May I operate 8m beacons legally in the UK without a licence?

Since receiving an email from OFCOM in the UK, I have reread the essential requirements shown in https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2017/1206/pdfs/uksi_20171206_en.pdf written in 2017. 

"Nothing in these Regulations prevents the putting into service and use of radio equipment in the United Kingdom which is in conformity with these Regulations when the radio equipment is properly installed, maintained and used for its intended purpose."

Although if anyone intends to put a product on the market later, there are some onerous requirements including on record keeping, I can see nothing that prevents beacon operation at 10mW ERP without a licence in the UK as long as the essential requirements in the above document and interface requirement IR 2030 are met.   Now, I am no legal expert, but if it is there at all, I can personally see nothing at all that prevents us in the UK using the 8m ISM band without a licence at 10mW ERP for beacons.   Clearly with QRPP beacons we have no intention of putting a product on the market later.

My own personal view is I very much doubt OFCOM really cares!!

As always, I stand to be corrected.

CQWW CW contest

This weekend is the CW leg of the CQWW contest. This is all weekend and we can expect the HF bands to be very busy.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Saturday)

Something is wrong. I got no spots yesterday and none today so far on 10m WSPR TX. I checked timing sync and there is power out. Something is amiss.

8m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

 At the moment I am on 40.680 MHz QRP FT8 with 2.5W.  No spots on TX or RX.

472 kHz RX last evening

Once again I was on 472 kHz WSPR RX last evening using the coax to my 2m big-wheel via a ferrite rod ATU as the antenna. 5 unique stations spotted including Norway and Germany. 

Sunny day - NOT amateur radio

This photo  of the windmill next door was taken in 2016 on a November day much like yesterday when the sun was shining. 

Sunspots - Saturday November 26th 2022

Solar flux is 109 and the SSN 55. A=20 and K=3.

UK fuel prices - NOT amateur radio

In the last month the exchange rate of the UK pound against the USA dollar has improved by about 10%. The wholesale price of a barrel of oil has fallen by about 10%. 

This should mean the proportion of the price of fuel due to barrel prices (excluding tax, delivery etc.) should have improved by about 20% resulting in a drop in fuel prices at garages.

What has happened in the real world? Prices have hardly changed.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Friday)

When I go on 8m FT8, I forget that I can still go on 10m WSPR TX with my 500mW  W5OLF WSPR beacon. It has just been turned on.

UPDATE 1610z:  So far today,  no spots of me.

UPDATE 1700z:  No spots, so synchronised timing again. WSPRnet issue? Others don't seem to be having a problem. I was expecting some spots by now.

WSJT-X latest version

Apparently there is a new version of WSJT-X available as a pre-release candidate. At the moment on WSPR and FT8 I use V2.5.4, which is the latest fully released version.  The latest candidate release is V2.6-rc4. I must download it and try it.

FT8 is now very popular. It is possible the decode sensitivity is slightly better with this newer version.