Heathkit coming back?

There are rumours suggesting that Heathkit is being resurrected and may yet again sell kits.  I sincerely hope this is correct as Heath made some of the very best kits in its time. When it stopped selling amateur radio kits it left a big hole.

In my time I owned the HW8 (15, 20, 40 and 80m QRP CW transceiver), plus an Electronics Workshop when I was first interested in radio way back in the early 1960s. The Electronics Workshop enabled me to do some Medium Wave broadcast DXing around Christmas 1961) and some decent DX was worked with the HW8 in the late 1970s.

Although the Heathkit website (www.heathkit.com) worked yesterday it does not appear to work today, at least not when I tried.  Http:/heathkit.com does work. It does not like the www. Try deleting this if it appears in your browser.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit .
See also http://www.amateurradio.com/heathkit-2/ - post by Neil W2NDG.
See http://stores.ebay.com/datapro/_i.html?rt=nc&LH_BIN=1

QRP Kits reopens

That font of all knowledge Steve G1KQH reports:

"Hendricks QRP Kits http://www.qrpkits.com has re-opened for business under its new proprietors, James Bennett and Kathy Long of Pacific Antenna.  James writes:

"We are excited to resume operations as of May 1 providing Hendricks QRP Kits and in the very near future, we will be bringing back the entire Pacific Antenna line of antenna kits and parts.  We very much appreciate the patience that has been shown as we worked through this transition and we look forward to serving the QRP community.  73 James and Kathy"

6m WSPR - very quiet

Apart from a spot yesterday evening at 2002z from G6AVK (78km), 6m WSPR has been very quiet here. I am still using an ERP of around 1W from my V2000 vertical. This should reach most DX stations on WSPR.  No GDX spotted, or spotting me, overnight. I'll stick with the band today in the hope of some Es later.

UPDATE 1110z:   I spotted 2E0BMG (62km) several times this morning. Doppler suggests aircraft reflections were involved.  Judging by the Doppler, I think aircraft were involved.

UPDATE 1820z:   G4FGJ (44km) has been exchanging 6m WSPR spots with me around teatime.

472kHz transverter

Over the winter I have been using my simple, small transverter for the 630m band on WSPR with my earth-electrode "antenna". It has been widely copied with best DX on TX being over 1000km. 630m is an interesting band.

See my website for more details: http://www.g3xbm.co.uk  (lots of QRP stuff) and specifically  https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/mflf/472khz_tvtr.

Sunspots and 10m - May 5th 2015

Sunspot number has rebounded to 85 (K=1) and the forecast for 10m is "fair".  Things just might be a little better on 10m today? Well will know later.

UPDATE 0900z:  So far only locals G4IKZ (18km) and G4KPX (14km) spotting my 10m beacon, but it is still very early.

UPDATE 1316z:   Some 10m Es in evidence with  OE6PWD  (1232km) spotting me around lunchtime. No sign of any real DX yet.

UPDATE 1442z:   EA8BVP (2986km) has yet again started to spot me.   I have totally lost count how many days he has spotted me on 10m, but it is a lot.

UPDATE 1552z:   EA8BVP continues to spot me lots of times, but still no sign of any "real" DX today on 10m WSPR.  No North or South Americans.

UPDATE 2150z:  No sign of any spots from the USA.

Cuckoo - NOT amateur radio

We visited West Stow today with 2 of our young grandchildren. This is a reconstructed Anglo-Saxon village. We heard a goldcrest and the first cuckoo whilst there, but saw neither. A cuckoo is a sign if the return of spring. I have yet to see house martins or swifts and have only seen 2 swallows so far this spring.

6m - only just gone on

I have not been on 6m WSPR most of the day.   In fact I have only just gone on after our regular 2m sked in East Cambridgeshire on 144.575MHz FM.

At this late time I only expect to get spotted (or to spot) GDX stations off aircraft, or locals. I have been on 10m all day TX only. On 6m I expect I will have missed any Es that may have been around. It was my error that the 6m kit was off. I had not planned to be off 6m.

UPDATE 1938z:  No spots given or received on 6m so far this evening.

USA 10m WSPR spots - none today,so far

Mainly locals and EA8BVP (2986km) spotting me today on 10m WSPR. A slight Es opening to Italy but, so far at least, no sign of  any 10m WSPR spots from the USA yet again today.

Fredbox - 2m transceiver

Many years ago I designed and made the 2m AM Fredbox 2m AM transceiver. At the time it was the smallest 2m transceiver I'd ever seen or used.  Several close copies were made.  It worked some impressive DX including several 60 mile handheld contacts and one over 100 miles to Brittany from the South Devon coast.  All these were with whip antennas on the rig and not beams. Most QSOs were with locals. The power was only 10mW AM. It was ideal for contacts around Cambridge where I lived at that time.

Some years ago, I rebuilt the transceiver and had some decent QSOs yet again.

As with the Sixbox, I would suggest the design is taken as a springboard for your own version. It is certainly ripe for further development.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/fredbox .

Sunspots and 10m - May 4th 2015

With a sunspot number of 25 (K=3) and 10m expected to be "poor" we cannot expect great things on 10m today.