More sunbathing!

How's your weather been recently?  Whilst I had a report from Washington state of temperatures reaching only 12 degrees Celsius, across most of Europe, the temperature has been truly tropical, day and night.

Yesterday, it got so hot that even having all the doors and windows open all day wasn't enough to cool things down.  But there was a modest breeze down at the coast itself, where the slightly cooler conditions were a big attraction, despite the likelihood of vast crowds of post-lockdown tourists.

A quick look at propagation showed that the upper HF bands were not very active at all, with 20 and 40m being most alive.  

I grabbed by 20m vertical and go-box, and went off to IO73VH, a favourite haunt for working to the east.

Recently, I've been dialling the power down lower than my usual 10-15W level with FT8.  This is a result of the typical finding of a 10-14dB enhancement available at the coast, which means using 15W is the equivalent of 150W or more.  Rather obviously, for all but the very toughest contact, this is not remotely necessary!

I chose to start at 6W into the vertical.  My very first call was from a JA station, who seems to be using a 2-ele Yagi for 14MHz.  I then had a further JA QSO, followed by some OH and even a LU station, who was on an inland, not sea heading.

It's easy to become blase about these things, especially on 20m.  But no-repeat message QSOs on a very crowded FT8 frequency with JA and LU on a mere 6W is, when you think about it, pretty amazing, even when the sea is 'amplifying' the signal.

What's more, for those willing to accept that they will get this enhancement (and there are idiotic, usually American operators who simply won't), then the future is really bright for using portable rigs like the new Icom 705.  This is especially so, given that the domestic environment is now posing an existential threat to fixed, home-based operation. That, and the fact that even a perfect, slightly inland QTH (like mine) is pretty useless in performance, compared to being at the beach.

QSOs when portable are very rewarding, regardless of mode used.  After catching a few long-haul DX, I was more than content at the achievement with no more than the power used by an old-fashioned hand torch bulb, and three pieces of wire.  

I finished the afternoon, alongside watching stupid people getting trapped by the incoming tide (again!) with a few minutes of WSPR.  It's really worth contemplating the reach of 1W, increased to significantly more effective power thanks to the beach, recalling that this was a summer's afternoon, not greyline!

Pretty amazing 14MHz performance (TX and RX) for ~10 minutes from the beach.

As for some specific results, median UK reception of VK3MO at around 16UT was -20dB.  My report?  +1dB.  

In the case of JA5NVN, only a mere two other European stations were hearing him at 16UT.  The top-scoring OE9GHV was hearing 4dB weaker than I was, with the DK6UG hearing 9dB weaker.

And finally, in terms of my TX, KL7L heard my 1W at -4dB (16:16UT), with top UK WSPR station, G0CCL, heard at -5dB, but who was using 7dB more power.  So my signal was in fact 8dB stronger than G0CCL's signal.  More importantly, only two other UK stations were being received by KL7L at the time, who were at -18 and -22dB when adjusted to an equivalent output, giving my signal a +14dB and +18dB advantage over those stations, respectively.

My plans for theis winter and 2021?  Keep building on existing success at the coast, and abandon home-based towers, Yagis and all the expense, wind-worry and maintenance they bring.  I may even buy a IC705 or the other enticing rig that could be - if it actually makes it to market - the Lab 599 Discovery TX-500.  Or maybe the Xiegu X5105.  The choice will ultimately be down to frequency stability, because a drifting rig is a no-good rig in these days of digital operation, and should never be allowed to be an issue for modern radio design.

One thing's clear, the 1-10W outputs typically offered by these rigs are perfectly suited, and way more than enough, for effective coastal DX working.