G4VXE.COM

One of those QSOs....in a good way!

2012-02-14T21:18:00.001Z

I've mentioned before that some contacts really grab your imagination. This evening was one of those. Generally, over the last few weeks 10m has been closed by the time I have got to the car on the way home from work. However, this evening, when I switched on the 10m rig I could hear a station close to 28.400MHz where the rig was 'parked'. As I drove over to the supermarket, I could hear W8ERN in Michigan working his way through a steady stream of callers. Driving through urban Didcot is quite noisy on HF, so I hadn't really expected to hear any more on 10m by the time I had finished my shopping for a Valentine's meal for Julie.

But as I drove away from the supermarket, with goodies in my shopping bag, I switched on the 10m rig and he was still there, if anything, stronger! To my surprise, Angelo, W8ERN heard 'mobile' as someone else called him and asked for the mobile. I called and was thrilled to get a 5/8 report from him.

We had a very easy QSO and I was able to explain that I was running around 10W from the Anytone AT-5555 to a CB whip on the car. Angelo told me about his website and I told him about this one!

Great to make my first inter-continental QSO from the car on 10m with the Anytone rig! Thanks Angelo!

Chris N7ICE's first steps with the Flex-1500 SDR

2012-02-13T13:48:00.001Z

If like me, you're interested in seeing how SDR performs 'for real' you may well enjoy Chris, N7ICE's HamBrief video about getting started with his new Flex-1500. As with all Chris' podcasts and videos, it's fun and informative in the right proportions! Take a look

Not for the first time, I am tempted to save up for one of these!

A visit to the Harwell Radio Rally, 2012

2012-02-13T13:36:00.000Z

Although we had a busy weekend, I was keen to visit the Harwell Radio Rally at Didcot yesterday. After all, it is only half an hour's drive from home and many friends were planning to be there.

I arrived just as the doors were opening - and delighted to meet Pete 2E0SQL, his Dad, Paul M3JFM and David, 2E0DAB in the queue. The queue wasn't too long, but it was good to see plenty of people wanting to visit.

Once inside, I had a quick spin around; great to see my bosses from PW there; Rob, G3XFD and Tex, G1TEX with Phil, G3XBZ who often features in the magazine. The Harwell club had a good 'junk' stand and it was great to see many familiar faces there, including Des G3NNG, John G3VPW and Mike G0MJW. Mike was kind enough to mention that I hadn't updated my blog much recently.

This is true! It's not a lack of interest, so it's just a temporary thing. Unfortunately Julie's Mum has been quite ill for the last month, so we have been doing a lot of travelling back and forth to Cheltenham Hospital where she's being looked after (happily, we hope that she is slowly, very slowly, on the mend). Add to that the fact that the recent Blogger changes mean that I can no longer update the blog from work in the lunchhour (we're on IE7 at work...) and you can see why updates have been sporadic.

Another stall that I enjoyed was being run by my friends from the Cheltenham ARA; Derek G3NKS and Tom, G3XMM. They had some really lovely classic Drake gear with them which was from a silent key sale. I hope it found a good home - it truly deserved to. I should really have bought the enormous, but lovely NATO style morse key that was on the stand but it was a bit big and I don't use a hand key much!

I met lots of other people whilst I was wandering around including Andrew M6BBP, who I first met when I was very first interested in amateur radio, probably over 30 years ago! Andrew is friends with Jon, G6BHS who lived three doors away from me in Cheltenham. I first realised I was living close to a radio amateur when I heard Jon and Paul G8VSH on my airband receiver! Exciting times.

So - a great hour spent with friends. Congratulations to the Harwell Club for organising such a successful event. Here's to next year.

Oh - and I bought a copy of RadioUser magazine - not too expensive a morning!

G4VXE's QRZ.COM biography updated

2012-02-10T23:05:00.001Z

For ages, I'd been intending to update my QRZ.COM biography! Finally got around to doing it this week. Hopefully it may even bring a few new viewers to the blog!

See the bio here

The picture is a little out of date. The HF rig is no longer in the lounge and sadly, Bitzy the cat is no longer with us - but it is a happy picture!

Operating from Gibraltar with VA3ITA

2012-02-10T23:00:00.002Z

Back in 1987 I first operated from Gibraltar as ZB2/G4VXE and then the following year, as part of the Square Bashers DXpedition group we visited again, operating this time as ZB2IQ.

