This contest was on this evening. Usually I work about 8-10 stations, but tonight I worked just one before giving up.
Some good distances were spotted, but there seemed fewer people on. Whatever I tried, I seemed unable to break through with my poor voice. I only tried for about 30 minutes with the big-wheel omni and 10W.
I gather this is "in a queue" as the person is very busy.
In the meantime, I shall get my dedicated 40MHz antenna up and check things. Until I get the permit in my hands, I have no intention of finalising frequencies or making any announcements/skeds. My hope is to send FT8 on a frequency coordinated with others in the UK and Europe to make monitoring easier.
Certainly, up to now, the man I have dealt with at OFCOM has been fast and helpful.
These days there are few stations on 2m AM. Compared with a few years ago the general level of activity (FM and SSB) is lower with fewer people coming on just for a chat. These days, most go on the internet for a chat. FT8 activity is higher, but outside contests and lifts, the 2m band is pretty quiet. This is also true of 70cm, at least here.
Many years ago I designed and built the Fredbox. I do not suggest you try to duplicate it, but you may get some ideas from it.
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/homebrew/fredbox .
Ipswich is the county town of Suffolk. We had been told it was a dump. It actually has some fine old buildings and churches and a big park.
It is now 0905z. I have been on 10m FT8 RX for abour an hour. So far, 64 stations have been spotted. As is to be expected, most of these are to the east including Australia. Later, the Americans will start to appear.
Usually in the early days of the month my favourite site for solar information updates it's data.
