MAPA = Make America Poor Again! A Lame Duck is nothing more than a Left-Over Turkey!

FTdx100 From Yaesu  Yesterday we covered the Yaesu FT-101 and I mentioned owning its predecessor the FTdx100. The you tube video gives you a close-up peek at that earlier radio. About 15 years ago I bought a FTdx100 for $34 on eBay and it was molested and lacked a case. But employing my usual N6QW magic I got it working. You can see that earlier rig HERE . Several hams, worldwide, have contacted me to tell me this link is one of the most detailed pieces of info on the radio. Do not know if that is true but it took some time to prepare that documentation. Sadly that $34 radio was given away when we had to make an emergency move back to CA in 2013. About 4 years ago, I spotted another FTdx100, in Canada, that looked in really good shape. I went for it since I had real experience in repairing the radio and with shipping, I paid 10X what I paid for the 1st one.  I found you could buy a set of NIB matched finals (6JM6) for $25 and have a set, so no home loans needed this round....

The "Best Ever" SSB/CW Transceiver of the early 1970's was the Yaesu FT-101. It was a shack in the box, and it had the distinction of being the leading radio sold worldwide at that time. It was the ICOM IC7300 of that era. My FT-101EE The FT-101 was a Hybrid design featuring only three tubes and the rest solid state. One thing you don't want to do today is smoke the driver tube, a special version of the 12BY7 and the finals which are 6JS6C's. You will need a home loan to purchase a replacement set. I acquired this radio as a tech special as there was no power output. Five minutes' worth of work and it was fixed. There was an RF choke in the screen circuit to the final amplifier tubes... it was open and thus no screen voltage. The frequency stability and dial linearity are amazing for 1970. This is one of the best Analog VFO's ever. Friends N2CQR and KK4DAS have used the VFO module from the FT series in their homebrew rig projects.  Many of the FT-101 serie...

Nearly 15 years ago, I experienced a very creative period designing and building unique SSB and CW transceivers. Most of this work was published in QRP Quarterly. About 10 years ago I had a serious disagreement with QRP Quarterly leadership, and I no longer submit any work to them.  One of those very successful projects was the JABOM, which is an acronym for Just A Bunch Of Modules. This radio went through a series of modifications where initially using a 4.9152 MHz homebrew 4 pole Crystal Filter it was set up for two band operation.  To bypass the use of a band switch, I connected circuits such as the Mixers, BPF and LPF to Pin Headers. Three pin headers connected via manual pin jumpers set the two bands, 20 and 17M. The HYCAS IF stage, AGC and S Meter circuitry was hand built and was a lift from W7ZOI. Surely our 45-minute Extra knows all about HYCAS.  I was disappointed in the performance of the homebrew filter and ripped it out and replaced it with an 8 pole 9MHz comm...

I am bristling over the thought that a person who has no prior license and/or knowledge of amateur radio in the span of 45 minutes can go from no license to an Amateur Extra Class License. That is like giving a baby a loaded gun. Shame on the ARRL for doing that! Imagine a person who takes the State Boards for Medical Doctor and passes without having any practical experience as an intern and he or she is going to service you. The original licensing process recognized that hams need to learn about the hobby through a practicum that awarded privileges based on time in the trenches. The Novice license was only good for one year and then you had to move on. But in that year the Novice had to learn about the hobby and in essence was doing penitential service.  I was a Novice for three months and then took and passed the General Exam taken before an FCC examiner, where I had to demonstrate Morse code proficiency and pass a regulation and technical based exam. Ditto for the Extra Cla...

Yet another amazing creation as found in the storage boxes. N6QW Operating his homebrew CW rig circa 2026. (I bet our 45-minute Extra Class YL couldn't build this rig) More QRP Radios from N6QW   The small size of this radio was achieved through the use of MMIC SMD devices and a bit of circuit steering. The typical 9 MHz filter and the IRF510 final topology. The Black and White OLED keeps the size of the display to a minimum. The smart phone camera is fast enough to pick up the refresh of the display. To the naked eye the display does not flicker nor show missing information. There was no sign of the dreaded OLED noise in the receiver. BTW the CW transmitter in the N6QW shack photo (dimly lit garage) actually looks like this. This is a 2 tube CW transmitter with a 6AG7 Crystal Oscillator followed by a 6L6GT Final. With about 450VDC on the Plate of the 6L6GT, I see over 20 watts to the antenna on 40M. The output is a Pi Network using an Iron Powered Core (T-68-2) for the tank circui...

  A VEC in Idaho, contacted me following yesterday's posting and it seems a YL there passed the Tech, General and Extra, all in the span of 45 minutes. So that sounds like the record. Hopefully today she is the Chief Designer at a US Manufacturer of SDR Ham Gear. Congratulations for the accomplishment. More radios I found stashed away and our feature for today has an interesting pedigree and history. About 10 years ago myself and KK6FUT, now AI6YR, created a multipart project and several articles for QRP Quarterly. The project was called LBS... Let's Build Something. The project started as a 40M DCR and evolved into a complete 40M SSB transceiver. Subsequently I built a stand-alone version for 20M that extensively used SMD components. This last element of the project involved a very complex engineering solution... read on! This design was hailed as a DifX... something different than a Bitx and advanced features like a 10 second 988Hz Pulsed Tone for tune up and small size for p...

