At the moment, I am on 8m QRP FT8. The antenna appears to be a bit too long and probably needs cutting a bit. I have put on a new PL259 plug.
UPDATE 1730z: No spots.
Simple QRP projects, 10m, 8m, 6m, 4m, FT8, 160m, WSPR, LF/MF, sub-9kHz, nanowaves and other random stuff, some not related to amateur radio.
At the moment, I am on 8m QRP FT8. The antenna appears to be a bit too long and probably needs cutting a bit. I have put on a new PL259 plug.
UPDATE 1730z: No spots.
Stations spotting my 6m QRP FT8 this morning |
Once again, I am on 6m FT8 with my 2.5W and V2000 vertical omni antenna. At 1005z, 7 English stations have spotted me. On RX 3 English stations have been spotted.
The impression I am getting is that activity on 6m has picked up. Perhaps people are expecting some Es or TEP?
UPDATE 1014z: Still 7 English spots of me.
UPDATE 1456z: 16 stations have spotted me, including one in Sweden.
So far, at 1453z, my 2.5W 6m FT8 to the V2000 omni antenna has been spotted by 8 English stations. Here, on RX 10 stations have been spotted with the best Germany.
6m FT8 RX today |
My 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna is on. At 1022z, 5 English stations spotted me.
70cm FT8 RX |
My 2.5W 6m FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni is now on. So far, just one English station near Oxford has spotted me.
UPDATE 1645z: 12 stations in England and Wales have spotted me. 8 stations have been spotted here.
My 2.5W to the V2000 vertical omni antenna is on. One English station spotting me at 0742z.
UPDATE 1036z: I was wondering why I was getting no new spots on 6m FT8. When I looked, the rig was flashing "hi SWR". The PL259 was not making proper contact. Since connecting it tighter, I am getting spots (see map)!
My 2.5W to the V2000 vertical omni antenna was turned on just before 1000z. So far, just a couple of English stations are spotting me.
UPDATE 1153z: 7 English stations spotting me. On RX here, many stations, widely, across Europe spotted. F2 backscatter or Es?
Stations spotting me
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My 2.5W FT8 to the vertical omni V2000 antenna was turned on at about 0945z. So far, 3 English stations have spotted me.
At the moment I am on 6m FT8 with my 2.5W and V2000 omni vertical antenna. Just 4 English stations spotting me so far.
UPDATE 1248z: 11 spots of me from the UK and Eire
Shortly, I intend to try 6m FT8 again with 2.5W and the vertical V2000 omni antenna. At present I am on 630m QRP WSPR.
UPDATE 1336z: In tidying up the shack I destroyed the coax connection to my V2000 antenna used on 6m. I shall have to mend this later, although soldering is now quite hard for me. Moral: do not tidy up shacks! Mind you, I found things I had forgotten I had! 6 English stations had spotted me before disaster struck.
UPDATE 1402z: Coax mended. Back on 6m FT8. Now 8 English stations have spotted me.
UPDATE 1627z: 12 English stations have spotted me today.
In a few moments I shall go on 6m FT8 with my 2.5W and vertical V2000 omni antenna.
My 6m 2.5W FT8 and V2000 vertical omni antenna have been on most of the day. 11 stations spotted me and 5 stations spotted by me. All these (TX and RX) were English with no DX.
My 2.5W FT8 to the V2000 vertical omni antenna was turned on at about 1240z.
UPDATE 1437z: 8 English stations have spotted me.
Assuming I can get it working, one thing to try as the sunspots decline (not yet we hope!) will be to send FT8 in sequence on all bands from 17m to 10m. I have no idea of the antenna pattern on various bands, but it might give me some indications of band openings.
One of the things I have noticed in the past is people leave the higher HF bands. Maybe with FT8 now, some may stay around. Often it is a lack of activity and not poor conditions. On SSB an isolated call may be missed. Not so with FT8 with lots of people monitoring.
Incidentally, I can highly recommend the QDX. It is tiny (about the size of a pack of cards) and can run all the modes on WSJT-X.
A very nice addition would be a QDX covering 10m, 8m, 6m, 4m and 2m. Even 10m-4m would be very useful.
One more day on 10m WSPR at 500uW (0.5mW). Probably go QRO tomorrow with 500mW! I might also give 6m FT8 another try.
My 2.5W 6m FT8 to the vertical omni V2000 antenna has been on since about 1030z. So far, 8 English stations have spotted me.
UPDATE 1425z: 10 stations have spotted me so far and 3 stations have been spotted here.
UPDATE 1601z: 12 stations have spotted me today.
My 2.5W FT8 to the vertical V2000 omni antenna is on. At 1040z, spotted by 7 English stations. No spots on RX yet.
UPDATE 1622z: 13 stations have spotted me with the furthermost EA6VQ (1419km). 7 stations (all England) spotted on RX. No international DX on RX. The map shows the stations spotting me.
This sleepy village near Cambridge has two windmills and two churches (in the same churchyard!) as well as some fine old buildings.