Jeff W1NC has brought my ailing QMX+ to life. Jeff is the go-to guy for any QRP Labs kit that doesn't perform properly and he's got a 100% success rate.Since retiring a couple of years ago, I no longer have an oscope or anything else for signal tracing. And, ironically, I have less free time with too many irons in the fire - in short, it was easier to send the rig to Jeff and make use of his
Three years ago I built a Mercury IIIs solid state amplifier and was impressed with everything about it, from the components, build instructions and operation.I've been in the market lately for an amp specifically for use with my Hermes Lite 2 and had been considering one of these Chinese 150-watt amps...but today's informal announcement/leak has me excited about this latest product from Kenny
I finished building my QMX+ earlier today and now have to figure out why it doesn't receive on any band.Transmit is good on all bands, so I'm half of the way to being on the air with it...A close look at the circuit boards and a study of the schematic will be the order of the day later this week.If that doesn't pan out, there is the group.io and a guru in W1-land who has brought various
I was minding my own business this morning, drinking coffee and up to my knees in the pleasant (cough) task of toroid-winding, when what to my wondering eyes did appear - news of a new kit. More radio gear!The messenger is Thomas K4SWL and the kit is from Jonathan KM4CFT - the CFT1.The kit currently under construction is the QMX+. I'm 80% of the way through the build. As if the radio gods know
Several FT8 users on the WSJT group have reported difficulty in decoding K8R on American Samoa when the DXpedition was operating in the SuperFox mode, despite the fact that propagation favored that area for those stations.I was able to copy 5W1SA (Samoa) with -11 to -15 levels on regular FT8 multiple times on a number of bands during the last half of K8R's operation but never once decoded K8R on
Ken W0LSD has advertised his hamshack near Buena Vista, CO for several years now in QST and I've often wondered what it would be like to stay in the area and have access to a station with multiple gain antennas on 6-40 meters.Our upcoming trip to Rocky Mountains National Park put us in the general area (though we will be staying in another cabin for that period) so we decided to book a week at
From the ARRL: Effective 12:00pm ET / 16:00 UTC we will be returning Logbook of The Worldยฎ (LoTWยฎ) 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.Spรกkonufellshรถfรฐi 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 Blรกbjรถrg 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, โamendmentsโ 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