Bulgarian special events station

Worked them on 5 watts!

Xiegu G1M qrp rig

Got this SDR QRP rig during the COVID quarantine. Power is 5 watts out and have worked DX on CW and phone. There is a built in processor which really boosts the SSB signals. Great to go mobile with it and power with a gel cell battery.

Picture Frame QSL display

Just a used $3.00 digital picture frame to display some QSLs. Better than being buried in a box in the closet!

6 meters back alive in Michigan

Late May and early June has seen strong Six meter openings to West Michigan. I'm only using a dipole up about 11 feet and have made some good contacts. A photo of the log represents a sample of QSOs. Just purchased a used old Yaesu FT 625 RD that receives and transmits great. And it is rated at 25W on SSB.

I am planning to raise a Squalo on a 30 ft mast hopefully this summer. I used it on Field Day and it has good ears!

Alexander the Great Marathon

Though a great pileup on 40m, I managed to bag this one, on the April special events station in Thessaloniki, Greece.

40/75 trap dipole back up

This homebrew trap dipole for 40/75 came down in a storm last fall 2015. My friend AB8HN (the builder), revamped it during the winter. Just raised it again, this time with a spring at the tree end, 45 ft up. It slopes down to my garage, at 15 foot. Works great on 40 DX. Worked the EA His Majesty contest this weekend. The resonant portion is at the phone portion of 40 and only 50 khz down on 75 (see graph). Wish me well and hope this stays up this time around!

New receiver-the classic DX-160

Just bumped into an old Realistic DX-160 receiver. This was my first rig, purchased at Radio Shack back in 1975. It was in mint condition at a local ham shop. And for $20 it was a super deal. The video is a good example of the good audio characteristics.