With a special tip of the cap to the no code, no electronics knowledge, 8 days to an Extra Class license ham, someone has finally explained what a ham operator is. Cuddle your Baofeng UV5R and just Enjoy! Ham Operator Explained! That said real hams can do more than is stated in this video like innovate, design and scratch build rigs, fix broken radios and think beyond POTA, SOTA, IOTA and why you do not need to spend >$500 for a ham rig. Them that know can make it go but then become obsolete and just fade off into the ionosphere. A thought for a new parlor game. This could be a lot of fun. The game is called "Who Would Be" with sub-categories such as this. 1. Who would be the 1st Republican in the current administration to be impeached?  2. Who would be the 1st YL to get an Extra in just one day? 73's Pete N6QW

With eleven Boat Anchors now gone, I found a trove of homebrew radios that have been stashed away. Today was no exception. Nothing really exotic with a standard single conversion topology utilizing a 9MHz Filter, the SMD version of the Plessey Amps (to the left of the Filter) the 2N2219A Driver and IRF510 final. The standard Arduino Nano and Si5351 comprises the Digital LO and BFO. Well, I must admit my display layout is a bit exotic literally accomplishing the impossible task of 10 pounds in a 5-pound bag. There are two VFO's (LO's) with memory. A flick of a switch lets me check the 40M FT-8 frequency. It also has a built in 988 Hz, ten second pulsed tone for tune up. Using the Hermes Lite 2.0 as a detector I corrected the Crystal in the Si5351, so it is dead nuts on, and we get no reports of being 30Hz Low. The case was repurposed from a former transceiver and uses a recessed front sub-panel.  One advantage of using the repurposed case is everything is accessible and plenty o...

Today I want to cover my Ham Radio plans for this year. When I worked for a living, I often reflected on the saying: If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.  This saying has given me pause to reflect on things I would like to do with the ham radio hobby in 2026. For certain, the building of another SSB radio is off the table. However, one thing for certain is to work on antennas.   My Mosley Tri-Band beam has proven to be a piece of crap, and I heartily recommend never buy a Mosely Antenna! It worked for one year and died. I put no more than 600 watts into the beam, and yet it is rated for legal limit. I suspect trap failure, and a new set of traps is >$300. Buying a new set of traps would not insure a working antenna. Even when it worked it was marginal at best. For about $800 I could install a multiband Hex Beam, but I would have to get a lot of help to do that as I don't climb ladders anymore.  Another goal is to continue the purge of commercial ham gear. The lo...

In the early days of our hobby some form of comparative signal reporting evolved. In those days signal reports were at the top of the list. Consider that the rigs were homebrewed often running 20 watts or less and literally all stations were using wire antennas and no beams.  The RST system became the standard with R being readability and S being signal strength and T for tone. I am not sure how the exact factors were derived but 599 was the best signal you could have. Mind you the Mode was CW for a period of time until phone was invented and then the T was dropped. The T component was there because many stations were using marginal power supplies and the Tone sounded like a Buzz saw.  With phone operation, the RS was modified so that a 5X9 was not the ne plus ultra and a certain signal level (S9) was accurately given a value, and soon very strong signals could be 5X9 + 20 for 20dB over S9, where S9 was a calculated numeric value. I marvel how in contests where a hardly heard ...

  Simlpleceiver SSB Transceiver V2 As I was sorting through some storage boxes, I found this rig tucked away in a corner. Less than 130 cubic inches it represents one of my better builds. The rig features three sets of Dual Gate MOSFETs built from two J310's that simulate the DGM. A later (and current) configuration replaces the small red Push Button with a toggle switch so that you can toggle to the 40M FT-8 frequency to see if there is any band activity. On the Air! Search this blog for the Simpleceiver where there is information on the original V.0 and V.1 and how these formed the basis of this final rig.  Yes, it is totally homebrew and not a kit and so not everyone's cup of tea. But there is much to be said for projects like this one that takes advantage of the current technology and in many ways advances the state of the art. Worldwide less than 1% of hams homebrew their radios and that is OK... we have a big tent.  Check your homeowner's insurance and see if you go...

The 1st week of 2026 has been a huge disaster as I have received bills for insurances that reflect astronomical cost increases. Not only health insurance but homeowner and auto insurance have been affected. I spent about a half hour on the phone with my homeowner insurance carrier yesterday morning trying to understand the 35% increase in my homeowner's insurance over 2025. Part of the increase was the result of the Palisades fire that occurred a year ago... about 40 miles from me. But an equal part of that increase was man made by you know who. It seems the tariffs he loves have dramatically impacted the cost of construction materials. It is basic economics. My home did not increase in value (still a small sized CA home) but the materials to replace that structure did... in direct response to his tariffs and puerile antics. Being retired and on a fixed income, any significant increase in health insurance costs and homeowners, insurance costs make for a strenuous monthly budget jug...