From the ARRL: Effective 12:00pm ET / 16:00 UTC we will be returning Logbook of The World® (LoTW®) to service.  As work progressed on the network, some users encountered LoTW opening briefly during which some 6600 logs were uploaded. The logs were not processed until this weekend as we tested that the interfaces to LoTW were functioning properly. We are taking steps to help manage what

The mobile shackOperating from Iceland was easy and fun. Since returning home, several emails have trickled in from people who are either going or want to go to Iceland, all generally asking the same questions regarding travel to the country with radio gear.Here are my answers to those questions.Are American hams allowed to operate in Iceland?Yes, and easily. This page contains all you need to

A few people expressed interest in the HL2 that I mentioned a few weeks ago - two of those were CW ops who want to know how it does on that mode.To improve its performance on CW, I ordered the mod kit which converts the rig to a Plus model.The mod kit was sent out by WA2T the very day I ordered it but it arrived after we'd left for Iceland and has been with our neighbor since then. We are home

I am amazed at the stunning scenery of Iceland - the trip was bucket-list incredible.The video below is about 2/3 drone video (followed by 1/3 radio) of the places we saw as we drove around the country.In all, we put 950 miles (1500km) on the car and I activated 4 parks. Each park was a first-activation for that park. I had no trouble making contacts but my time at each park was limited. The KX2

Our accommodations the night of 15 June are just a km away from a place I can't pronounce but will probably be able to activate due to its close proximity to our hotel.Spákonufellshöfði Country Park has never been activated before and is on the northwestern coast of Iceland with a potentially good path to NA.Starting time is tough to estimate as unplanned events sometimes join us for a while. I

I've activated two parks in Iceland since arriving 4 days ago - both times were first activations for those parks. It's been tough to put the camera down. Iceland is an amazing country and I'll have more to say about it later.Today's activation of IS-0092 Blábjörg Natural Monument was a lesson in Exceeded Expectations 101. Just when you think you can predict certain aspects of this radio stuff,

Six days ago, Vitaly RN3ANT announced that Russia is suspending its participation in the international WWFF program due to:Discrimination of Russian radio amateurs, “amendments” to Russian laws, Russophobia and inaction of the WWFF-Committee.Subsequently, the RFF website will be fundamentally rebuilt. The Russian Flora and Fauna program exists and continues to operate, the actual RFF reference

The one-man FT4GL DXpedition on Glorioso is ground-breaking.As Wayne N0UN notes on his blog (and others elsewhere), the single operator has been making FT8 contacts for over 134 hours straight, making digital contacts on multiple bands simultaneously.This is discernible by looking at each days' activity on ClubLog. Click on the "Total QSOs" for a particular day, then mouse over the hourly

A few weeks ago I bought a cheap mini-PC as a way to learn Linux. I liked it so much that I bought another mini-PC, this one with "the works" - an AMD Ryzen 7840 processor, 2 TB SSD and 32GB of RAM.The power supply is a 30W wall-wart. The small-footprint shack computerI'm impressed with them both. 4k video editing with the new mini-PC: smooth as silk.Naturally, I've been looking for a radio to

Click for largerIn a package significantly heavier than I would have thought, the QMX+ kit arrived today, shipped from a US address.I'm very anxious to get this kit together and on the air but all I'll be able to do for now is winding the many coils and transformers before leaving town for a while.I've built a lot of kits over the decades but few have made me as excited as this one, in terms of

Land of many parksWe'll be traveling to Iceland (TF) to see some epic landscapes (and maybe a lava river) and, hopefully - activate a park or three.I'm trying like the Dickens to determine which radio to bring: the KX2 or the FT-891.Either way, it'll be a CW-only affair and the antenna will be a mag-mount vertical on the roof of our rental car. I'd prefer the FT891, but the battery is a problem.

Click for larger                 SOLD QDX (digital only)My recently-received QMX has made my QDX redundant, so the QDX is for sale.It is in excellent condition and was built (by me) for 12V operation on 20-80 meters. This is a digital-only rig, no CW.Contains the latest firmware and aluminum case.$80 includes shipping

Meshtastic seems all the rage in some locales; none of them near me......for now.A good number of hams and non-hams in the UK seem enamored/enamoured with "Meshtastic" and there is a decent push by a lot of folk in Florida to set up nodes here.Six nodes are right here in my own 'hood and I'm in a retirement community, so you can teach old dogs new tricks. Especially if that can't have towers and

As I wait for mine, I enjoy the rig vicariously thanks to Hannes and (soon) others:One interesting comment on the QRPLabs group: "Once SSB is implemented in the QMX+, will that make it a QSX?"The QSX description (5 years ago) was for a 10-160m, all-mode rig so it seems like the 6-160m QMX+ may fit the description - if firmware-driven SSB is a possibility with these rigs. Like the QMX, the QMX+

My old SDR twinsI'll bet everyone reading this - both of you - has, at one time or another, sold a rig and then regretted it.Being an over-achiever, I've accomplished this feat several times. One of those radios was an Apache Labs Anan-10e.No equivalent has been made since (by any manufacturer) and the 10e's are as scarce as hen's teeth on the used market. A bit similar was the Flex 1500.Both of

On 1 May, Hans G0UPL released new firmware for the QMX.The primary goal of the update was to suppress the thump on CW that many users experienced on several bands.In my case, 80m was the most affected band.I'm happy to report that the new firmware does what it was written to do. Even before enabling the thump suppression feature, the new firmware seems to have fixed 80% of the thump generated

A recent issue with my Dell laptop has inspired me to experiment with other solutions lately - solutions that allow me to break away from business practices that I'd rather not participate in.In the vernacular of The Day, you could say that "I'm transitioning".To Linux, that is - probably via Ubuntu, but I've been reading good things about Mint.My Windows PC has apps on it that I cannot delete (

This morning, from Hans G0UPL:I am pleased to announce the availability of the 60-15m QMX version, which has been requested multiple times by POTA and SOTA operators. Note that there will be a few days' delay; the Rev 4 QMX boards will allegedly arrive here today according to the cargo company contracted locally by FedEx. But there will be some work to pack kits and program bootloader etc. I

A new set of paddles and an inductive helper for my 17-ft whip both rode shotgun with me for about an hour on a beautiful Florida morning.Everything about the kit made for a quick and easy set-up...and that is my goal: 2 minutes till "On The Air" and 2 minutes to "Back on the road".The KX2 is probably the 2nd fastest rig to put on the air, second only to the KH1. But its effectiveness (due to