Star Letter

The Star Letter will receive a voucher worth £20 to spend on items from our Book Store, or other services offered by Practical Wireless

Dear Don,

I started getting back into amateur radio at the beginning of this year, and being from the UK originally, my first stop was Practical Wireless. My daughter’s boyfriend, Niklas SA6CCZ, can take some of the blame.

I start reading PW in the school library when I was about 13, so PW has always been there and I was delighted to find that not only was PW still very much alive, but it had a lively interesting sister magazine, and through PocketMags I could subscribe to both and get access to new issues immediately here in Canada.

Since being allocated my new Canadian callsign, VE2XPM, in January I have been devouring PW, so keep up the good work.

Coming back into the hobby is interesting because everything that I could use before is still there, but now there are even more modes to explore, and the availability of so much software makes it really easy to try things, see how they work, and then move on to something else. So, I am like a kid in a toy shop at the moment.

On the hardware front, I used to enjoy Ten-Tec transceivers, but they seem to be pretty much dead now, so I have settled on an Icom IC-7300 as an easy way that will allow me to explore, and an SDR too. Living in an apartment, the antenna is a compromise and needs more work, but I am on the air, and that’s the main thing.

Clearly the new digital modes such as FT4, FT8 and JS8 are contentious, but then I remember when repeaters were in the same position on 2m, and I also remember the whole uproar around CB in the UK. Eventually these will just be part of the landscape, and those who enjoy working using the modes will be a community that will continue to use them. The interesting aspect for me is how the Facebook groups have grown. Every transceiver, mode and band has its own group, and in some cases there is more activity in Facebook than on bands using the mode in which they are interested.

One concern is how diluted activity has become as a result of there being so many options, and there is a challenge for the IARU and all national societies to retain our allocations and the privileges that we have. They deserve our support, thanks, and membership fees.

QSLing has been transformed by eQSL and LoTW, and using WSJT-X and DXKeeper I have automated the process, but I was still pleased and surprised to receive a paper QSL through the post from George W2GLH, which prompted an order for QSL cards, so that I can return the compliment, and QSL those who do not choose to use eQSL or LoTW!

Another surprise is how much freeware