This Christmas, especially with Covid, many people are choosing not to send Christmas cards. Some are instead donating to a charity. Some look forward to a card, I know, but cards are expensive as is the postage. Maybe you can send some people this alternative? It is an animated GIF.
There is no doubt that direct conversion receivers can be both low cost and effective. This page (linked from Hot Iron 110) has some interesting discussion. In the past, I have used direct conversion receivers in many designs.
See https://www.raynetrepair.us/circuit-design/some-practical-design-approaches.htm .
Peter Thornton G6NGR has just sent me the latest PDF copy of "Hot Iron". One topic (amongst many good ones) is receivers on a chip. Things have moved on quite a lot since we got excited by the ZN414 in the 1970s! The one linked below is an example. There must be many more.
See https://www.silabs.com/audio-and-radio/multiband-radios .
It is now 1129z. I have been on 10m FT8 with 2.5W and the small indoor loop for about 15 minutes. So far, nobody has spotted me and I have spotted a couple of Russians on RX. Surprisingly I am spotting less than yesterday.
UPDATE 1510z: So far today, no-one has spotted my QRP, but I have spotted 5 stations including 1 in the USA and 1 in the Caribbean.
As 10m is quiet, I QSYed to 2m FT8 at 1834z. As usual, I am running 2.5W and the big-wheel omni antenna. Although I have copied some stations, for some reason these did not appear on PSKreporter. On TX, 3 stations have spotted me.
UPDATE 1935z: So far this evening 19 stations in 5 countries have been spotted with the furthermost being F6DBI (501km) in Brittany. On TX, I have been spotted by 8 stations in 2 countries with the furthermost being F6EGD (461km) also in Brittany.
Quite a few years ago this show was on UK terrestrial TV. It has just come back (on Britbox I think). It takes off people in the news as puppets.
Not sure if this is popular in Europe, but I know some in the USA enjoy this. I know Summits on the Air (SOTA) has its followers. There are some YouTube videos on POTA activations.
