Roger G3XBM's (Mainly) Amateur Radio Blog

5 Feb 2026

How do they do it?

For less than £20 I have bought a tiny multi-band, multi-mode, RX from Banggood with airmail delivery.

It will probably be here next week.

This is exceptional value.

10m 200mW WSPR TX (Thursday)

My beacon has been on most of the day.

UPDATE 1835z: Only spotted by 2 stations. Are conditions disturbed?

This is probably as a result of my 2013 stroke rather than old age, but my perception of speed is "different". When driving I think I am doing 65 miles per hour whereas I am actually only going at 45 miles an hour and there is a big queue behind me!

The other thing is reading subtitles: these seem to change faster than I can read them. It makes following foreign language films hard.

It is as if my perception of speed is damaged and my brain operates at a different speed.

At one time driving was a pleasure - no longer.

Public office

It is my view that anyone in public office has to be totally honest and serve for the good of the people and not for individual, selfish, good.

It is hard enough not being in the public eye, but those in public office have to be honest with themselves and with those they are in office to serve.

Rocket radio

Maybe you remember this? I don’t.

I think it was a crystal set. I am not sure it was sold in the UK. Was this in the 1950s or 1960s?

RSGB advert

Back in the 1960s, the RSGB magazine RadCom was the RSGB Bulletin, known affectionately as "the Bull".

Way back in 1966, Pye Telecom, that I joined in 1970, put an advert in "the Bull" to attract new people. In those days a Radio Amateur licence counted for a lot, before the days of software!