Originally, I was going to be on 10m QRP FT8 all day. Then I noticed Es on 10m to Iberia, so I QSYed to 8m QRP FT8 and 10m QRP WSPR with my 500mW beacon. Several spots from Portugal of me on 10m WSPR plus a local.
UPDATE 1103z: Still just the 2 stations spotting me. It will be interesting to see if the Es moves and I get spots from others. Certainly to Portugal the Es seems a bit poorer now although this could just be QSB.
UPDATE 1108z: Now being spotted in Luxembourg by LX1DQ (504km).
Details are still very sketchy, but I see John has put a bit about this on his excellent blog. We can only hope this allocation is the first of many. There is a real case of a small amateur allocation here to encourage real research.
Personally, I would happily give up 5 kHz of any band for 5 kHz at 8m. Really, I cannot see the harm in any country allocating a small bit in the ISM band 40.66-40.70 MHz to amateurs on a secondary basis. Oh sorry, this requires brains and thinking!! 😁
See https://www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables/runner-beans/grow-your-own .
At the moment I am on 10m FT8 with the tiny QDX transceiver running under 5W. It has been on since about 0830z. It is now 0837z and, so far, 3 stations spotted and 1 has spotted me, all in Spain, presumably via Es.
UPDATE 1551z: After a period on 8m FT8, I have returned to 10m FT8. Conditions seem poor with just one spot of me from Israel. I think the Es has, for now here, subsided.
UPDATE 1624z: How to spot a pirate!! P86JL in North Korea at an incredible strength and at totally the wrong time! If he is genuine, I am a Chinaman. 19 spots of my 5W 10m FT8 today, with 10 recently.
UPDATE 1730z: Plenty (100) stations spotted on RX and 28 (mostly Es) spots of me on TX today. I have ignored the station supposed to be in North Korea assuming this to be a pirate from somewhere in Europe. I still feel conditions are disturbed on 10m.
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| Stations spotting my 10m QRP FT8 recently |
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| Stations spotted on 10m FT8 this evening |
Instead, I QSYed to 10m QRP FT8 using the tiny QDX rig. 3 QSOs made in about 10 minutes. Most distant station spotted was CX5ABM (11133km).
UPDATE 2000z: QRT.
A feeling shared with another on 8m is there are fewer people on 8m this Es season than last. This is a great pity, especially with Belgium about to release an amateur band at 8m.
However, it looks like many of the "old gang" have already been worked (or FT8 reports exchanged) with them. This being the case, I think this Es season I shall concentrate on 4m and 10m FT8 instead, unless conditions suggest I should get on 8m.
With some exceptional distances being worked on 6m, there is little else I shall learn this Es season on 8m, and I think radio science will not be advanced much on 8m unless there are many more stations active. I was hoping we would see lots of stations operating on 8m TX under ISM rules. This does not appear to be the case sadly.
There is little doubt that China is already growing into a great world power. The USA sees this growing dominance as a threat.
In my view, there is room for both. Already, Europe and the USA buys lots of goods from China. If the supply of semiconductors from Taiwan was disrupted, the whole world would suffer.
Behind all conflicts is insecurity.
Russia feels (illogically) threatened by the west. China feels threatened by the USA. The USA feels threatened by China.
Why can't we get along in peace? We all need to invest heavily in alternatives to fossil fuels and not waste our money on blowing each other up!
My QRP FT8 has been on 50.313MHz with my QMX+ since just before breakfast. 14 stations have spotted me. See map.
