ILER 20 SSB QRP kit
If that excuse works for our current administration maybe it will serve me if I have to justify the money spent on another QRP kit…
Although I’m strictly a CW op, the appeal of Javier EA3GCY’s ILER kit was too strong – a 20 meter version of this kit is now on its way to me. The few reviews for the 20- and 40-meter versions on eHam are all very positive and I’ve built enough CW kits over the years to satisfy that itch so this will be a bit of a welcome change.
And the summer DX doldrums play a large part in the purchase of this kit – with no needed DX entities on the bands till September, this kit will be providing my radio fix.
I’d like to say that I’ll have it built by Field Day but that’s probably a bit too optimistic. Continue reading 'A YouTube video made me do it (ILER-20 QRP SSB kit ordered)'»
Not only did they take my advice and change their name from Wouxun to ImportCommunications, they have migrated down to HF.
Although I have no desire to own one it is interesting to see new rigs being developed in China. So far most of the HF rigs from various Chinese manufacturers have been kits.
Wouxun – oops, I mean ImportCommunications – now has a $300 non-kit HF transceiver on the market and a US distributor to make it easy for us W hams to buy one.
Here are the particulars from their website: Continue reading 'New CW/SSB all-band QRP rig (not a kit)'»
No longer the exclusive domain of the military, radio-controlled drones are everywhere today.
Local municipalities are buying them for various purposes and even the real estate world has an interest in their potential to increase sales by offering buyers a bird’s-eye view of a property.
With electronics and cameras getting cheaper and smaller by the minute, drones are now within the reach of anyone who can afford to outfit a ham radio station. Continue reading 'A drone for everyman'»
The results of the DX Marathon for 2012 are now online and when I saw the results in the QRP category I just shook my head in disbelief.
As we all know, 2012 didn’t present the best of RF conditions. Far from it, but the top two QRP DXers each worked all 40 zones in that 12 month period.
At the top of the list was my buddy Dan WG5G in San Antonio, TX who, along with those 40 zones, worked 257 countries in a single year with 5 watts! Dan has one heck of an antenna that puts that handful of watts exactly where he wants them, geographically-speaking. Spectrum-wise, his know-how sends the signal right into the headphones of the distant receivers.
Second place in QRP goes to Bill W8QZA in San Diego, CA. For the year, Bill worked all 40 zones and 221 countries. And he did it with a very modest antenna – a 3-element Yagi at only 32 feet (9.7m).
Both of these guys live on city lots with all the limitations and QRN that implies. Continue reading 'Amazing results from QRP DXers'»
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Katsu JA7QIL has built an improved method of tuning up and down the band when operating the ATS-4 – and added paddles to boot.
In his own words (and with Katsu’s kind permission to post here):
For easier ATS-4 operation, I built an ATS-4 Controller with touch paddle as shown below. Though I call it “Controller”, it is nothing but a simple directional tactile switch box. I used an ALPS SKQUAAA010 tactile switch which has 4 contacts in one package – one for each direction.
It is much easier to move around the CW band than with separate up and down tactile swithes.
Here are photos Continue reading 'External controller for ATS-4 de JA7QIL'»
Looking at my stats page for 2012 offers insight into what people like to read. Some results were predictable, others weren’t.
The one constant is that I owe thanks to many people who, either knowingly or unknowingly, provided inspiration to write much of what is contained within these pages.
Here are the posts (not all from 2012) that received the most hits throughout 2012, in order from most to least read. Each received over 1000 hits during the year:
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