China v. Japan

Up to now, the Japanese "big boys" such as Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu have pretty well dominated the amateur radio market, but the Chinese are on the march. Only last month I bought a 30W pep all mode rig for 10m: this was made in China. See also yesterday's post about 40m Pixie kits at ridiculously low prices.

Be in no doubt: within a few years we will see the amateur radio market flooded with quality products made in China with low prices. At this point, the traditional Japanese brands will die out or be made in China. By the next solar minimum in around 4-5 years time the dynamics of the commercial amateur radio market will be very different. The writing is already on the wall.

Up to now most Chinese amateur products have lacked the finesse of Japanese products but this is rapidly changing. We are fast approaching the time when Chinese made amateur products will be every bit as good as Japanese products, but at very much lower prices.

In the end competition is healthy but this is likely to result in the death nell for all manufacturers not in China. We could well see the death of Ten Tec and Elecraft unless they design in the USA and make in China. The volumes of loyal customers who would be willing to pay USA manufacturing prices would be far too low, sadly.

Of course, we have already seen this with most consumer products and white goods. In the end, China will become too expensive and we will look for slave labour rates elsewhere. Sadly we live in a very odd world. This cannot go on for ever, but we are all complicit. At the moment we are exporting most of our manufacture to China.

Life was, in a way, so much easier when things were made to last, they were made in the UK, we saved up to buy things we really needed, when things were altogether less consumption driven.

10m WSPR - no USA again today?

It looks like a today will be another day with absolutely no 10m WSPR spots from the USA.  As previously when the 10m propagation was "poor" I still seem to be copied (using my 500mW WSPR beacon) by active stations who are a single F2 hop away. It seems the E-W path to the USA suffers when propagation is poor.

UPDATE 1944z:  No USA spots all day. Will go QRT on 10m WSPR soon.

Grandchildren and ducks - NOT amateur radio

For some time now we have had  a pair of tame mallard ducks waddling around our close. Today they were curious when we arrived home and came into the drive and front garden. The photo shows our granddaughter looking at them.  When they realised there was no food on offer they wandered away.

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday March 22nd 2015

Sunspot number is 40 today but all HF looks disturbed. 10m propagation is expected to be "poor".

So far this morning, my 500mW WSPR beacon has been spotted by RK3ABW, LZ1OI, EA8/LA3JJ and G4IKZ. Apart from the local, these all look like single hop F2 propagation. No reports from 4X1RF.

40m Pixie kit at INCREDIBLE price

I bought my 40m Pixie kit for $10 and thought this was a bargain.  Then Andy Cutland sent me this link.

Hi Roger, this is the cheapest i've seen yet. What fantastic value !

Check out this item I found on eBay:

End time: 15 Apr 2015 10:33:10

Item: DC DIY RADIO CW Shortwave Transmitter QRP Pixie Tool Receiver 7.023-7.026MHz

URL: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=131457860419&alt=web

(Sent from eBay Mobile for Android)

At £3.19 with free shipping there is no way you could make this cheaper in my view. Remember this price includes a crystal, PCB and all the board mounted parts.  This looks identical to mine which works very well. This is a refined Pixie and performance has exceeded expectations. Netting is excellent TX to RX and AM breakthrough very modest. My power out is about 400mW and a 1uV signal level very good on RX. A totally usable 40m CW rig for not much more than a cup of coffee.

Even with the after-effects of my cerebellum brain bleed I was able to build the kit without any issues.

Legal local AM broadcasting in the USA

On http://www.amateurradio.com/ there is a link today to the SSTRAN ANT3000 MW AM transmitter kit. This is legal in the USA for broadcasts around the home or with an FCC Part 15 compliant base loaded vertical for greater ranges.

Very many years ago my very first ever TX was an AM transmitter for MW using a crystal earpiece  a microphone. This was one of the circuits in my Heathkit Electronics Workshop which I got for Christmas 1961. It only got around the house. Another circuit was a MW receiver and I recall DXing with it that same holiday.

This kicked off my interest in radio and amateur radio that has remained with me ever since. I am not sure this TX was strictly legal in the UK. Years later I have reached the other side of the planet with less power!

N-S DX on 10m, but again no USA

Despite the lowish sunspot number and a forecast of "poor" 10m conditions I see that FR1GZ (9724km) spotted my 500mW WSPR beacon late lunchtime. 4X1RF (3519km), EA8/LA3JJ (2870km) and G4IKZ (18km) have all been spotting me but, yet again, absolutely no spots from the USA yet again.

It seems we are moving more towards spring/summer conditions with N-S paths still holding up but far less frequent E-W openings on 10m.

Sunspots and 10m propagation - March 21st 2015

Sunspot number has fallen to 27 and 10m propagation is expected to remain "poor". Best 10m DX with the 500mW WSPR beacon this morning is 4X1RF (3519km) but no other DX at all as yet.

FT817 replacement?

I have mentioned this before, but I am truly amazed that Yaesu has not updated the FT817.  OK, I have heard the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" argument but on simple commercial arguments I think they must be stupid. There is a worldwide market (500000?) ready to upgrade yet I think they have now missed the window of opportunity as sunspot numbers are falling.

I wonder if any sharp eyed, sharp eared readers have heard any rumours of an imminent replacement?

Alibaba

Some weeks ago I bought a small 40m Pixie CW transceiver kit via www.alibaba.com for $10. This arrived by air very quickly and I was very impressed with the kit and the excellent service. Apparently you can buy these even cheaper on eBay. I built mine in a few hours and it works well.

A quick search in Alibaba for other amateur radio products shows a wide range of units are available. Of course, I have no idea if VAT or duty is included.   My little 40m Pixie kit just dropped in my mailbox and cost me just over £7 total including shipping. Buying the individual parts would probably have cost me more!

See http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=amateur+radio .