Just a quick note to say band conditions were wonderful today and QSOs were easy to pick up across the board. I had the wonderful Super Antenna MP1 with me, and for HF was using 25 watts from a FT-817 via a MiniPA50 amplifier. I had 80 contacts across 2m, 10m, 12m, 17m, 20m & 40m. Unfortunately the WX forecast was spot on today and I ended up with a horseshoe of rain around me which eventually hit, but with enough warning to get everything packed up and moving!
Thanks Mark - Not sure what was the cause of the propogation on 40m, usually groundwave doesn’t make it this far (about 40 mi) Sp E? Your signals were up to 59 at times…
Thanks for the QSO
Paul
6m Andy yes, full of stations but 4m meters was also good today, but no SOTA activity. I kept checking 2m for Es in my QTH, none apparent when I checked.
MGM FT8 is the easiest way to work DX these days for those skilled in the art hihi
I never even checked the CW/SSB part of the band, as I enjoy the new modes just as much! Stll seeing Polish stations on and a few Gs, but the Es today has come and gone right throughout the day.
Still time in between the FT8 beanfeast to work plenty of SOTA stations as well, walk the dog and have a bit of ride to do an errand on my bike. The joys of retirement…
73 Phil
PS Thanks to Mark M0NOM for Pike o’Blisco G/LD-024, good signals the 100 miles across country into Pickering IO94of on the 40m band.
I noticed 4m spots too. It feels a little early in the season for 4m but I could be misremembering things. I’ll put a request in for 10m SpE on Saturday afternoon so I can play with my new 10m antenna from a hill
It may surprise you Phil knowing that you know my job/career but I have zero interest myself in using FT8. I know how it works, I even understand quite a lot of the maths behind the signal processing and have worked on some similar signal processing code when I was working on SONAR for Her Majesty’s Navy but operating FT8 just doesn’t interest me. I’ve nothing against it or people using it, it just doesn’t float my boat.
