UPDATE 1021z:  19 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 20 stations. Definitely Es.

UPDATE 1246z: 24 stations have spotted my 6m QRP FT8 today.

UPDATE 1551z: My QRP 6m FT8 has been spotted by 28 stations and 27 stations have been spotted here.

UPDATE 1735z:  29 stations spotted my 2.5W 6m FT8 today (see map).

6m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

My 2.5W to the V2000 vertical has been on for several hours. At 1150z, 7 stations in England had spotted me.

UPDATE 1418z:  11 spots of me so far, all in England.

6m F2?

When sunspot numbers and solar flux numbers are high, there is always a chance of the F2 MUF reaching 6m or even higher.  I remember some years ago hearing 6m SSB stations from South Africa and the USA just like locals. At the time I just had a wire dipole.

6m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

At about 1620z, I QSYed to 6m FT8.  At 1630z, 4 stations had spotted my 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna.

UPDATE 1800z: 9 stations have spotted my QRP.  On RX, the furthermost is EA9ABC (1873km) in North Africa.

UPDATE 1825z:  10 stations have spotted me with the furthermost EA5BY (1559km).  When 6m is "open" it is so much easier than 8m as there are more monitors.

UPDATE 2041z: Amazing! Spotted by LU5FF (10958km). This must be a very high MUF and TEP. It is my furthermost VHF spot of all time! 27 spots of my QRP 6m FT8 this evening. It is possible that Es linked up to an F2 hop over the equator as Es (I guess) was good in this direction. See https://prop.kc2g.com/. Not bad for 2.5W and an omni!

6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

 My 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical antenna is on, but just 5 English spots so far.

6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My 2.5W to the V2000 vertical omni antenna was turned on at about 0755z. So far (at 0806z) 4 English stations spotting me.

UPDATE 1143z:  9 spots of my QRP including one from Germany.

UPDATE 1535z: 13 spots of my QRP 6m FT8 today (see map).

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

This morning, I am on 6m FT8 with my 2.5W to the V2000 vertical omni antenna. So far, 6 English stations spotting me. No DX evident here.

UPDATE 0946z:  Now spotted by 11 stations including stations in Norway and Sweden.

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

My 2.5W 6m FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna has been on since mid-morning. 

So far 10 stations including 1 in southern Spain have spotted me.

6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

My 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna has been on for a few minutes.

UPDATE 0941z:  Just 1 local spot so far.

UPDATE 1430z:  10 spots of my QRP (all English) so far today.

6m QRP FT8 (Monday)

My 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna has been spotted by 5 English stations at 0835z, although I have spotted none.

UPDATE 1509z:   5 stations spotted on RX with the best EI3ISB (452km) on the outskirts of Dublin. 11 UK stations have spotted me today. No signs of DX today.

UPDATE 1702z: Guess who spoke too soon!! A station in Norway has spotted my 2.5W QRP 6m FT8.

6m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

My 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna was on until I QSYed to 630m WSPR.  Stations that spotted me were from across England. On RX, my best DX was a station in Germany.