IC7300 and a slow death?

Recently, Rob Sherwood gave an interesting video presentation on disruptive technology in our hobby. In it he quoted the number of ICOM IC7300 transceivers sold in the first year. If I recall correctly, 11000 (ish) were sold in year one. Apparently, this is good. If the IC7300 SDR based radio sold this number, I'd guess Yaesu and Kenwood sold far fewer of their units.

Incidentally, when I was involved in radio pager design in the late 1990s, we made this number in one day!

As we get older, we can expect the numbers to fall away. People die and fewer new rigs get sold. In the end the Japanese manufacturers will decide it is just not worth their while as the profit margins are too small. Expect progressively fewer new models as the years go forward.

OK, in some countries there are younger people entering the hobby, but certainly here in the UK amateur radio is an old mans hobby and in 20-30 years we'll be gone.

One thing we'll see is cost cutting. There will be a move to SDR technology, as this will allow good performance for less money.

Expect dealers to dwindle and there to be fewer radio magazines. The hobby will be quite different in 2040.

Once again, I am grateful to Southgate News for this link.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2017/june/disruptive-technologies.htm#.WTVAW7pFzIU .

New microwave records

Southgate News reports on new microwave distance records in the UK on high microwave bands.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2017/june/new-122ghz-and-24ghz-uk-distance-records.htm#.WTUZ5LpFzIU .

Sunspots and 10m - Monday June 5th 2017

Solar flux is 77 today and the sunspot number 23. A=3 and K=2. Plenty of Es about on 10m and 6m.

10m WSPR TX and 6m JT65 transceive

As usual, I am on 10m WSPR TX (500mW, 100%) and 6m JT65 transceiver (1W ERP). There is Es on both bands.

UPDATE 1015z:  Best DX so far on 6m JT65 RX is EA8DBM (3015km).

UPDATE 1625z: Best DX on 10m WSPR TX is SM2BYC (2015km). On 6m JT65 I have supposedly received my 3rd Indonesian, 7A7YYZ (13582km), although I am a bit suspicious of these spots. They seem a very long way.

UPDATE 1956z: Although not showing up on my PSK reporter map, maybe I lost internet connectivity (?) but WP2B was copied around 30 minutes ago. I think this is the Virgin Is in the Caribbean.

CQ Japan on 6m JT65

It is that time of year when 6m opens from Europe to Japan on 6m. This morning I see that Spanish stations are calling JA on 6m JT65. This path opens every year on 6m around this time. The conventional view is this is multi-hop Es. Sorry, but I don't go for this. It may have something to do with E layer ionisation as a result of noctilucent clouds?

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/noctilucent .

20m? No, 6m!!

The photo shows the results so far on 6m JT65. It looks more like 20m, but this was 6m VHF today. Quite amazing conditions. And my antenna is a humble V2000 omni vertical fed with lossy CB coax.

UPDATE 2018z: WA1EAZ (5274km) in the USA was the first USA station spotted on the band here this year.

10m WSPR TX

The 500mW WSPR beacon has been running all day. Lots of European Es spots (see photo of the unique stations so far), although no reports from further afield.

UPDATE 1702z:  So far, 20 unique stations spotting me on 10m WSPR with best DX 1734km

QRP and QRP Club

Oleg's usual update:

Dear Club 72 members and friends, Weekly QRP Rendez-Vous Report (June, 4, 2017) Visitors  of  the  week:  UF6V/UA1CEX, US5ERQ, OH6NPV, UR0ET, RU3NJC, SM7RYR,  US3EN, EW6FA, RV3GM, DK1HW, HB9DAX, IK2RGV, IK5SRD, ON6WJ/p, EA2EFI, UR5IFM, R1CAF, UA4NU, UY1IF, R1CAN New Visitor - EW6FA, Victor you are welcome to QRP Rendez-Vous round tables! See full Visitors and Frequenters lists on the Club 72 web page, please. Comments... see full version of the WQR Report including pictures on the blog page - http://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/ Thanks  all  for  comments  and  pictures!  See  you  on the next QRP Rendez-Vous! 72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72" This is a periodic Newsletter of the Club 72. Don't reply to Newsletter address! Send any requests or news to mr72@club72.su please.

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday 4th June 2017

Solar flux is 77 today and the sunspot number is 22. A=9 and K=1. Both 10m and 6m are alive with Es.

Re-installed WSJT-X V1.7

My version of this program started to do odd things, so I deleted it and re-installed it.

Currently I am on 6m JT65 (beacon mode transceiver, 1W ERP) and 10m WSPR (500mW, 100% TX using the stand-alone beacon).

UPDATE 1522z: Best DX on 6m JT65 RX is TY2AC (5109km) in Benin, W.Africa and 3J3AGK (7646km) in China.