AmateurRadio.com

My low cost 40m Pixie kit – although G1KQH only paid about 60% of what I paid – is on its way from China but has not yet arrived here. I assume, with free shipping, this comes by sea. I am in no great hurry. As I mentioned before, I very much hope to build this unit as I have not built much in ages because of my brain bleed.

UPDATE 1600z:   My kit arrived in the post today.  Still to open the package, but judging by the speed this must have come by air. It looks well packed.

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

In all my time in amateur radio I have never once experimented with microprocessor programming and I have done very little “digital” design.  This seems to be a gap in my knowledge, although I am still not really interested, preferring RF design, especially QRP.  I must say I remain very impressed with Wolf’s (W5OLF) tiny WSPR-AXE-CW beacon: this goes to show just how much can be achieved with so little physically. Maybe this is a whole area I should embrace? The trouble is it is impossible to be an expert at lots of things, unless you are very bright. Certainly I do not consider myself a polymath! 

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

here's a video of Steve WG0AT and Frank K0JQZ's operation in balmy Colorado last weekend. Frank mentions this is Steve's back yard - VERY NICE back yard!

  

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Sunspot number today has fallen to 50, the lowest for quite a while and 10m propagation is forecast to be “fair” again.

Yesterday, 10m did open for me to the USA and plenty of stateside stations copied my 500mW beacon in the end after a late start. I suspect today it may be harder going as we seem, on average, to now be on the downward slope towards the next minimum, although this is years away. If predictions of the next maximum are to be believed, a SN of 50 would be considered a decent figure for the next sunspot peak! Of course, the predictions could be wrong, although the predictions have improved a lot and most got cycle 24 pretty accurately.

I have not yet turned on the 10m beacon this morning as we have visitors. It will probably be turned on just before lunch. I am still on MF but there are few active stations in range.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/ .

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

Hello, listeners! In this fortnight's episode, we discuss emergency communications, Hamvention, paperless FCC licenses, the Rowetel SM1000, ShinySDR, streaming Netflix on Linux and a whole bunch of other stuff. Thank you for listening, and don't forget to donate to our Indiegogo Hamvention campaign if you can.

73 de The LHS Guys

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

The long-awaited next edition of the UK-based HD TV show dedicated to amateur radio is now available at www.txfactor.co.uk

In this episode the team investigates the issues of recruiting young people to the hobby and visits a veteran amateur who’s an inspiration to us all! We discover what the IOTA programme has to celebrate and test an innovative 2 metre antenna which can be won in our next draw.

We hope you enjoy the show!

TX Factor Team

Nick Bennett 2EØFGQ co-hosts TX Factor with Bob McCreadie GØFGX and Mike Marsh G1IAR. Contact the team at [email protected]

Over the last decade, I’ve listened to many ham radio podcasts and found them to be a great way to pass the time while driving or working in my home office.

Some of the best podcasts have come and gone, and some wax and wane on a regular basis as the host’s time permits (Jerry, we miss PARP!).

I put a list together of the eight podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis. Hopefully you’ll see one or two that you haven’t added to your list. Do you also enjoy listening to any of these great podcasts?

(And if I’ve missed a good one, please let me know in the comments!)

#1: ARRL Audio News

#2: Amateur Radio Newsline

#3: SolderSmoke Podcast

#4: ICQ Amateur Radio Podcast

#5: Hap Holly’s RAIN Report

#6: Linux in the Ham Shack

#7: Fo Time

#8: QSO Today

#9: 100 Watts and a Wire

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