AmateurRadio.com

I suppose that I might be a little late to the game, so to speak, but I was browsing through the variety of  QRP kits on Ebay the other day and was shocked at what I saw. Many may already be familiar with  this phenomena in the QRP kit world, however it was news to me. A new Pixie 2 kit for $3.54 plus a whopping $1.80 for shipping. Now that's a QRP price. The kits were from China. As I considered this, I rationalized that at that price, something was askew, surely the quality was suspect, the parts incomplete and the instructions resembled some graffiti on an inner city wall. I passed it off as maybe a joke and went about my EBay browsing.

A few days later I stumbled upon an entry on the SOTA reflector entitled "QRPp Activation with a $3.56 Chinese Pixie..." by Manuel HB9DQM. Manuel had seen the radio on EBAy and couldn't pass up the opportunity to give it a shot. He not only built the radio, which takes the better part of an hour, but he decided to put it to the test in the field.

HB9DQM Pixie Station

Using the configuration above, running 300 milliwatts, he made 16 QSO's from a summit top bench. Pretty cool. 300 mw, wire antenna, battery power and a straight key, ah the magic of Ham Radio.

Of course the radio has limitations, it's crystal controlled, the radio comes with a 7.023 crystal (HB9DQM used a 7.030 crystal) and the bandwidth on receive is very wide, but as Manuel demonstrated, you can have some good, cheap fun with this little radio. He said he was listening to the world news, in English (courtesy of a BC station), while he worked the callers. An interesting diversion.

I did some further research on YouTube and found many happy campers who had purchased and assembled the kit. So I took the big plunge. I even went overboard and bought a couple of extra's as projects for my teenage grandsons who are hams.

There is one thing a little troublesome about this kit invasion however, at these prices, the other QRP kit providers can't compete. What will happen to them? Such is the world these days.

Chinese version of the Pixie 2

The inexpensive kits aren't limited to Pixie's, there are also '49ers, RockMites, etc.. Some even come assembled. I saw and assembled Rockmite, with a case for $35.00.
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

The Tytera TYT MD-390, the successor of the popular Tytera TYT MD-380 DMR HT, has arrived. Jason Johnston, KC5HWB, unboxes the upgraded DMR HT in the latest episode of his show, Ham Radio 2.0: LIVE! From The Hamshack.

“I think I’m the first one to have them listed online, but that won’t last long,” says Johnston.

Like the MD380, the TYT MD390 is 400-470MHz, features 1000 channels, and is DMR Tier 1 and 2 compatible. New to the MD390 is an IP67 dust/water ingress protection rating (immersion up to 1m).

The radio is currently available in the Grapevine Amateur Radio online store for $179.99. Johnston says MD390 is priced similarly to the MD380 when it first came out. “I expect it will probably drop in three to six months,” he says.

In the video, Johnston does a thorough job reviewing the features of the radio. He compares the MD-380 vs. the MD-390 and talks about how he’s been using the radio around the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the past few days since the first units arrived.

Johnston says the radio feels heavier and much more sturdy than the MD-380 it replaces. He also praises its strong audio. “It sounds just as good as the MD-380, maybe even a little bit better,” he says.

If you’ve followed his show, you’ve noticed that he has really stepped up his game in terms of video production. Great job, Jason!

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2016 Mar 07 0539 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 29 February – 06 March 2016

Solar activity reached low levels on 04 March due to a C1 flare from Region 2506 (S06, L=223, class/area=Dai/130 on 29 Feb) at 0900 UTC. Very low levels were observed for the remainder of the period. No Earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were observed in coronagraph imagery.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit reached moderate levels throughout the period.

Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet or quiet to unsettled levels until 06 March, when a negative polarity coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS) became geoeffective. During the onset of the co-rotating interaction region (CIR) total field (Bt) to a maximum of 22 nT at 06/1646 UTC while the Bz component reached a maximum southward deflection of -18 nT at 06/1834 UTC. Solar wind speeds increased to a peak of around 580 km/s at the end of the period. The geomagnetic field reached G1 (Minor) during the 1500-1800 synoptic period, G2 (Moderate) during the 1800-2100 synoptic period, and G3 (Strong) Geomagnetic Storm levels during the 2100-2400 UTC synoptic period.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 07 March – 02 April 2016

Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels, with a chance for C-class flares, throughout the forecast period.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels from 07-10 March and 17-22 March due to CH HSS effects. Moderate levels are expected from 11-16 March and 23 March – 02 April.