It was fun. therefore, to see this video from Ed, VA3ITA of his trip to Gibraltar, some of the sights and sounds (and the apes) as well as some operating on 50MHz. It's quite a long video, but I enjoyed it!

Good also to see Ron ZB2B featured as part of the video!

New 70MHz beacon from Skye (IO67)

2012-01-12T16:12:00.003Z

Speaking to Ken, G3LVP he told me that GM8RBR is running a 'personal' 70MHz beacon from the Isle of Skye (IO67UF) on 70.100. The beacon was supplied by HG1YA and runs 10W to a 5element dual band 50/70MHz antenna beaming south.

The beacon has been heard by a number of 70MHz enthusiasts in the south by meteor reflections - Ken, G3LVP and John, G4ZTR both report hearing a number of meteor pings via the 70MHz website

28MHz mobile

2012-01-08T13:10:00.001Z

After getting the Sirio 10m antenna on the car last autumn, I've been switching the FT8900 over from the VHF/UHF aerial to use 10m, particularly at weekends as I've been driving around. On the FT8900 I'm restricted to FM of course, so I'd been thinking about getting the Anytone AT-5555 in the car to give me SSB capability.

It was just a case of getting the bits together to do it, which in reality was just sorting out the power. I assumed that fixing would be easy, but actually as ever, there's less room in small cars than you think. And the Anytone is actually quite a big rig! In the end, I managed to fix it securely to the left hand side of the centre console. It seems quite easy to operate and doesn't impede driving.

On a test drive across to the next village, I listened and heard some activity; UA9XL and an EA8 on SSB as well as a UN9 down on CW. SWR of the antenna seems fine in the lower portion of the band.

Hopefully I shall be able to make some contacts in the coming weeks. 12W or so is quite low power for SSB but I am sure something will be possible and in any case, it's always interesting to listen.

One thing I have already tried - whilst parked - is tuning the rig to 28.120 to receive PSK and decoding it on my iPhone with the 'Multimode' application. In theory, a QSO may be possible by 'miking' the output of the iPhone to the rig.

I'm looking forward to seeing what can be done

Listening to the International Space Station

2012-01-07T18:57:00.001Z

It's always exciting to hear an astronaut from the International Space Station active on 145MHz. Over the last few days I've heard activity a couple of times and the second time, I had my iPhone handy and I shot a quick video, which I hope you might find interesting.

What I love about PSK Reporter and the RBN Network

2012-01-06T19:27:00.001Z

This morning, because I had to pop into the garage on the way to the station, I left the house a little later than normal on a work day. To fill the time (!), I popped onto 3.5MHz JT65 at greyline - just as the sun was rising. To my slight disappointment, although I heard several stations, I didn't make any contacts.

However, this evening, I checked the PSK Reporter website to see where I was heard. I was delighted that although I didn't make any contacts, my 25W JT65A signal was getting quite a long way into the USA

My amateur radio aims for 2012

2012-01-06T09:23:00.001Z

1. VHF JT65

As you know by now, I have become a great fan of JT65 on HF. I want to start using the mode on VHF. In particular the JT6M mode for 50MHz looks interesting. Would it be viable with 100W and a vertical? Maybe! I have to try it. If not, no doubt a simple low dipole would work for meteor scatter.

The challenge is the interface with the FT847 which I have struggled with in the past. Looks like I have various options which I hope to pursue soon.

2. 70MHz

Need to improve the performance of the 70MHz receiver and probably up the power a bit. I have a plan .... Not too worried about tropo on the band but would like to be more competitive for Es and meteor scatter.

3. 1.8MHz JT65

I wonder what could be done on 160m from a 'small garden' using JT65?

4. 144MHz EME

I would love to try and work some EME. Probably my old 13el on a stepladder in the back garden then. Need that interface for the FT847!

5. 28MHz mobile

I'm planning to install the Anytone AT-5555 in the car now I have the more efficient 10m antenna.

Hope I can do at least some of these.

70Mhz and 500khz allocations for the Netherlands

2011-12-30T14:00:00.003Z

I just saw a tweet from OY3JE containing a link to the IARU Region 1 website noting that the Netherlands will have allocations at 70MHz and 500khz from January 1st 2012.

Personally, I'm particularly pleased with the opportunities at 70MHz, though I suspect I will be lucky to work into the Netherlands with my current 70MHz setup.

