Amateur radio is a hobby for lifetime. It is about self development.
It was always a social club brainstorming problems and pioneering solutions. Focused to emergency services, resilience, operations, logistics, technical training, learning, exploration, and planting independence. Anybody can pick an area of interest. The soul is important.

  The social part changed. Many Amateur radio operators became Bio-robots with forced software updates, back door, and remote control. Purchasing cheap crap from China became the only option. Planted for the last 40 years. Whistling with FT8 the whole day in CW, SSB segments. It is Mean not using a fraction of brain capacity. Robot to robot activity. Any trot can push FT4 computer keyboard. The society became primitive.

There are so many interesting things to do. Contemplate. Meditate. Experiment. Develop. Plant the soul of creativity, curiosity, exploration, innovation, cooperation, and exchange of opinion. A fruitful dialogue. Kits like Elecraft and BitX contribute more than China products. Today rare amateurs use their home made gear. Fixing friend's SWR-meter from Kitsandparts, and looking at the mistakes; These kits practice mental activity, craftsmanship, and missing skills.

The theory and practice how propagation works is quite interesting. Physics behind HF propagation is not predictible. Propagation prediction programs provided by pundits fail. That's the fun. Once financial grants are shut down, the programs are gone. Beacons give an instant idea about propagation.
Morse code has high throughput. The Morse decoding programs work only with strong signal.

Recent society changed direction from commandments to anarchy, exploding self-confidence, demoralization, system decline.
Read Edward Gibbon's book (1737 - 1794): "Decline and fall of Roman Empire" and Tainter: "Collapse of Complex Societies".

More entertainment, less work, higher taxes, anarchy, incompetence, Covid-19 forced jabs with untested vaccines, social distancing, criminal activities of drug corporations, supressing free speech, network censorship, planting hate, dividing the society to govern, fake leaders, media lies, fake elections, gov. debts, inflation, minting gold coins with copper, totalitarian control, everything is imported, family destruction, school destruction, schools teach ideology, misused children. Liberals, Communists, Socialists, Marxists, LGBTHQ orgies. Obsession with power, wealth, sex, drugs, industrial food, Maoism. Media lies, and Cult of youth to divide young and older. A sewer, sink. It is planned activity. Moral crisis. Competition must be supressed by planting monopols. Towns of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Book of Genesis provoked wrath of God.

"I have no time" is symptom of present times, higher priorities, disillusion, and disgust. Arrogance can be the trigger. Plant the Renaissance soul of exploration and mutual cooperation, creativity.
Without buttering the bread of technical progressivism. Repeated published mistakes should corrected in open discussion. Planting personal cults has no foundation.

  My first contact was with Morse code on 160 meters. Under club station.
Frankly, both parties enjoyed the charming moment. Can't forget.
      The equipment was old WWII AR88LF receiver (boat anchor 100 pounds, 50kg) and vintage tube transmitter, driving very probably half wave antenna.
Later I built 160m band power amplifier running 4x 6L50 tubes. The anodes were cherry red.
Hallicrafters SX-42 receiver served for a while. The band switches were problematic, replacements tubes were problem, and the tube sockets were problem as well.

There were paper logbooks. Silicon transistors. First flight to the Moon. Then we invented personal computer, mobile phone, internet. The paper logbook is readable today. All Windows logging programs crashed because of compromised reliability, software trade wars, Windows/DOS, hard drive failures, overheating, and unreliable batteries. Collecting paper QSL cards is not my hobby. I accept eQSL, since the parasitic bureaucrats started occupying QSL services. west-east, same pattern. Do, what you like to do, at professional level.

      Interesting project was SSB/CW/FM 2m transceiver with custom low phase noise PLL synthesizer. This transceiver made contacts over 1500 miles via sporadic propagation, reflections, and listening to EME. In IP3 and sensitivity, it beats "commercial prototypes". Works till today. Not for sale. VHF/UHF is the telephone for local contacts. Commercial VHF/UHF gear generates excess of phase noise. All you hear during contests is phase noise amplified to kW levels. Boring. HF bands have unlimited unpredictible range.

  If you buy
Commercial Devices with custom chips are wrong design. After first lightning storm the parts are irreplaceable. HF devices with first IF 40-70MHz are insane architecture. Amateur activities are reduced to purchasing cheap China products. Supporting CCP of China. Many products made in China are loaded with irreplaceable copied parts. Many China products won't pass FCC certification. Once imported, the products are not tested. The companies providing FCC certification have Chinese owner. After few years of corrosion and debugging you can dispose it.

  What makes the difference?
Right idea with right theory. It is a pleasure to see products designed to last. The simpler, the better, the more elegant.
Make it GREAT AGAIN!
A reasonable service for the society makes sense, common sense, and benefits from learning. Weak signal, hardware, software, and reliability is interesting. Sometimes we test new stuff with club members. Sometimes we tune and test antenna systems. It is social activity. We test different approach to solve old problems. Important part are personal meetings and exchange of opinion.

             

Use leaded tin solder, NOT RoHS. This is more than decade old picture. RoHS contacts fall apart. Total BS of RoHS losers.
Common sense is full recycling. RoHS initiates growth of whiskers and shorts. Connectors, relays, solder points. (RoHS, zinc, silver).
Courtesy of NASA.      

Digital Dementia
is planned tool to divide, manipulate, and govern. Mobile phones are responsible for low I.Q. in children and adults. A distraction and cult. Use of FT8, FT4 programs reach psychological society debilisation. Maintain your Free Speech, Liberties, and Independence. Most important are people around. Contacts with sow attitude are ignored (PA - Netherlands, ON, Green communists, left, Marxists, bureaucrats). Talk with suckers is a problem.

  Read the book R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) - play with one of the first examples of AI "Artificial Intelligence" human-like beings in art and literature. Written by Karel Capek, 1920. Same as today.

  Read the book about psychopaths in government oversmarting unbeatable forces of nature is the book "The White Disease" written by Karel Capek in 1937 just before WWII and cold war. Totalitarian dictator - psychopath kills his doctor. There is no chance of discussion with evil.

For Amateur Radio newbies:
Questionable technical results are invitation to try something different. It opens opportunity window. Plant your creativity, innovation, and independence. If it doesn't work first time, it will work next time. Ask for help at your local club. Discuss it personally. We have a network.

Build your Morse keyer, DIY kit.

Support and Service link.

Solar X-Rays today
Geomagnetic field Kp

Kp > 4..9  STORM   Kp = 4  UNSETTLED   Kp = 0..4   QUIET  

High planetary Kp index means HF propagation blackout and satellite problems.
Solar Radiation, geo-magnetic activity. Space monitoring is provided by n3kl.org
(Don't repair your radio when Kp is high!).

Kyoto & Postdam live Kp geo-magnetic activity daily monitor is here.
Geo-magnetic activity graph Hp30, Hp60. See hourly monitor here.  

Check waiting eQSL cards     www.eQSL.cc

You can use qrz.com for logging. ARRL.org logging is NOT Considered.

"Wherever smart people work, doors are unlocked" - Steve Wozniak  (Apple Computer)

  A hand-made bulb working since 1901 at Livermore fire station Calif. Watch live video
Lifetime of bulb was shortened. Hand-made bulb has high reliability and long run for decades.