Heathkit

In the late 1960s Heathkit made some great radios. Take, for example, the SB101. 

Then the Japanese started making transceivers that meant there was little difference in making a kit. Most bought a ready made transceiver instead. 

“Lord of the flies “ TV series

This famous book by William Golding is being serialised by the BBC.  It tells the tale of children isolated on a remote Pacific island following a plane crash. They revert to savages and hunt for food.

Much of western civilisation depends on inter-connected trade these days. It would take very little for western civilisation to collapse and us having to return to savagery . There’s a message here.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002qk4w/lord-of-the-flies

Bouvet Island DXpedition

For many years I have not actively chased DX. We are all different thankfully, so this might be important to you. I think this was delayed.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouvet_Island

British politics

 In case you are puzzled by the British political system, this diagram may help. I found it earlier.

10m 200mW WSPR (Monday)

My beacon was turned on at about 0945z .

UPDATE 1721z: Spotted widely even though the SSN is zero! See table.

Sunspots - Monday February 23rd

 Solar fly is 110 and the SSN 0. A=136 and K=4.

More like spring

We are still in winter yet it feels more like spring is coming. 

The evenings are lighter and the weather today has been mild with some sun.

Xiegu G106

The DX Explorer YouTube channel has a video on the Xiegu G106 QRP rig. The rig is a very compact 5W QRP transceiver. It very modestly priced. It is about 3 years old.

There are quite a few transceivers from China now. I expect we will see more in the years to come. I think the Japanese monopoly on amateur rigs is drawing to a close.

QDX-M on 10m FT8

This is an impressive rig. 

It has only been used on FT8 but it seems to copy loads (over 1100 stations yesterday).  

I run mine via suitably rated diodes in the power lead to ensure I am below 12V when using a 13.8V PSU so I reckon the output is about 2.5W. 

At this power it has been spotted in the USA multiple times, although sometimes you get clobbered by a QRO station.  Unlike my WSPR beacon it does not change frequency randomly between TX bursts. 

It is very small and probably is smaller than a pack of cards. If, like me, you have a poor voice, it is ideal.  I think the 10m version also covers 12m and the 11m CB bands, although I have not explored these.

See https://shop.qrp-labs.com/qdxm

10m 2.5W FT8 (Sunday)

Although I was briefly on TX I am mainly on RX. The gear was turned on before breakfast.

UPDATE 2025z:  373 stations spotted on RX. 10 spots on TX. Now QRT. 

See map of stations received today on 10m FT8. Even though there are stations from all over the world, I think conditions were better yesterday.