Chapter Three

After a lengthy break from amateur radio and having implemented some significant lifestyle changes, it was late in 2023 that I once again began to get the itch.

A strange quirk of fate led to my YouTube feed starting to offer up a number of videos from ham radio channels. There seemed to be three core themes: portable operations with QRP radios (including a lot of POTA and SOTA), wire antennas fed via matching transformers (particularly end-fed half-wave antennas), and the proliferation in recent years of inexpensive software defined HF radios (SDR) such as the Chinese Xiegu G90, a small portable radio that really excited me.

My interest was very much aroused, particularly as this seemed to coincide with favourable band conditions (solar cycle 25) and several new (to me at least) digital modes, FT8 being of particular interest.

Xiegu G90	FT8 DigiMode

With that said, it was in January 2024 that I purchased a Xiegu G90 radio and set about equipping myself with all necessary bits & pieces to resurrect my hobby (much of which I'd had lying around for years in boxes anyway). My plan was very much to construct and experiment with simple wire antennas, work on SSB (often portable), CW, RTTY and FT8 primarily and to see what DX I could work with my new 20w radio.

And that's it - 33 years (and counting) since I was first licensed and it's been a fun ride so far. I don't expect any changes anytime soon but looking back there have been a few radios through the G0RIF shack so you never know...

Update July 2024:

I am increasingly looking into a more permanent high power (only 100w) installation with resonant antennas for multiple bands, predominantly to have an "always ready" station for digital modes, particularly RTTY, as I am finding it increasingly frustrating to deploy and then put away my radio and antennas each time I want to get on the bands. I am very much struggling to decide which radio might best suit my budget and needs but I am currently leaning very much towards the Kenwood TS-590SG.