Russian paddles, the world’s smallest wide-range automatic antenna tuner, new INDEXA newsletter, bumblebees will soon take flight, and rain finally returns to the Heartland.

We hadn’t had much rain here for more than a month and with temperatures consistently above 90F the grass had stopped growing and turned brown. I haven’t mowed the lawn in three weeks. And then yesterday we got 5.25 inches of liquid gold over 24 hours. Flash flooding all around was a problem, sure, but the lawn drunk it all up and looks especially green this morning.

N6KR made an interesting comment about the availability of the ever popular, but nearly impossible to purchase, Elecraft T1 auto-tuner. He said, “Yes, some T1 parts were backordered, but they’re rolling off the assembly line now”. A quick check show it still being listed as unavailable, but maybe soon?

Plenty of pent-up demand exists for this new Morse paddle. It’s a matching unit for the TX-500 transceiver which is manufactured in Russia and at the moment a tough item to purchase. Despite the war and the embargoes some wiggle room might be possible based on this recent posting:

There is news about the purchase of the CW-500 key - we agreed with HRO, we are preparing a batch of keys for shipment. I think within a month the keys will go on sale in the US.

The Summer 2022 issue of the INDEXA Newsletter (Issue 136) is now available for download. Highlights include: A Tribute to Franz Langner, DJ9ZB (SK); Tips and Techniques to Enhance Your Operating and DX Skills; 2022 Hamention Update; 3Y0J Bouvet DXpedition Update and more…

Time to sign-up for your Bumblebee number, complete details can be found here:

The Adventure Radio Society 2022 Flight of the Bumblebees takes place on July 31. It is a four-hour event that has become one of the most popular QRP activities of the year.

Bumblebees (QRP’ers operating from field locations) will be venturing across North America to work other participating stations for four hours of great fun. Home-based stations can work Bumblebees or other home-based stations.