All ARRL fees are up from the 1st January 2024. An international 3 year ARRL membership including QST rises from $217 to $282 a rise of 30% from the 1st January. That's another one I won't be renewing. Something that is supposed to represent Amateur radio, does not provide good value for money for it's membership.With that sort of hike many members will leave and it will do nothing to encourage new members into the ARRL.               ..read more

There has been a sudden upping of the UK cashback offer on the Yaesu FTDX101D. Infact it has been doubled from the original cashback offer of £170 to £340!! Taking the price after cashback down to £2659.95.   This makes this quite an exceptional saving over the list price for a big base station rig.   ..read more

 If you still have the old Southgate Amateur Radio News URL in your bookmarks. You will now find it redirects you to ARD Amateur Radio Daily.. Click on the link in blue above for more detail ..read more

 10m remains very active, this is todays activity at 2 different times. Around 10:30z: Around 13:55z:   Further details about FT8CN see my Blog https://g1kqh.blogspot.com/2023/02/ft8cn-new-free-android-app.html ..read more

There is a new FT8 APP for Android doing the rounds, called FT8CN from BG7YOZ (China). It is a free download and unrestricted in use. It is in the early stages of development, but is already up to version 0.86. Download the APK file from here:https://github.com/N0BOY/FT8CN/releases You  will need to give your device permission to allow install of the APP. There are various ways to configure the radio connection. The simplest VOX appears to use the Android device's internal mic and speaker.(Of course you could pipe the audio directly in and out via the audio socket on your Tablet or Phone ..read more

Roger "G3XBM" has now published a book titled  "G3XBM Project Scrapbook". It takes you through his historic years of homebrew construction and operating to present day. To include portable operating, Antennas, LF, HF, VHF, Fredbox and Sixbox designs with full circuit info, even stuff that never got built etc etc. All Roger's designs, are not over engineered, and very simple to understand and build. It is a  FREE download here:https://tinyurl.com/y56vjhd6 If you feel this has been of good use after reading, you can always support him with a coffee or two here:https://ko-fi.com/rogerg3 ..read more

Sunspots are getting higher!    Band conditions are improving once again, it's time to get active!  It is nice to be able to crunch all the data and get a daily understandable, updated plot, and find out what bands may be workable, where and when, under this improving cycle. VOAPROP is a graphical propagation presentation program, written many years ago by the late G4ILO, used in conjunction with VOACAP as its engine. It is something I have used for years, until I encountered a PC crash recently that took out my motherboard, and which I had to scrap off  the entire compute ..read more

For those in the UK worried about the new pending Ofcom ICNIRP EMF rules. I have found an excellent EMF calculator program from the late VK3UM, infact I would say it is the best I have come across yet. Well worth a download and a play with: https://www.vk5dj.com/VK3UM%20EMRCalc%20Ver%207.12%20Install.zip   EMR calc V7.12 runs in Windows and is very easy to get up and running, allowing a variation of  most parameters you can think of. It comes with a preset load of settings, including Freq, PWR, TX loss. Transmission type (CW, SSB, FSK etc). Antenna type Dipole, Vertical even a G5 ..read more

  Remember what it was once like without Facebook, and Instagram, and we had dial up Internet.. The dark nights are certainly back and Facebook has failed!     Time to return back to Blogging, watch this space! :-)       ..read more

It's always interesting when I write, to see what feedback or help is out there. I encourage you all to write back your thoughts in the comments below. The recent blog about Linux Mint 20.1 created a stir on amateurradio.com, where my scribbles are relayed over and duplicated. Paul VA3ZC got in touch, and said "Have you tried Armbian? Linux for ARM devices". So a quick trip down to the link https://www.armbian.com/  Reveals a good download area for hardware which you may like to try it out on. Although the Raspberry Pi is not listed, surely it can't be long before something is ported over ..read more