No operation lately, due to other activities distracting from the radio: buying a car for my son, running errands for the wife, and a rare snowstorm which made operating too uncomfortable to contemplate. Usually, ham radio is a leisure-time couch potato type of activity requiring long periods of sitting in a comfortable chair in a warm room, but due to spousal edict, my radio is confined to my truck, and sitting outside when it's 20 degrees is not a pleasant way to spend the day.
I have heard many interesting stations while driving home, including England, Germany, and Spain. On several consecutive days I have heard Argentine stations on the lower end of 15. Needless to say, I didn't work any of these, which makes me more of an SWL than a ham operator. I am hopeful that this will improve as the days get warmer and longer.
I have added a Small Wonder Labs DSW-20 to my equipment inventory, and will be trying 20 meters as soon as I can get an antenna that will tune on 20. The DSW works great as a receiver with the 15 meter whip, but I can't get the SWR low enough to try transmitting. I will get something going before long, though. This radio will be the last I buy for a while, but having QRP transceive on 15, 20, and 40 meters should provide plenty of activity for now.
Okay so it turns out that the DSW20 (99 version, the one with the 2N3553 final) has a rather delicate final amplifier. I was trying to get it to tune up on a wire antenna when the output power suddenly went from 3 watts to almost unreadable. No heat sink on the final, you see.
Dan's Small Parts and Kits had a special on the transistor I needed (I bought 10) and on matching heatsinks. Here's to better luck next time (and a better antenna).
Repaced the final in the DSW20, and added a heatsink. Works fine now, I even got the tuner to work with it ( the zero SWR point is about the width of a mosquito's eyelash).
I am traveling next week and will have a chance to go by a ham store, so I might be able to pick up an antenna that is actually resonant on 20 meters.