See the Region 1 article here

My amateur radio highlights of the year

2011-12-29T11:54:00.001Z

Lee, G0MTN used to publish his excellent 'Review of the Year' on the UK-Contest reflector. Hopefully he still does, I'm long gone from that reflector (and all others!). It's a fun thing to do and I have been thinking over the last few days about my Amateur Radio Highlights of the Year.

1. JT65
If you've seen my posts recently you'll see that I have been very active on JT65 on HF using the W6CQZ JT65-HF software. It's excellent for working DX with low power. And actually I get just as much satisfaction from working a station using something like a loft dipole, knowing that on any other mode, I would struggle to make the contact. It's a very relaxing mode too, also ideal for those late night contacts without keeping other occupants of the house awake.

Having seen how effective JT65 is on HF, I really want to try it on VHF. But that's something for 2012.

2. The 50/144/432MHz collinear
The aerial was installed in April and it has given me a new perspective on 144 and 433MHz in particular. There have been plenty of surprises about how much variation there is on a day-to-day basis in terms of propagation. There have been some exceptional contacts and loggings too; a repeater from Norway completely out of the blue on 144MHz as well as more recently a 144MHz FM contact to the South of France.

On 50MHz during this year's Es season, the antenna worked out well with many contacts being made.

3. 28MHz
During the summer the new Anytone AT5555 proved great fun with low power with the Es propagation. And earlier in the year, my bike ride portable operations with the FT817 and a simple antenna were always interesting.

In the autumn it was a real surprise and pleasure to find the band so good for worldwide DX again.

4. Practical Wireless
Being part of the team and writing for PW is great fun and I've enjoyed every column and review in different ways. It's been great to engage with the contributors and find out what interests them. Thanks to Rob, Tex and the team in Poole for making it such a great experience.

5. Memorable contacts
Hard to single them out as there's always something interesting in each contact. But a few contacts of different types spring to mind quickly:

The contacts that come out of apparently nowhere! Being fascinated by radio propagation, it's magical to me how signals can come up out of noise and then fade back down again (hopefully having been worked in between); 9H1BT on 50Mhz late one May evening, EA1FDI on 144MHz in August, HB10K on 144MHz on a September evening, F4FGB worked on 144MHz FM via a repeater in the South of France and F5ICN on 144MHz SSB from the South of France more recently. Earlier this week, working Rene DL6NAA on 144 and 432MHz was really pleasing.

JT65 has been quite a mind shift for me. Working W7YES from the west coast with just a few watts on 28MHz as well as KP4ED on 3.5MHz JT65 on a noisy winter's evening were QSOs that I know I would have struggled to make on other modes.

Of course it was good to work some real DX; my friends at T32C on the other side of the world did a wonderful job and it was great to work them with no hassle on 10 and 24MHz CW. In September, I realised that 28MHz was back in business when I worked NE0X with a huge signal on CW early one evening.

It's no longer all about DX for me though. Working Larry G4OXY on 70MHz FM via the Tring parrot was great. We used to work on 50MHz when Larry was in Portishead and I was in Cheltenham back in the mid 1980s, so there was much to catch up on! Likewise with Mattias DH3NAN who I worked recently on 144MHz SSB - we remembered QSOs from the SquareBashers 1985 expedition to IN79 square GB2XJ.

I always enjoy radio contacts with my Twitter friends, so it was really good to chat with Jerry KD0BIK from Denver on D-STAR. Rob M0VFC persuaded me onto 18MHz SSB for the first time in many a year when the Camb-Hams were operating from St Pierre et Miquelon - that was a fun QSO.

D-STAR provides the ability to make some nice QSOs across the world or closer to home and I particularly enjoyed a lovely QSO one August morning with Rod G3TXA on the Isle of Wight and another QSO with old friend Gordon G8PNN in Northumberland.

All in all, an enjoyable year on the radio. Always something new and interesting to try and fascinating people to talk to. 2012 will mark the start of my 30th year on the air. Short compared to some - but a hobby has to be good to keep you keen after 30 years, doesn't it?

Boxing Day holiday tropo

2011-12-27T20:10:00.001Z

I remember a couple of years ago, VHF/UHF tropo conditions were good around Boxing Day. Well, although today wasn't Boxing Day, it was our Boxing Day Bank holiday.

