FT8 – You dont even need an antenna to receive it….

The pic below shows decodes I made last night (22 November). I had just installed some software on a new PC and was testing that I had it all installed and had the correct drivers for the Radio. So I fired up WSJTX and set the radio and soundcard and it started decoding. I tried listening on 160, 80, 40, 30 and 20metres. And despite not being able to hear the tones or see anything on the waterfall of the radio it was successfully decoding FT8 signals. Tuning around I couldn’t see of hear any other signals. 

Why I was I so surprised? Because I had taken my antenna down earlier in the day because of the high winds, all that was connected to the radio was the coax feed line that I left lying on the deck of the boat.