Karen Lewis

Make sure you have "store messages locally" enabled and verify your "Extra Time to forward through RMS" is NOT set to zero - 10 minutes minimum is recommended. Also check that your forwarding RMS stations are properly configured in the database and reachable via HF propagation.

so ive been building a direct conversion receiver for 40m based loosely on the NorCal 40 design but with some mods i found in an old QST article. got it mostly assembled over the last few weekends and it does technically receive — i can hear stations but i have to crank the AF gain all the way up and even then strong signals are maybe S3 or S4 on my external meter when my IC-7300 would show S7 or S8 on the same antenna. the mixer is a SBL-1 i pulled from an old project and the LO is a colpitts oscillator running around 7.1 MHz. RF amp stage is a single 2N3904 with maybe 15dB of gain according to my napkin math. i did the layout on perf board which i know isnt ideal for RF but its what i had. ground plane is a mess honestly. not sure if its the mixer conversion loss, the LO leaking back somehow, or just the AF stage not being great. anyone dealt with sensitivity issues like this on a simple DC receiver? wondering if i should try swapping to an NE602 mixer setup or if thats just trading one problem for another