This morning as I was dealing with some e-mails, I had the VHF FM rig running on 145.500 and heard a selection of stations from G6XOR up in Derby to others in the Midlands. Sadly, I wasn't able to respond at the time. However, I did later work John M6CTI near Heathrow, who was running 5W.

After Julie and I had come back from a walk this afternoon and the Christmas Cumulatives had ended, I checked the bands anyway. The GB3VHF beacon was loud and PI7CIS and ON0VHF on 144MHz above average. Oddly, PI7CIS on 432MHz was inaudible with me. I was just about to close when I heard DL6NAA from JO50 call 2E0NEY on 144MHz.

Happily, Rene, DL6NAA called CQ and after a couple of calls I was able to work him with good signals. He runs 750W to a good antenna system so I was not sure he would hear my little station. I listened for a while and heard him move to 432MHz. I was pleased to find I could hear him there too. Something of a pileup developed so I decided to drop my call in on CW, which seemed to work and I was delighted to work him.

Check out the DL0AR website to see pictures of the antenna system that DL6NAA uses. You'll see why he's so loud. Thanks for the contacts Rene!

Why has my DVAP started to get disconnected from the reflectors? (Win-DV users)

2011-12-22T21:01:00.001Z

Last weekend I thought it was about time that I made some D-STAR contacts again. Out here in the wilderness, I use my DVAP to connect to the network. As I have noted on the blog before, I often use the Win-DV software from http://www.dutch-star.eu
That software allows me to do a bit more than the DVAP-Tool software from AA4RC - just in terms of being able to set up connections on the PC rather than having to do it on the E-92.

Anyway, last weekend I started up the Win-DV software connected it to REF001C and went downstairs with my handheld. I hadn't heard anything after a while so I did a quick check and found that I had been disconnected. No big deal, I'd probably done something silly!

Connected it and checked again. I'd been disconnected. Probably something to do with 1C so tried another reflector. Same again!

Hmmm. Now my mind was starting to wonder. I closed down Win-DV and started up DVAP-Tool. Guess what? It connected and stayed there!

I didn't have anytime to investigate at the time, but this evening I checked out the Dutch*star site. It seems that a decision was taken by 'DPLUS Network managers' not to allow DVAPs or DV-Dongles to connect to the network unless they sent the hardware serial number. DVAP-Tool was doing that and Win-DV was not, hence anyone using Win-DV would get disconnected.

Why was this done? This blog has never been about radio politics and we're not going to start now. You can form your own opinion I am sure.

However, the good news is that the latest release of Win-DV allows you to select the 'HARDWARE' option to send your DVAP serial number to the network.

I tested it this evening and it's working fine. You can read more detail on the Dutch*Star site.

More on JT65A

2011-12-11T11:55:00.001Z

Since getting the JT65-HF program working with my equipment, I've been having a great time with the mode. It really is amazing what you can work. It's a very relaxing mode and you can easily be working someone on JT65 on HF and having a local QSO on VHF, which is quite fun.

Over the last few weeks, I've had JT65A contacts on 3.5, 7, 14 and 28MHz. The most satisfying bands have been 3.5 and 28MHz. On a number of occasions, I've hooked the receiver up to the computer in the morning and left the JT65 program running all day, to see what I can hear. Because I've configured the program to upload what it hears to the reverse beacon network and the PSK Reporter website, it's easy to keep track of what propagation is like, from my desk or from the train! I shall have to work out some remote control so that I can make some QSOs at lunchtime.

The image above shows a 'typical to good' day on 28MHz JT65. Generally the first signals are heard around 0700z and the last ones around 1730z - plus or minus.

In the evenings I have been trying out 3.5MHz JT65 and have been surprised by the results. Some of the notable contacts have been UN9LEI and KP4ED with lots of contacts in between! Hoping to work VK6 at some point, as that would be a nice one in the evening.

Great mode! I'm so glad I tried it. Can't wait to get the K1JT modes working with my FT847 for VHF/UHF!

Tis the season....for 70MHz FM!

2011-12-11T11:45:00.001Z

Not much from me during the last few weeks. A busy time at work, with three new websites going live in the space of two weeks - so most brain cycles going towards that during the lunchtimes that I normally use for a bit of blogging!

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been turning the 70MHz FM rig on a bit more often. I realise that 70MHz FM is a winter band/mode for me. During the summer, the antenna is usually connected up to the CW/SSB rig in case of a bit of Sporadic E. With the chances of that significantly lower now, I've been enjoying some more local contacts.

