Yaesu

As a proud owner of Yaesu gear going right back to an FT7 in 1979, I wish them well.  In  recent times, life has been very hard for them, and they seemed to lose their way. Today, they still face a threat from China and many of their radios are struggling to compete on price. I was totally amazed at their stupidity at not bringing an FT817 successor to market as we approached the solar peak.

It is rumoured that an FT817 successor will be announced at Dayton in May this year. Like many around the world, I hope they do. There is (was?) a vast market for this product as the original FT817 is now very very old. To do a successor would be so easy.  Yaesu - get real and release this product before you lose the market. To not put too fine a point on this, I think if you do not, then you risk bankruptcy within 5 years.

My recommendations to Yaesu are:

1. Design in Japan but make in China (but with excellent quality control in place from the start).
2. Launch a successor to the FT817 soon.
3. Look at your product range and rationalise it.

You must survive. This is the real world.

QRP Kits

The kits that were Hendricks are now Pacific Antenna. I have no idea how long ago this change happened. They market a fine range of QRP kits.

See http://www.qrpkits.com/ .

QRP and low sunspot activity

There is some debate over QRP and declining solar activity. Certainly more power helps when conditions are marginal although often if a path is open then a few watts are fine for a QSO. At present, I use 5W maximum and most times 2W yet still seem to get spotted around the world on WSPR and JT 2-way modes. As I have mentioned before, even at the rock bottom of earlier solar cycles I have still worked LU (over 11000km) on QRP SSB on 10m with very modest wire antennas. No, more power may help with a pile-up but even QRP is fine if the band is open. Of course, summertime Es generally needs only QRP. I have worked Es DX on 6m with QRP and a helical whip on the FT817. Es can be great fun.

Sunspots and 10m - Mon Jan 18th 2016

Solar flux is 101 today. Sunspot number is 48 (K=0) and the forecast for 10m propagation is "poor" still.  I QSYed to 10m early and am already TXing for 20% of the time at 2W and looking for others on 10m for 80% of the time. Overnight I was on 472kHz (630m) RX with the preamp, but nothing new copied on that band.

UPDATE 0910z:  Not surprisingly, no spots given or received yet on 10m WSPR.  It is still very early.

QRP club

More from Oleg:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,

See QRP Rendez-Vous weekly report on the Club 72 blog -
http://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/
Thanks all for activity and for comments.
This week visitors:
UA1CEX,  UR7VT,  DL1EIG,  UR5EFD,  PA0WDW,  UA1CEG/p,  RV3GM, OH6NPV, UA1ADF, OE6GUG, RU3NJC, OK2LA, UA4NU, DL6UNF, SM5MEK, DF9QV, RA1M/mm, DL7MA,  S57TX,  IK5IIS,  ON4MB,  RN4NAA,  ON6KZ, OM6TC, RW3AA, HA2NK, IV3DGY, RX9CBS, G6HUI
See you all on the next week QRP Rendez-Vous, schedule -
www.club72.su

72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"

472kHz WSPR

At 1750z I QSYed to MF (5mW ERP TX 20%, RX 80% with no preamp).  As yet, no spots but it is early evening and the crystal in the transverter is probably still settling on TX. On RX the transverter simply passes the signal directly to the FT817.

UPDATE 1815z:  I see local Jenny  G0VQH (15km) was the first spotter on 472kHz WSPR this evening.

UPDATE 1835z:  These are the 472kHz WSPR spots so far this evening.

UPDATE  1935z:  Currently I use WSJT V1.6 for WSPR and JT modes. At 1916z I spotted PA3ABK/2 (306km) for the second time this evening but the spot did not appear on WSPRnet. I checked my clock was synced (it was) and I have internet connectivity. Maybe there is a bug with  V1.6 or WSPRnet was down at the time this would have been uploaded?

UPDATE 2016z:   I am now RX only on 472kHz WSPR with the preamp.

A nice mix on 10m today

This afternoon, there was a nice mix on 10m WSPR. KA3JIJ (6680km) was spotted mid-afternoon by F2 and later G4CUI (172km) was spotted as GDX by tropo and aircraft. No-one spotted me this afternoon.

UPDATE 1745z:  Time to QSY to 472kHz (630m) WSPR for the evening and overnight.

10m - still quiet

Apart from 4X1RF (3519km) earlier this morning, 10m WSPR has been very quiet. I may QSY to JT9-1 on 20m later for some 2-way QSOs. We plan to go out shortly, so this would be later in the afternoon.

Stroke - NOT amateur radio

A nurse who worked in neurology at Addenbrookes hospital today described me as, "a walking miracle", but I'd settle for my old self please!  Although I still feel I'm living "on the edge" each day,  I am thankful to be here, but I wish I had no problems with my voice, swallow, felt less giddy, and got less tired.  My fine motor skills are still far from right.

In many ways I am lucky and I could have been left much worse. Today I have to adapt to the new "me" and hope things still improve, albeit slowly.  Everyone says that I look so well. This, in many ways, makes it worse as they all assume I am well, when I really am not at all well inside. I have mentioned this before, but in some ways a visible form of disability might be easier. At least people would know one is not well.

Imagine you are living in a fog: this is how I have felt for over 2 years. It gets you down, no matter how hard you try. When I drive it takes all my concentration. Life is hard and I wish this on no-one.

Hawkedon - NOT amateur radio

The East Anglian Churches blog has been updated to include Hawkedon, Suffolk. This is a fine old church now in a very rural setting. See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ . I may add more photos later.

UPDATE 1230z:  I have now added photos of the bench ends.