Sunday, December 31, 2006
N7NG leaves ARRL
I was surprised to hear that Wayne Mills, N7NG was leaving ARRL. Statements were notable for what they didn't say. I'm guessing League HQ hasn't been a happy place. It's sad to see someone with Wayne's knowledge of DXing being lost to the organisational side of the hobby.
New Year's resolutions
Actually, I'm a firm believer in the U2 lyric, 'Nothing changes on New Year's Day'. But on the other hand, setting yourself goals is always a good thing. So here are my amateur radio resolutions for 2007
1 - To call CQ at least once a day on one band or another - don't be a licenced listener
2- Not to let a CQ go unanswered, even if I'm busy. A quick QSO is better than none at all
3 - To get myself going on the WSJT modes on VHF. I just need to put it all together
4 - Work a US station on 160m. I haven't done it for years from my home station
5 - And, of course, actually most importantly, to help Russell to get his Foundation licence.
Happy New Year
1 - To call CQ at least once a day on one band or another - don't be a licenced listener
2- Not to let a CQ go unanswered, even if I'm busy. A quick QSO is better than none at all
3 - To get myself going on the WSJT modes on VHF. I just need to put it all together
4 - Work a US station on 160m. I haven't done it for years from my home station
5 - And, of course, actually most importantly, to help Russell to get his Foundation licence.
Happy New Year
Sunday, December 24, 2006
A wintertime lift
You can't help but noticing that there's been a lot of fog around for the last few days. Flights in and out of Heathrow were disrupted. Well, when there's fog, there's usually some interesting VHF conditions - particularly when it's a widespread area.
It started off quite gently on the 21st December, when the GB3VHF beacon in Kent was several S-points louder than normal, but nothing much else seemed to have changed. I had a nice QSO with 2E0DBE in Eastbourne on 2m, he was using an FT817 to an indoor halo and had a decent signal up here.
The next day, 22nd December was a real surprise. I had a pig of a QSO with DK1FG in JN59. For whatever reason he struggled to get my callsign. But it was a decent distance and he was running 750w to a big antenna, compared to my 50w to a 5ele - so I was probably on the limit of intelligibility (nothing new there!). Also heard around the same time was DK4AL in JO51.
On the 23rd, there was less at a long distance, but still some nice QSOs to be had. On 2m, I worked ON7LAO (JO20), F2YT (JO10), DF7DJ (JO31) and F6FLB (JO00). On 70cms, I was pleased to have DK6JL (JO31) come back to a CW CQ on 432.2.
A couple more 432MHz QSOs today; DB5KN (JO31) and F5APQ (JO00) but conditions seem to be getting back to normal based on the strength of GB3VHF.
Good fun! Merry Christmas.
It started off quite gently on the 21st December, when the GB3VHF beacon in Kent was several S-points louder than normal, but nothing much else seemed to have changed. I had a nice QSO with 2E0DBE in Eastbourne on 2m, he was using an FT817 to an indoor halo and had a decent signal up here.
The next day, 22nd December was a real surprise. I had a pig of a QSO with DK1FG in JN59. For whatever reason he struggled to get my callsign. But it was a decent distance and he was running 750w to a big antenna, compared to my 50w to a 5ele - so I was probably on the limit of intelligibility (nothing new there!). Also heard around the same time was DK4AL in JO51.
On the 23rd, there was less at a long distance, but still some nice QSOs to be had. On 2m, I worked ON7LAO (JO20), F2YT (JO10), DF7DJ (JO31) and F6FLB (JO00). On 70cms, I was pleased to have DK6JL (JO31) come back to a CW CQ on 432.2.
A couple more 432MHz QSOs today; DB5KN (JO31) and F5APQ (JO00) but conditions seem to be getting back to normal based on the strength of GB3VHF.
Good fun! Merry Christmas.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