Good to work Geoff, G3NPI near Buckingham last weekend and to hear how active the band is on FM now. Clearly the combination of PMR kit and imports from the Chinese market has been a popular one. Keen to work a few people using the new Wouxun Dual Band handhelds when it's warm enough to go out portable again.

This morning I had a nice QSO with Ted G3XUX/P near Winchester. I worked Ted through the MB7FM parrot, but we were also able to exchange signals directly, which is nice over the 40-45 mile or so path between us. Listening to MB7FM whilst I was doing a few jobs showed several other stations active, so if you have 70MHz FM, it's well worth switching the gear on and making some calls as you can.

JT65A, propagation and data visualisation

2011-11-14T15:59:00.001Z

When I met Dave WW2R/G4FRE back in the spring he mentioned that after you've played with JT65A on HF you really don't want to do HF any other way. Having had a good weekend playing with the mode, I'm inclined to agree! Of course there are provisos - this is a mode to make bare bones contacts with minimal power or poor propagation. It's certainly not a mode for chatting!

Having said that, I have loved having the receiver running all day hooked up to the wonderful JT65A-HF program from W6CQZ with the data being uploaded to both the Reverse Beacon Network and the PSK Reporter network

The other thing about this is that when you call CQ or work someone, you can readily see who else heard you, which is absolutely fascinating.

Over the weekend I think my signals have been heard in all continents on 28MHz running anywhere between 10 and about 50 watts (depending on conditions) to the vertical. I have had some fascinating contacts and found some interesting openings.

Mike M0PRL is interested in visualising propagation data to look for openings and he kindly put together a fascinating time lapse sequence of the stations that my JT65A receiver hears over a period of 24 hours (though I confess it's usually switched off overnight, as you will see). Congratulations Mike, this is a really great visualisation!

My first QSOs on JT65a

2011-11-09T19:36:00.001Z

I've mentioned before that I wanted to try out JT65A on HF but had hit some problems with the laptop's sound card and the software. Having got things going on WSPR yesterday; my 1W 20m signal got as far as VE6PDQ/1 in Edmonton. Having had an insight as to what I thought the sound card issue was with the JT65A-HF software was, this afternoon I connected it all up and started the software.

It worked!

First of all I tried it out on 20m and got a decode, having sorted out the levels to the sound card. It seemed that the JT65A software needed a slightly higher input level than WSPR. Having done that I was delighted to work DL1AAH on 20m running about 1W.

I wondered what 10m would be like and sure enough it was busy! I answered a few CQ calls, but a particularly nice QSO was with W7YES - I was running about 10W to the vertical.

By about 1830z the band seemed to have faded but I left the software running whilst we had supper. To my surprise, when I popped up later, the band had opened again and the software had logged some further US stations including WY7LL.

I'm pleased to have this working and suspect I shall have a lot of fun with it.

What's that signal on 433.075? "Beep Beep - 500 feet!"

2011-11-08T12:59:00.000Z

I was passing through the shack quickly on Sunday and popped the FT7900 FM rig on to see what was going on in both the 145 and 433MHz bands. To my surprise, the receiver stopped on 433.075 - the output of the local Swindon repeater, GB3TD. However, what I heard was not GB3TD.

At strengths between S2 and about S4, fading up and down, was an FM transmission, consisting of a series of tones followed by an occasional announcement of "500 feet". I'd never heard this before and wasn't entirely sure what it might be. To start with, I thought perhaps it was a data from a balloon flight, but as the heights were increasing and decreasing quite rapidly, I suspected that was unlikely.

However, GB3TD sprang into life and Andy, G0BEQ popped up, testing his new Baofeng UV-3R (which sounded great!). I told Andy what I was hearing - and interestingly, about 15 miles away from me, he wasn't hearing the interference. He was able to tell me what it was though; equipment for model aircraft that reports the altitude of the model plane back to a receiver on the ground.

Oddly, after Andy and I had been speaking for a few minutes, I noticed that the transmission stopped. A coincidence perhaps, or perhaps the signal from the repeater being rather stronger than the few milliwatts from the plane had caused the altimeter to stop working whilst the repeater was active.

