Not to be outdone by Justin, I am posting my nice new shiny 6.5" bench multi-meter for some Friday porn. This thing rocks and the high-speed data capture is brilliant for testing low power designs. Now to finish off the project that I bought this for.
i
Anyone else bought some nice new tech to play with?
It can do kelvin resistance measurement. Cool.
Last time I did anything with amateur radio was back in the late '70s, early '80s. I remember drooling over the Icom IC-2AT and IC-4AT handheld radios that were amazing back then, but unimpressive by today’s standards. I can only imagine what’s available today. Good to see ICOM is still around.
You bet it does. Been hundreds of years (well, feels like that) since I used to have a radio to listen to the amateur HF bands. No transmit, just receive but I used to spend hours on it and when computers came along a little later I started to build circuits and use software to decode RTTY and morse etc.
Is there still a lot of activity on the HF bands these days? I’ve not done anything in this area for over 30 years now.
Currently we are at the nadir of the sunspot cycle, so HF activity above 20 meters is limited.
But, amateur radio is not dead. The average age of an amateur operator is probably over 60, but there is still a stream of young people getting into the hobby.
For me, the most interesting current activity is digital messaging on HF. There is a mode called JT8, which is based upon work done by Joe Taylor, a Noble prize winner in physics. It allows for reception of very low level signals.
FT8 allows low power transmission with compromised antennas, which makes it popular with an aging demographics living in deed restricted communities. I run about 30 watts to a “distorted” dipole in my attic. Not as good as the antenna at 100 feet and a kilowatt at my club, but it works…
I own one of this ic7300 since May 2018 … very happy with it, great value radio!!!
Now I’m trading it for Flexradio 6600…
https://www.qrz.com/lookup/iw2clm
I really like SDR radios. Flex is too much of a radio for me. Already too many stations I can’t work. 
k2vpx
KJ7MC - been at it since the 80’s. Icom 7300 and a mess of 2m stuff. Was seriously considering the new Icom 2m radio, but it’s too rich for my blood. And my wife claims that my hobby is the collecting of hobbies, so I’m trying to be ‘responsible’.
You too Martin! 
I will not say how long I have been at it, but I started with CW, 50 watts, crystals and a N in my call.
But just to stay off-topic of off-topic, my best radio is still working in my hamstation since 1979:
Mixing solid state and tubes …
When do we want to schedule the FEZ Net?
