Elecraft

Over the years I have owned a couple of Elecraft kits. One was the T1 auto-ATU and one was the K1 QRP CW transceiver. The latter is now discontinued. 

These days, they sell the KX2 and KX3 rigs as well as the K4 transceiver. Elecraft transceivers are usually very high specification products. 

Some years ago I did a webpage on the K1.

See https://elecraft.com/ for the main Elecraft site.

Needlework exhibition - NOT amateur radio

Ely Cathedral currently has a needlework exhibition on. I didn't go, but my wife did.  The photo does not do it justice.

See https://www.elycathedral.org/ .

6m FT8 QRP (Sunday)

At about 1030z, I turned on 6m FT8 with 2.5W and the V2000 vertical omni. After a brief period on TX (2 G spots)  I am now RX only (just 2 G spots).

UPDATE 1313z:  8 stations spotted with the furthermost CT2HXM (1422km) .

UPDATE 1604z: 11 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX today. The latest DX is IU3MDI (1137km). I am not sure of the propagation mode.

UPDATE 2100z:   13 stations spotted. QRT.

Salcombe NOT amateur radio

This photo shows where I come from in South Devon yesterday. I spent my childhood years here. 

DX crystal set

This is a circuit I have never built. It was in QST some years ago and uses a zero bias MOSFET to give better sensitivity. You may want to have a go. Please read the ARRL article below.

See http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/tis/info/pdf/culter.pdf

Reassuring? - NOT amateur radio

Next time you fly in a large passenger jet this sign may reassure you that you are in safe hands. 😉😉

Sunspots - Sunday March 6th 2022

Solar flux is 120 and the SSN 95.  A=27 and K=3. 

2m FT8

After a brief period on TX with 2.5W and the big-wheel omni antenna (2 spots of me, but no QSOs), I am RX only.  No spots yet on RX. This isn't too surprising with a contest on SSB/CW.

FT8 is far more productive than calling the SSB contest stations who are probably running much higher power than me. With my poor voice I find calling other stations quite a struggle these days. I enjoy VHF contests, but they are hard work for me.

UPDATE 2137z:  2 stations spotted on RX: G4NVB (96km) and ON4JES (228km).

2m/70cm contest this weekend

 If you want to work a few more squares, this weekend is a good time. The RSGB 2m/70cm contest runs from 1400z Saturday to 1400z Sunday.

See https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/contest_rules.pl?year=2022&contest=mar144432

Learning CW

Some enjoy CW. Jason M0NYW has been learning it recently and has used some of the 10m CW beacons to improve his skills. CW can work with marginal signals far weaker than SSB ones. You might like to try too.  As these beacons repeat, they can be good for practice. No PCs needed! Just ears!

These are the stations Jason spotted:

        28201.5    SV2HNE/B KN10LL 5W ANT GP 73

        28243       F5ZWE "just repeats callsign"

        28244.6    SV2FQNB KN10FC 5W ANT GP

        28265.3    SV2RSS KN10LO GP/3W 73

        28268       VK8VF "repeats callsign and something else but hard to copy due QSB"

        28269       SV6DBG "V V V DE SV6DBG BEACON KN09KQ"

        28271.6    SV2HQD/B

Often CW rigs are far simpler to make than SSB ones.