Not sure about the legality of these devices - although my suspicion is that they come under the heading of the low power devices and can thus be operated legally. However, if you are a model aircraft enthusiast reading this and you have one of these devices, may I ask you respectfully (genuinely) to try and use a channel that amateurs do not use. If you are in doubt - then your local amateur radio club can probably advise you which frequencies are likely to be in use local to you.

It's surprising how far a milliwatt or two of FM on 433MHz will travel!

Making VHF go further: Morse can help!

2011-11-06T17:25:00.001Z

The first weekend in November has always been one of my favourite VHF contests. There aren't many purely CW contests on VHF these days, but the Marconi Memorial 144MHz is probably the best known. The nice thing is that all over Europe many of the top VHF contest stations and groups take part in the 24 hour event. Quite often at this time of year there is some tropo around and there's always some meteor reflections too - so there are tantalising hints of contest stations some 1500 or 2000 km away!

These days I don't treat the Marconi Memorial as a contest but as an exercise in DXing and to see what I can hear and work on 144MHz. This year despite indifferent conditions I was pleased to work TM0W in JN36 at just under 800km - it's a path that works quite well from here as I see I have worked that station before. DF0MU in JO32 was a nice one too as well as a number of other closer French and Belgian stations. There were hints of more distant Italian and Czech stations, but nothing solid copied.

Although I wasn't looking to work UK stations this weekend, I did get the impression that there were a few more people from the UK taking part which is good to hear

Each DXpedition QSO makes someone happy...

2011-10-31T14:02:00.000Z

I remember a conversation way back when I was on the D68C expedition to the Comoros islands in the Indian Ocean. John G3WGV and Mark M0DXR were talking about the pleasure that people get from making contacts with DXpeditions. Mark summarised it in a way that I've always remembered, "for each QSO we make, we're making someone happy". It's a magical way of looking at it and it would be nice to think that it is true.

I was reminded of this reading Dave Richards' AA7EE's blog about his QSO with T32C on 80m with a homebrew QRP and a 40m dipole! It's a great story but what makes it even better is that the operator from T32C, Franky, ON7RU read the blog and commented on it! What really makes it is Dave's clear surprise and pleasure at making the QSO.

Having operated a few DXpeditions over the years, I can safely say that it's stories like these that make it all the more enjoyable. I remember back at 3B9C, I randomly strolled over to a spare station which was free and put out a call on 10m FM on 29.600MHz. A fair few came back and I worked my way through. Soon, I heard a familiar voice calling me, MW0TTU.

Mo, MW0TTU is the aunt of my friend Kelvin, GW4TTU and we had worked many a time on VHF from the South Wales hills. Simply, I replied without callsigns, "Hello Mo, what a lovely surprise, you're five and nine in Rodrigues".

It was lovely to hear Mo's surprised voice as she said "Who's that? Who's that!". Of course I explained quickly and did the more formal exchange of reports and then got back to the pileup, but it was a magical exchange.

It's the QSOs like that that really surprise people and make them happy.

CQ-VHF magazine available as a digital download

2011-10-31T13:34:00.000Z

When I lived in Canada, I regularly bought a copy of CQ-VHF magazine. Edited by Joe N6CL, it's an accessible, enthusiastic and informative look at the VHF/UHF scene.

When I moved back to the UK I occasionally looked at subscribing, but the costs to ship it to the UK were pretty high. I happened to look again the other day and was delighted to see that I could subscribe to the magazine as a digital download for a very reasonable $18.

The Fall 2011 issue should be available this week and I am looking forward to browsing it on my iPad!

Sirio 4000PL mobile antenna ready for 10m FM

2011-10-29T17:44:00.002+01:00

I mentioned earlier in the week that I had my suspicions that the Comet UHV-6 antenna wasn't working that well on the FM segment of 10m. Unsurprising really, as I trimmed it for the SSB section of the band! In any event, the UHV-6 isn't flexible enough to go under the barrier at the station car park. What I needed was a good flexible whip which would bend easily.

I enquired of some friends about good 27/28MHz whip antennas and had the Sirio range recommended. I looked at the Sirio 4000PL which looked promising. It arrived a couple of days ago in a very long cardboard tube, prompting a good-humoured 'what HAVE you ordered now, Tim' message!

I installed it on a magmount yesterday and plumbed it in. This morning I drove over to Faringdon with Lawrence and the cats (it was the cats' annual checkup at the vet - happy to say that all was well). Driving back, once the cats had stopped miaowing so vociferously, I tried a contact and was able to have a brief contact with US7IOG. Then this afternoon as I drove over to the farm store to get some bird food, I was pleased to make a quick QSO through the KQ2H repeater in New York.

