DX-FT8 shipping early; Group.io formed

UPDATE (14 Jan): What was a 10-20m 5-band kit is now a 7-Bander. 30 and 40 meters has been added to the DX-FT8. No price increase.

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Myself and at least a handful of others have received shipping notifications and tracking numbers for the DX-FT8 QRPp transceiver kits we ordered last month.

These kits were not expected to ship until February but Kees K5BCQ was able to locate the single missing part that was backordered and a number of kits are now en route to their new owners.

In the meantime, the real reason for this posting: Terry VA3IP has formed a group for discussion of the new radio:

https://groups.io/g/DXFT8/topics

My STM32F746 is also on the way via Fedex.

Kit assembly instructions are here.

It should be an interesting week, getting this tiny thing built and on the air.

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This'll ruffle some feathers: a QRO amp for POTA

 

Kenny KM3KM has announced that the upcoming 6-80m Mercury Lite amplifier has received FCC approval and will be available for purchase starting in March for $1986. No idea when pre-orders will begin being accepted. No pre-orders - "Orders will be taken in March and there will be no waiting".

Details of the amp are here and the manual can be downloaded here (1MB pdf).

The Mercury Lite seems to have a lot going for it: low drive level required, built-in ATU, automatic band-switching via RF detection and the ability to be powered from a 48V lithium battery.

That's a feature list that will put many Mercury Lites into the field on POTA and WWFF operations. 

One knowledgeable fan has already ordered a 48V 20AH (3.5kg/8lbs, $175) battery. I'm calcuguessing that it will last about 2 hours in the field.

Fully assembled 10-watt, 10-80m zBitx released - $149

Ashhar Farhan VU2ESE merrily announced late yesterday that the zBitx is now available for purchase at HF Signals. 

This is a fully assembled radio, not a kit, and should be regarded as an experimental, tinkerer's radio.

Here is the schematic.

I have one on the way.

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A most unusual POTA activation

Scarecrow and Blue

 

I left the house early yesterday morning, driving north about 70 miles to the Suwannee River (Florida), whose shores contain a string of POTA sites.

They're back!

My destination was US-10594, known among civilians as Manatee Springs South State Conservation Area. This is distinct from Manatee Springs State Park just up the river.

The State Conservation Area became, for me, a State Conversation area, both on the air and off.

I arrived at about 8:30 am local time, not knowing what to expect in the way of amenities like picnic tables, BBQ grills or other devices whose true purposes are to support radios and antennas.

What's there is this: two picnic tables covered by a roof, located adjacent to the river at a canoe/kayak launching site.

One of the tables was occupied by a scruffy-looking man and his scruffier-looking white dog named Blue. Pulled up onshore was a loaded-for-bear kayak.

We said our hellos, then got to our "whatcha-doin's?".

Are "power packs" a better alternative to batteries?

A few weeks ago I finally bought a power pack that I've had my eye on for quite a while. I researched the daylights out of it, read maybe 1.2 kilo-reviews and compared it with the competition (Jackery) and finally pulled the trigger on a Bluetti AC50B.

With the AC50B, I have:

• a 32AH LiFePO4 battery
• a 12V DC-DC converter that that provides a 10A output
  
• a 120V inverter + two AC outlets
  
• the ability to charge via 12V from a car 
• the ability to charge from home AC
• a solar charge controller for recharging from a solar panel

That's a lot of stuff built into a small package that weighs 14 lbs (6.5kg) .

I had been thinking about building my own "battery box" but by the time I added up the cost of all the individual components, I had a re-think.