My gear has been TXing since breakfast. Yesterday my QRP 6m FT8 from the QMX+ was spotted in the USA + Canada and I spotted both here too. So far this morning just English stations are spotting me.
One of my Christmas presents was a book on the history of the G-QRP Club that has been going for 50 years. I was more interested in the content than the cover, but was horrified to see the spine had a glaring spelling error which will be seen every time it’s put on a shelf! Is this not checked?
I once noticed an obvious spelling mistake on the front cover of RadCom.
To be honest I am appalled that such basic errors occur. I know the organisation depends heavily on volunteers, but this is not excusable. It gives the impression the RSGB is incompetent.
Come on RSGB!!
Most days I go on 6m FT8 with my QMX+ transceiver. I think that every day I have been on recently I have been spotted somewhere in continental Europe.
If I am able to do this with just a few watts and a vertical omni antenna, it proves how useful 6m can be. Imagine if you had a reasonable beam and more power. You would have an ERP increase of several dB improving the chances of being copied even more.
In the last 30 minutes I have been spotted in Latvia, Germany and Holland on 6m FT8.
Well before the end of the USSR, I remember working loads of stations in the USSR and getting QSL cards.
I have no problem at all with the people in Russia and am happy to work them or get reports on FT8 or WSPR.
In a small way, amateur radio breaks down barriers. I like to think that whatever the race, colour, wealth or nationality, it makes no difference. After all, we all share this planet and are all human beings.
Just one problem! It is on the market for £8.5 million, so I think I shall give it a miss!
My beacon was turned on about 0950z. 5 stations have spotted me at 1051z.
My gear has been on since about 0950z. So far, just English stations have spotted me.
As I said, there are some very clever people. I would not know where to start!
Don’t ask me why as I don’t know the answer, but there’s a small Es peak in the northern hemisphere around now so it is worth keeping an eye on 6m . I suppose this could link up with F2 propagation further south to result in some spectacular DX on 6m.
Since the Yaesu FT817 was introduced almost a quarter of a century ago, a lot has changed. There was serious competition e.g. the ICOM IC-705, many Chinese radios, plus the offerings by QRP labs, HF signals and Elecraft, There are others.
At one time Yaesu had a captive market. This is far from the case today. There are still loyal Yaesu fans around, but the new FTX-1F will have to be very good and keenly priced for volumes to be high.
I was puzzled when ICOM introduced their microwave transceiver as I could not see many being sold.
No, the amateur radio market is changing and fierce. Many will fall by the wayside in the next 10 years.
We deliver local Christmas cards by hand. We were going to do it yesterday, but the rain was horrendous so we did it today instead in the co...
