I just received an email announcement from Elecraft noting that their holiday sale has already started. 
They’ve discounts across their entire product line with some special pricing for bundles (like their KX2 shack-in-a-box and KH1 Edgewood package).
Dan (W7RF) just informed me that he’s having a Black Friday through Cyber Monday 15% discount on everything in his inventory at Hamgadgets.com.
This includes two items I own and love:
Of course, he has many more items in inventory including KM4CFT’s new paddle kit.
Go check it out!
Readers: Please let me know if you know of other mom-and-pop ham radio retailers offering holiday savings. I’d love to feature them here on QRPer.com as well!
A few of you have sent me a tip about an exceptional Black Friday Week price for the Xiegu G106:
$199 shipped via Amazon.com (yes, that’s a QRPer affiliate link).
The timing is ironic for me since just three days ago, I performed a POTA activation with the G106 at Lake James State Park. I’ll hopefully have that field report posted within a week—possibly by Friday, if I can carve out the time.
Long story short: I purchased this G106 via Radioddity in late September, before Hurricane Helene hit WNC. I bought it because I’ve received so many questions about this radio over the past few months—no doubt because it’s the most affordable 80-10 meter multimode (CW, SSB, AM, and FM) radio on the market.
I posted a thorough review of the Xiegu G106 last summer, and I stand by that review. This radio isn’t for everyone—it’s super basic—but its performance is decent.
While using it Wednesday, I noticed a bit of AGC surge when a strong signal was present; the AGC takes a second to handle the incoming CW signal, making it feel slightly sluggish. I don’t recall this being an issue with the loaner unit I reviewed last year, but it’s there now. I’ll reach out to Xiegu to see if a firmware update might address this.
If you’re looking for a super-affordable HF radio that does SSB right out of the box (the QMX should as well, once Hans implements that in firmware), the G106 is a solid option. It’s a capable SSB QRP radio and decent at CW as well—again, especially for the price.
When I purchased my G106 in September, I bought directly through Radioddity’s site, taking advantage of a flash bundle deal that included the G106 and the DE17 digital interface for $239 or $249.
Had this Amazon deal been available, I would’ve jumped on it instead since I hadn’t planned on buying the DE17.
Before purchasing, I recommend reading my full review. This isn’t a “slam dunk” radio, but it’s a capable little machine and a great option to keep tucked away in a vehicle for impromptu activations.
Click here to check it out on Amazon.com.
As a reminder, the link above is an affiliate link. QRPer.com earns a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. If you’d prefer not to use the affiliate link, you can use this one instead.
Wow–a Black Friday event I can certainly get my head around!
From Doug Hendricks via QRP-L:
Friday is known as “Black Friday” because most of the stores have big sales to attract the shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving. I thought about this and decided to do a QRP version. Here is the announcement.
Hendricks QRP Kits will have a Black Friday Sale from 12:01 AM Thursday to Midnight Friday (0801 GMT to 0800 GMT). During this sale, if your order shipped to a US address is $50 or more, you will get free shipping. And, if your order shipped to a DX address is $150 or more, your shipping will be free. All kits are included, nothing is held back. I have all kits in stock and ready to ship. Kits will ship starting Monday, Nov. 28th. When you place your order via paypal, I will refund your postage. If you order via US mail, the order needs to be postmarked Friday, Nov. 25th. Please do not include shipping and handling if you are ordering via mail. I have never had a Black Friday sale, but thought it might be fun to do. This is your opportunity to “Save the Shipping” on your Christmas orders. 72,
Doug
