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, exploration, and planting independence. Anybody can pick his area of interest and learn. The soul is important.

(Old country shack)

The social part changed. Amateur radio operators became software Bio-robots. reaching Windows 25 level with forced software updates. However FT8 sounds annoying, without attractive digital modes and solely morse code, the amateur radio would die out. What is the achievement of FT8 user? None. It is very mean to whistle whole day in CW and SSB segments. Mean not using a fraction of brain capacity and wasting time of other people. Mean, any trot can push FT4 buttons. The society became vulgar and primitive. Gremlins use FT8.

There are so many interesting things to do. Contemplate. Meditate.
Plant the soul of creativity, curiosity, exploration, innovation, cooperation, and exchange of opinions in social environment. A fruitful dialogue. This will move you forward. Kits like Elecraft and BitX transceiver contribute more than fancy China products. Rare amateurs use home made gear.

Amateur radio enthusiasts were always on the forefront of skills. Operating from the middle of nowhere, mountain tops, deserts, Arctic regions, high seas, islands, and space.
The theory and practice how the whole thing works is quite interesting. Physics behind HF propagation is not fully predictible. Many scientific programs about propagation prediction always fail. That's the fun.

Recent society changed direction from commandments to anarchy.

Read Edward Gibbon's (1737 - 1794) book "Decline and fall of Roman empire" and "Tainter: Collapse of Complex Societies".
The society collapse symptoms are identical with present times.
More entertainment, less work, higher taxes, anarchy, incompetence, games, Covid-19, social distancing, criminal activities of medical corporations, limited free speech, censorship, fake leaders, fake media, fake news, money for political compromise, debts, inflation, minting gold coins with brass, totalitarian control, everything is imported, family destruction, school destruction, globalists, liberals, LGBTHQ orgies. Primitive communist leaders elected to lead. All is there. It is called sodomy in towns of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Book of Genesis, provoking the wrath of God. End of Greatness.

"I have no time" is symptom of loss of interest due to higher priorities, disillusion, or pressure. There is "nothing to say"? Arrogance can be the trigger. Plant the Renaissance soul of exploration and mutual cooperation.
Morse code has best throughput. Top morse enthusiasts are nervous hearing 50 wpm from keyboards and readers. All computer based morse decoding systems fail, because of the missing human interaction. The hidden question sounds like -"what the family gained by listening 40 years to dash and dots from the shack?".

  My first contact was in Morse code on 160 meters with HB9... by Lugano. Under club station.
Frankly, both parties enjoyed the charming moment. Can't forget.

The equipment was old WWII AR88LF receiver (boat anchor 100 pounds, about 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. It was a good winter heater. The band switches were problematic, replacements tubes were problem, and the tube sockets were problem as well. My first built transmitter was CW for 160m with tubes. Lasted long.

Licensed since April 1st. 1982. There were paper logbooks. Silicon transistors. Home made VCXOs. First flight to the Moon. Then we invented PC personal computer and mobile phone. The paper logbook is readable till today. All computer logbooks crashed because of compromised reliability, software trade wars, Windows/DOS, hard drive failures, overheating, and unreliable batteries. BS. Few QSL cards are left. Collecting paper QSL cards is not my hobby. Since "no-work job" parasites started occupying QSL services, I accept only eQSL. west-east, all same pattern. Suck and exploit. Do, what you like to do, at professional level.

  Interesting project was SSB/CW/FM 2m transceiver with custom low phase noise PLL synthesizer. Used 28V for better linearity. This transceiver made many contacts over 1500 miles via sporadic propagation, reflections, and listening to EME. 16 element yagi. In terms of IP3 and sensitivity it beats "commercial prototypes". It works till today. Not for sale.

Different priorities arrived, professional and personal.
Recently custom UpConverter for colleague's SDR receiver. Investigating benefits and trouble of SDRs.
TRX Orion. The IP3 and IMD3 is better than anything else. Not for sale.

It took time to design first PLLs, TCXOs, VFOs, RF power amplifiers, programmable ASICs, firmware, high efficiency PWMs, analogue circuits, matching, microwave antennas, WiFi, Bluetooth, DECT, ISM band transceivers, satellite technology, to understand reliability, and aerospace standards. This is possible only in the US. Neither in Nunavut, nor in Europe. Think always the way, this is an aerospace product.

  If you buy
Tube power amplifiers are good. Medium power solid state amplifiers are good. Devices with custom chips are wrong design. After first lightning storm the parts are irreplaceable. Products with seven micro-controllers are culprit . One micro controller is enough. HF Products with high first IF (40-70MHz) are insane architecture. Audion receivers from 1920 with fancy software are pretending top notch. (Audion 1920 concept with Arduino). Activities of most hams are reduced to purchasing China products and supporting CCP china communist party. VHF/UHF products suffer with phase noise and stability issues. First commercial product is prototype. The second version can be the real thing. It is about personal approach.
Beautiful transceivers made in China (all):: Irreplaceable copied parts by China. After few years of corrosion you can extract all switches, connectors, and replace it with gold plated.

  What makes the difference?
Right idea with right theory. Personal approach counts. It is a pleasure to see products designed to last. Still performing well. The simpler, the better, the more elegant. Make it Great Again!
I am not avid contester. A reasonable service for the society makes sense, benefits, and common sense. Weak signal, hardware, and software is of my interest. Sometimes we test new stuff with club members. Sometimes we tune and test antenna systems. It is social activity. Sometimes we test different approach to solve old problems. Important part are meetings and exchange of opinion.

       

Use leaded tin solder! NOT RoHS. When some woke neoMarxist-liberal communist will lecture you, tell him where to go. Straight. This is more than decade old picture. (two FETs, VHF, 12V, 8W out, 20mW in, FM) The tin contacts fall apart. The total bullshit of RoHS loosers continues. Worldwide companies now use RoHS as marketing trade mark.      

Digital Dementia
is planned tool to divide people, manipulate, and govern. Mobile phones are responsible for low I.Q. in children and adults. Use of FT8, FT4 reaches psychological debilisation of the society. There is no need for brain. Your dog can use FT4. Experimenting with efficient digital encoding, redundancy and encryption nobody can break, is interesting.
Maintain your liberties and independence. Free speech. Most important are the people around. HF contacts with sow attitude are ignored (PA - Netherlands, ON, Green communists, left, neoMarxist ideology agenda, useless 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. How robots governed people. Same as today with AI. Personal bias, evaluation by computer. Hard to hire right people. It goes better without the robots. FT8, FT4 users are robots.

  Read the book about psychopaths and idiots in government oversmarting unbeatable forces of nature is the book "The White Disease" written by Karel Capek in 1937 just before WWII. Totalitarian dictator (psychopath) kills his doctor. Fake glory is his end. It is about Covid-19 vaccine criminals today.

For Amateur Radio newbies:
Questionable technical results are invitation to try something different. It opens great Opportunity window. Plant your creativity, innovation, 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.
Radiation, space charging. Space monitoring is provided by n3kl.org and
noaa.gov Boulder Colorado provides 3-hour planetary Kp index.
(Don't repair your radio when Kp is high!).

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

www.eQSL.cc Check waiting eQSL cards

"Wherever smart people work, doors are unlocked" - Steve Wozniak  

A hand-made bulb still working since 1901 at Livermore fire station Calif. live video
Lifetime of bulb was intentionally shortened. Bulb can be produced with same quality and long run.