Bedside Listening

For a while now I haven't had a receiver on the side of the bed. During times when I can't sleep I would quite often turn on HF and listen round. I used to use our Yaesu FT817 which works very well because of its size and the quality of receive. Unfortunately this migrated back into the VGS shack a couple of months ago. I really started to miss not having it there so, for the moment, I have been lent a Howes 80/40/20m RX kit ( thanks Kev) It works well but it has not been used for years and needs a damn good overhaul as must of the switches are noisy. I do, however, have a cunning plan! When the K3 finally arrives,( 3 weeks we are told ) I am going to snaffle the K2 for the side of the bed!! Ian was going to use it for 2m SSB but has now ordered the transvertor interface for the K2 2m SSB transvertor to fit in the new K3. So we are happy all round and I can get back to trawling the bands in the wee small hours in the next week or two!

Into January

First sign of snow today but not enough to build a snowman! Anyway very little radio done over the holiday period as we have been very busy. Ian's Elecraft K3 is now scheduled to arrive at the end of this month, finger's crossed.Got rid of some surplus radio equipment over the last few weeks ands using the proceeds to fund some extra bits for the K3. Bands have been in reasonable condition and it maybe that things are finally improving. The first contest of the year is in 2 weeks time so I am looking forward to having the radio group back together and getting back in the swing of things.