Geomagnetic field activity is likely to reach G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm levels on 07 March, 17-19 March, and 02 Apr in reponse to effects from multiple coronal holes. Quiet to quiet to unsettled conditions are anticipated for rest of the forecast period under nominal solar wind conditions.

Don’t forget to visit our live space weather and radio propagation web site, at: http://SunSpotWatch.com/

Live Aurora mapping is at http://aurora.sunspotwatch.com/

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"6BHH" - Ray Thomas courtesy: SCARA

I've been fascinated with the ham radio gear and activity of the late 20's for a number of years, ever since getting a bundle of 'Antique Wireless Association' journals from Harry, VE7AIJ. Many of the issues described in detail, the construction of simple '1929-style' transmitters, and once I learned that there was an annual '1929 QSO Party', I was hooked.

Knowing of my interest in early radio, Paul, K7CW, recently sent me a link to a truly delightful piece of old 16mm 'home movie' style film. The footage appears on the Santa Clara County Amateur Radio Association's website where a description of the film places it in or around San Jose, California and likely filmed over a number of months from early 1925 to 1926.

These were the very early days of ham radio ... the 'wild-west' in terms of rules, frequency allocations and enforcement. Hams operated throughout the LF / MF spectrum and it would not be unusual to find them working ships at sea or trying to work the latest geographical expedition to the Arctic or to some other far away place. It was also the transition period from spark to carrier-based communications, with RF generated by tubes and not with rotary high-voltage generators.

The film shows the radio 'boys of '25' (and girls!), now all so long gone, when they were young and full of life. We see them meeting, playing in the California sun and proudly showing off their shacks and equipment ... occasionally mocking those 'new-fangled' transmitting tubes, soon to replace their much-loved spark generators.

I hope you enjoy this treasure from the past ... I'm sure the 'boys of '25' would be delighted if you do.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

I have been using a PC program called Morse runner and going to the LCWO website to increase my contest cw receiving speed and keyboard skill. I wanted to take it up a notch to what I consider a must have contest skill. The skill I am referring to is the ability to exchange contest info with my Iambic key ( Begali Contour) and not only the keyboard. Both Morse Runner and the tools from the LCWO site have been a great help with improving my keyboard and receiving speed and moving it forward. What I'm looking for and asking my blog readers input on is......a PC program similar to Morse Runner were I can use my key to interact with the program. Morse Runner sends you a call, you enter the call in the program (it checks you have enter proper call) then a contest report comes your way you enter it and the program sends your report. If all the info checks out as correct you are able to move on the the next contact. Does anyone know of a PC program out there were I can use my key and not keyboard to brush up on my key proficiency within a contest environment.

Oh and by the way of a radio report..... I was on the rig yesterday not much going on the CW portion of 20m and 30m during the early part of the afternoon. I ventured back around 22:00 UTC and 20m was sending some DX my way. Some of the stations heard but I was unable to contact were LZ300MSP (that call is a key full), T77CS, EA3AIZ from Spain struggled to hear my QRP signal but there was just to much QSB at his end. All was not lost DL3DXX heard me in Germany and gave me a 559 report.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Martin M1MRB / W9ICQ is joined by Edmund Spicer M0MNG, Matthew Nassau M0NJX, and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episodes feature is - Shack Projects

• Institute to Revive Amateur / Ham Radio in India
• New Extra Question Pool Released
• First UK Amateur Radio Contact on 241 GHz
• Popular Science Magazine
• Eleven-year-old NJ’s Youngest Ham Operator
• EI2CCR 2m Repeater Back on the Air
• SA Amateur Radio Licence Fee Increases
• Marconi Exhibition and Talks

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Martin M1MRB / W9ICQ is joined by Edmund Spicer M0MNG, Matthew Nassau M0NJX, and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episodes feature is - Shack Projects

• Institute to Revive Amateur / Ham Radio in India
• New Extra Question Pool Released
• First UK Amateur Radio Contact on 241 GHz
• Popular Science Magazine
• Eleven-year-old NJ’s Youngest Ham Operator
• EI2CCR 2m Repeater Back on the Air
• SA Amateur Radio Licence Fee Increases
• Marconi Exhibition and Talks

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].