Up to now I have always used FT8 rather than FT4, especially with QRP.  FT4 is quicker, but not as sensitive as FT8. I can imagine with Es out of season, FT4 might catch some openings that FT8 might miss. 

This would apply for other types of propagation too where very brief openings might occur. I can imagine some F2 DX openings might be very fleeting. FT4 might catch these. I am not sure how many monitor FT4, but I imagine far fewer than FT8. 

One useful future WSJT-X enhancement would be automatic detection of FT8 and FT4 speeds so stations could use either modes in either slots. 

As you know the facet of amateur radio that I most enjoy is QRP.  However, I sometimes wonder what having high power, a tower and a big beam would be like.

In a recent 70cm contest I noticed one station working Scotland and France when I could not even hear them! I can imagine that 1000W, a big beam, and a tall tower would certainly help!

More and more we are losing human interactions.

I can think of several examples: you ring up (almost any business) to be greeted with an AI message like "say in your own words what you want to talk about". With a poor voice I find it almost impossible to be understood. Many supermarkets are replacing checkouts that have humans with auto-tills where you just scan barcodes. You try to talk to your bank and get sent to a call centre on the far side of the planet where you are just a number. Most website chats are just AI bots, not humans.   It goes on and on.

Human beings like talking with human beings. 

For some lonely people it is the only human interaction they get. In my view we are going backwards as a society. Less and less we are able to speak with each other.

I do not submit a log for this but enjoy the activity. It is much easier to copy and work DX on 70cm FT8 than SSB. After working a couple of locals, I was RX only for the rest of the evening and  copied stations all over from France 🇫🇷  Netherlands 🇳🇱 and Germany 🇩🇪 as well as the British Isles. Not bad with 2.5W and a 2m omni antenna.

The map shows the stations copied - with a 2m omni antenna!

 Solar flux is 248 and the SSN 194. A=12 and K=2.

Before I had my stroke I used to enjoy going out to see how far I could get on VLF earthmode. With 5W 6km was spanned, but much further is possible.

This morning, my 2.5W FT8 to the vertical omni antenna is on 6m.  I am wondering, if as on 2m, I am tapping into some sort of troposcatter mode?

As well as the usual G spots I have been spotted in Sicily and Eire. FT8 works with signals even weaker than CW. I guess it could also be aircraft reflection?

UPDATE 1800z: 52 stations have spotted me and I have spotted 31 stations here. See map for stations spotting my QRP 6m FT8 today.

There is no doubt, whatever your views on origin, that moving away from fossil fuels will help in the longer term. We need more, lower cost ways of storing renewables. We need electric cars with better ranges that do not depend on mining rare materials, we need to be able to charge far less frequently, we need electric cars to compete with fossil fuelled cars on price.

My view is that when the time is right, we will all be driving some sort of vehicle that does not depend on fossil fuel. I just hope the turning point arrives sooner than later. Imagine if we all still had film cameras and cathode ray tubes and valves! Things change.

10m seems pretty good on FT8, so I shall learn little. Maybe I shall give 6m QRP FT8 a go?  As the 10m antenna won't be used I could put my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon on.

UPDATE 0806z:  10m QRP WSPR beacon and 6m QRP FT8 turned on at about 0800z. 3 Gs have spotted me on 6m FT8, but no spots of my 500mW 10m WSPR.

With 10W SSB and a 2m big-wheel omni I usually struggle in the 70cm UKAC (activity contest), but I usually manage a few contacts. Last night was different. 

Firstly, the impression I had was there were fewer people on.  This could partly be due to the holiday season and people being away.

Also those that were on I could not work. After about 20 minutes I just gave up having worked nobody! Perhaps the combination of higher local noise and fewer people make all the difference to QRP stations like mine.

I should be on the 70cm UKAC next month. We'll see.

 This photo was seen recently and shows a collection of old broadcast receivers.

 Solar flux is 260 and SSN 199.  A=17 and K=4.

 As a keen QRP FT8 operator on 10m, 8m and 6m this thought occurred to me.

If you are copied with a plus value S/N (say at 1W, or even 5W) there is a very good chance you would still be copied at 10mW. Of course, this will depend on the noise floor at the RX and finding a clear frequency.

Many have been surprised that licence free 8m 10mW ERP FT8 has been copied right across Europe. It does not surprise me at all. 

What does surprise me is how few have tried this especially in the Es season. Just think, no licence, make up a callsign that WSJT-X and PSKreporter can work with and have fun. 

Remember operating under ISM rules is not amateur radio.

UPDATE 1056z: Spotted by 19 stations so far today.

UPDATE 1302z:   So far spotted by 53 stations. 237 stations spotted here on 10m FT8 RX.

UPDATE 1830z:  673 stations have been spotted here and I have been spotted by 151 stations including Reunion Is and South America.

Just a reminder that many of my projects are on my video channel. Together with my main website http://www.g3xbm.co.uk you should find all the data you need on any of my projects.

As I remind people, experiment! Many (most?) of my projects are capable of improvement.

See https://www.youtube.com/@G3XBM