Solar Cycle 25, QSL

I got into ham radio with the idea that I wanted to be useful in an emergency. What I happily discovered is that there’s a lot of fun to be had on the way to that goal.

Now I know that what I want to do for fun is become a wizard of wave weather and a magician of electromagnetic maximums. I aspire to be a civically engaged citizen of Solar Cycle 25. Specifically, I want to work the hell out of 10 meters while I can. My goal: get global as a Technician for less than $300.

About four months after getting my license, I’m happy to report that I smashed the goal. Here’s the golden QSL with V31DL in Belize, my first international station to confirm a QSO on Logbook of the World. Not counting the laptop, I used about $230 worth of equipment.

We’re still pretty close to the peak of activity for this cycle and trying to figure out if we’ll get a double peak. This period of increased solar radiation is good for making international contacts on frequencies in the 10 meter band, but many years of Technician cohorts get little immediate access to the worldwide capabilities of 10 meters. It is simply not available very much during solar cycle minimums. The ephemeral nature of our sun’s strange 11 year electromagnetic activity cycle is wonderful to learn about and use, but it also withholds. During this rare opportunity, I wanted to test the accessibility of the hobby and also some of the conventional wisdom that side-eyes the lowly Technician license.

Not long after my vanity callsign got approved, I started looking for a 10 meter RadioShack mobile transceiver to keep my Forrest M. Mims III books from high school warm on the shelf.

The Elmer Class will tell you that the United States’ Technician license is but a stepping stone to General. The prevailing wisdom is that the “cheap” way to get global is with a used shack-in-the-box for 600 dollars, where you learn on 10 meters but quickly get licensed to work the bands less troubled by the ionosphere’s F2 layer.

That is not bad advice but the decision is more complicated when one has a few years of Solar Cycle 25 action in front of them. I am studying for my General license but at a very relaxed pace. I simply have no need for it at the moment. It’s more fun to learn what I need to learn to do what I want to do, which does not include being tested.

For now, I want to roll around in the solar cycle peak without a thought in my head about 40 meters.

I want to direct my attention unequivocally to understanding solar weather, 10 meter antennas, and tricky radio wave propagation conditions.

I want to know what it feels like to be frustrated when 10 meters starts to close and happy thinking about how I reeled in DX countries all day as a new ham.

I want to make contact with those like me, those with an eye for the path less traveled.

Does this represent a viable way into international HF communication for Technicians in the time left during this cycle? Does it represent a real opportunity to have fun while saving money or will 10 meter Techs outgrow their rigs even before the sunspots disappear? Will the FCC delete, delete, delete the Technician license? Topics for future posts…

For now, I am happy to report that I achieved my goal of getting worldwide on 10 meters for less than $300. I’m also happy to report I’ve been able to secure some flexibility in the budget to experiment with and report on multiple low-cost options, for the benefit of the readers, of course. More to come later about being a Tech on 10, including reports on using the QDX and QMX+ from QRP Labs.