21 Jan 2025
6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)
10m 500mW WSPR (Tuesday)
My beacon was turned on at about 0930z. At 1100z, 9 stations had spotted me with the furthermost ZD7GB (7607km).
UPDATE 1915z: 26 stations have spotted me today. Now QRT.
That Yaesu FTX-1F
It was announced last summer and due to be released "early 2025" yet no specs have been forthcoming leading some to speculate if it will ever appear.
Certainly since the early 2000s market conditions are very different. Back then Yaesu had most of the market with almost no competition. ICOM and others are already in the market and the Chinese are coming up strongly with very keen prices. Yaesu more than ever know this could be their saviour or that it will soon be time to get out of this market.
In my mind it has to be a market leader in features and price, much better than the IC-705 at a much better price.
At one time Yaesu were way out front. Not any more!
In the past I have had many Yaesu transceivers. They have made some excellent products, but I remain skeptical about this product, knowing that in the end all they are asking is one question, "will it make us money?".
See https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/1hs9jwj/yaesu_ftx1f_is_it_real_or_is_it_vapor/
Tuesday plans
Assuming the QMX+ initialises in a reasonable time, my plans today are to go on 10m QRP WSPR and 8m QRP FT8. If I have problems still with the QMX+, I shall try 6m QRP FT8 with the IC-705.
The QMX+ is excellent once it initialises. I hope this is fixed in a software release.
Sunspots - Tuesday January 21st
Solar flux is 230 and the SSN 277 (is this an error?). A=20 and K=1.
20 Jan 2025
11 years ago - NOT amateur radio
I was in hospital for 3.5 months with a brain bleed. My brother came to see me regularly from Devon. He also raised lots of money for Headway, a charity for brain injured people.
Unlike many I made a pretty full recovery. Apart from giddiness and poor speech most of me still works!
See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/non-amateur-radio/stroke .
US presidential elections - NOT amateur radio
The people of the USA have elected their president for the next 4 years in an election.
The outgoing president has, allegedly, issued preemptive pardons to prevent the incoming president "going after" those who opposed him in the past.
I truly hope the incoming president is above such things and continues to uphold all that is best about democracy and sees peace around the world as an honourable aim.
Pititico 1 transistor transceiver
You may be interested in this (and other) videos on the Pititico transceiver on DX Explorer.
As there is no amplification of the audio on RX I imagine it is not very sensitive so probably safer to call stations you can hear. Putting out a call you might squash another station already there that you cannot hear!
6m QRP FT8 (Monday)
At the moment I am on 6m FT8 with the IC705 (10W) and the V2000 vertical omni antenna. At 1200z, just 9 English spots of me.
UPDATE 1543z: 28 stations in 7 countries have spotted me today on 6m QRP FT8.
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