Yesterday my FT8 monitoring system detected a single Italian station, most likely a short Es opening, or a long meteor burst.
Then this morning I went to the radios and found that 10 minutes before there had been Es signals on 2m. 2 stations in Southern France and 4 stations in Northern Spain were detected with up to +11dB S/N.
Away from the station I have set up a rudimentary 2m Es monitoring system using the PSK-reporter and the DX-maps websites showing my own 2m FT8 spots and the Es-MUF map for Europe, as well as stations spotted on 6m FT8.
This monitoring system has been running essentially 24/7during the Es season, and I would like to be able to add to the system, so I can monitor 28(/40)/50/70/144MHz 24/7, especially during the Es season, so here is an addition to the "Idea Box":
For this I do have usable receivers, but the antenna system is not yet ready for this. For the purpose I am thinking of mounting a TFD (Terminated Folded Dipole) vertically, with an added broad band amplifier, hidden in the trees at the far end of my garden, at least for the 28 - 70MHz bands, and probably some kind of wideband antenna, usable for the FM broadcast band, air-band, 137MHz satellite band and 2m, also with a preamp.
An alternative for 2m would be a simple vertical or a horizontal V-dipole or a halo, with a narrow band preamp for 2m.
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