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

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+

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 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

Drone photo of courthouseThe city of Vicksburg Mississippi is a study in stereotypes - and in contradictions to those stereotypes.We road-tripped there a few days ago and spent three nights in an old B&B that, at one time, housed Jefferson Davis and other southern statesmen from a bygone era.There are a number of museums in town and you can easily determine the sympathies of the organizations

I spent about an hour and a half today with the mcHF clone on the bench undergoing a full alignment. The radio, not me.Alignment of this radio is simple and the instructions are menu-driven & easy to follow - but there are a lot of optional settings that go a long way toward configuring the radio to operate in a manner that makes ergonomic and operational sense.If I had not owned a mcHF

A thread currently running on the QRP Labs group discusses the "thumping" issue on CW.I received my pre-built QMX yesterday and was able to hear for myself how this it sounds on the 5 bands, 20 to 80 meters. As noted on the group, the issue is more pronounced on 80 meters and is present to a smaller degree on higher bands, although 40m seems the least affected.The sound is the same whether using

My original - genuine! - mcHF has gone to that great playground in the sky, where all radios emanate honest 599 signals on all bands. After so many years of performance-enhancing (and corrective) surgery, the poor radio was ready to be put to pasture.To replace it, I ordered one of the many clones and received it yesterday.I will need to do a full alignment on the radio - the displayed frequency

I got up at oh-dark-30 a few days ago and drove, pre-sunrise, to Flagler Beach FL to video the morning's beginning with my drone.On the way home, a park presented itself and I had all the radio ingredients needed to put it on the air. The highest band open was 15m and many Europeans were worked.Here's a brief sampling:..

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I've found my new favorite park and I think it will remain so for a very, very long time. Ichetucknee Springs State Park is located 40 miles northwest of Gainesville in norther Florida. The spring outputs 8 million gallons of water per hour, forming a 12 mile river that empties into the Santa Fe and then the Suwanee rivers.The water is crystal clear and supports a unique and interesting

MFJ-1979 & eBay whipMy go-to antenna for portable operation has become the MFJ-1979 telescoping whip. It operates as a no-compromise 1/4-wave vertical on 10-20 meters, provided I have four elevated radials.In Lowband DXing, John ON4UN (SK) cites work done by many lowband DXers (confirmed by antenna modeling) that four elevated radials is equivalent to 120 on-the-ground radials in terms of

A cheap 51" (130cm) telescoping CB walkie-talkie antenna and conditions on 10-15 meters gave me the idea to treat my KX2 like a KH1.Tuesday mornings can offer slow POTA activity but I was pleased with the results anyway from a peaceful little park about half an hour from home.The weather was perfect and this project served as the perfect excuse to be outside.In the following video, I made 10

I ordered a KX2 back in mid July - by mid-October, it had still not arrived...but an 'For Sale' ad was placed by a local ham for a 4-month old KX2 that he decided he didn't want. It had all the options I wanted and none of those I didn't.My order with Elecraft was quickly cancelled and the new-to-me KX2 was soon on its way.Today was my first outting - a POTA activation - with the KX2 and, man, I

I was lucky enough to catch Thomas K4SWL on his first activation with the new Elecraft KH1 - a CW-only rig for now but which will soon be capable of FT8 operation. Tom was operating from the Blue Ridge National Parkway in North Carolina, presumably with the KH1's built-in whip antenna. I was using a 1/4-wave vertical in Florida...