Pay More and Get Less. Flash the Cash!

I get it! No one is interested in building anything at any time nor anymore. But this blog posting should get your interest as this is a possible scenario for 2026 and this you can't avoid. I asked copilot "what is up for 2026"? See you could have built a CW rig. Mike, WN2A did email me about a transmitter he designed that meets our specifications from yesterday. His rig design and project graced the pages of QST so it has a pedigree, and design features we would want in a rig built in 2025! The bonus, designs presented for various bands and good for 20 watts of fire to the wire. OUTLOOK FOR 2026 In 2026, Americans are expected to grapple with major challenges around the economy, political polarization, government dysfunction, and social division. These issues are shaping both daily life and the upcoming midterm elections. 🇺🇸 Key Issues Facing Americans in 2026 💰 Economic Pressures Cost of living & inflation remain top concerns. Polls show voters giving low mark...

So, I had this hairball idea about a challenge project consisting of building a solid-state two (or more) transistor CW transmitter that is constrained by the following. No Michigan Mighty Mites No Circuits from EMRFD No Circuits from Bitx No Si5351 PLL No IC transmitters No 1 transistor rigs... must be at least two transistors No new purchased parts*... Junk Box only No Kits... all scratch built * Bartering parts and used parts found at ham fests are exempt.  It is also OK to use Claude.ai for help. Bonus points for those using Analog VFO's  and for your dining and dancing pleasure a sample of possibilities is shown below. Read the article   So, the why do this has many aspects, including for the 99% who do not homebrew anything a chance to enjoy an exciting aspect of the hobby and you might even learn how to use Morse code.  Who is up for the challenge? BTW this would be a perfect companion to the DCR from N2CQR/KK4DAS.  Just imagine what could be done with tw...

Alert: WSJTX, Win 11, Thetis, Success! The year was late 1966 and I just got back from a second trip (short tour) to Vietnam and also just dumped my girlfriend. (I was subsequently married to her for 57 years until her passing earlier this year). So, what do you do after escaping death for a 2nd time and no strings attached... you get active again on the ham bands. At the time I was living on the beach in Oxnard, in a real dumpy apartment but did have the National NCX-3 that I acquired when I was on Midway. I desperately needed some sort of stealth antenna to get back on the air when I saw an ad in CQ or 73 magazines for a Joystick DX antenna from the UK. This antenna would do everything except mix very dry martinis. I bought one through a US Agent and a month later it shows up. My Joystick (Antenna) looked like the above with rubber caps on each end and the instructions said with the rubber end caps you could lean it against the wall in an apartment and with a short counterpoise essen...

About 40 years ago the answer might have been everyone loves a burger. But today with a greater understanding of healthy eating that is not a unanimous answer. But there is now a sub-text to those who don't indulge and that is cost. [You can stop here as no ham hardware or software has been developed over the last couple of days as my attention has been focused on getting the Windows 11 computer working on WSJTX. But today's topic is right on your dinner table.] I am starting to think about the kids coming over for Christmas and what would that holiday be (in an Italian home) without spaghetti and meatballs. The plan involves cooking the meatballs and freezing them. The principal ingredient is ground beef. That is when sticker shock set in about the cost of ground beef. A quick chat with copilot produced the following. Here’s the graph of the average monthly price of ground beef per pound in the U.S. for 2025. It shows how costs steadily climbed throughout the year, hitting re...

With three days of continuous rain and more to come this week I feel the possibility of having webbed feet is likely a good thing.  It rained so much on Saturday that my back lawn had standing water, and it took almost 24 hours to be absorbed.  On my Friday visit to the cemetery, the XYL's head stone (at ground level) was under water. This reminds me of living in the Pacific Northwest where it rained almost every day. Rain, aside from being good for the plants and the lawns, forces you indoors which causes you to think about ham radio projects.  One and Only TIA Radio built by N6QW* About two weeks ago my $75 refurbished Windows    10 computer from Amazon, after 4 years, died and I bought a $137, Windows 11 replacement from Bozos. Part of the increased cost was that the refurbished unit was shipped from Canada and enjoyed the TTT (Those Terrible Tariffs). Getting everything to work again has not gone smoothly! The Windows 10 machine was my Arduino machine and fo...

As a kid I was observing a major sewer project in my community. At this time, it was pick and shovel work and I asked one of the crew how far down are you digging. His response was all the way to China.  Suddenly it struck me that if you dug down far enough you would come out the other side of the earth, which from my location in Western PA likely would-be China. In a recent SS Podcast #262, N2CQR used a term named antipode which loosely translated means opposite of, which was news to me. In essence an antipode station would be the same distance opposite to you whether you set your hex beam to long path or short path.  The temptation was too great and so I used the antipode app to find the antipode of Newbury Park (LA). There was no specific finding for my actual QTH, so I used LA which is close. BUT I did discover there is a Newbury Park in the UK. Here is the closest land mass antipode to my QTH, Reunion Island and yes, another DX location. Reunion Island is Southeast of Con...