Looks like it's working well and it will be fun to have 10m FM available in the car. I may need to look at a diplexer, so that I can simultaneously use the HF and VHF/UHF antennas.

But first, I think I'll make sure it goes under the barrier at the station ok.....

The return of 10m FM

2011-10-24T20:08:00.001+01:00

Well, of course it never really went away. Over the last few weeks and days, I've hearing people talking about what they've been working on 10m FM. Occasionally when I've been in the shack I've put the rig on 29.600MHz FM and have heard a good few stations coming through. Many people have reported making QSOs through a US repeater (New York?) on 29.620MHz. This evening, coming home, I drove outside the car park, under the low barrier and put the Comet UHV-6 antenna on the car ( it's too tall to fit under the barrier). As I drove home, I tuned around 10m FM. Fascinating!The most distant station was, and I think I have the call correct, was KF7EZ/M in 7 land! He was looking for a friend of his in the US 4 call area! I tried to call him and let him know he was being heard in the UK. Also heard VA3QRM, a W2 in New Jersey and W5AF (I think- I wasn't writing calls down!). Not entirely sure how well the UHV-6 works on 10m FM. Fascinating listening and I'll repeat the exercise tomorrow. Hopefully I will make a QSO before long. And in the meantime, I must remember to take the big antenna off the car before I head in tomorrow morning!

Sneaking a QSO with T32C

2011-10-19T13:26:00.002+01:00

The T32C Dxpedition to Chrismas Island (T3) has been going for a little while now. What with one thing and another, as well as poor conditions, I haven't really listened very much. Having said that, I've been in regular e-mail contact with some of the team which has been good fun. They are doing a great job and are amassing a huge QSO total; over 170,000 QSOs at the time of writing. Neville, G3NUG will be delighted!

I popped up to the shack briefly last night around 20:30z - mostly to have a look at VHF/UHF as conditions had seemed reasonable on the way home. Just out of curiosity, I had a look at the most recent T32C cluster spots. There were a few on 24MHz from Europe from a bit earlier, so I quickly tuned the FT1000MP to have a look. To my great surprise I could just hear them.

After a couple of minutes, the signals came up a little and I could hear that they were listening up 1. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Dropped my call in a couple of times and was completely surprised when they came back with my call!

What a great surprise. This morning, I'm pleased to see my callsign in the online log.

I may look a little earlier, if I have the chance, on 28MHz. That's a handy opening over Central and South America in the evenings. Over the years, I've worked ZL7, ZL9 and now T32 on 24 or 28MHz around that time.

A very unexpected QSO

2011-10-16T20:12:00.003+01:00

On Friday evening I was just heading up to bed and I did my usual check on VHF/UHF to see what was happening. The FM box stopped on 145.7375. The normal station there is GB3AL but the station I could hear seemed to be in France - or at least the stations using the repeaters were. Signals were fairly weak but seemed to be fading up and down. I kept listening and the box identified; F1ZPL. A quick Google search and I was amazed. The repeater is in JN24WB - over 500 miles from me!

Could I make a QSO through it? I disabled my CTCSS so that when I transmitted I wouldn't bring up GB3AL. I waited for a break in the conversation (in French) and dropped my call in. There was a pause and then I was welcomed in English!

Having had a short QSO, I was delighted to almost immediately get an e-mail from one of the group. It was also fun to get an e-mail from 2W0EAD, Alan near Newport, who could also copy the repeater.

I checked the details of F1ZPL and it is at(from memory) around 1600m ASL. The coverage area includes the Meditteranean coast. Amazing!

I'm sure this was my most distant ever 144MHz tropo QSO on FM!

Playing a little HF again

2011-10-12T12:11:00.005+01:00

Over the last few months, I didn't have any HF in the shack other than the Anytone 10m rig. One evening a few weeks ago on Twitter I noticed that Pete 2E0SQL and Mark M0MJH were having a chat on 7MHz SSB. I quickly routed the HF aerial to the back of the FT847 so that I could listen. That worked fine! Then I tried to call them, but discovered that the FT847 wouldn't transmit in the 'new' part of 7MHz.

Well, of course that was just the motivation I needed. I got the FT1000MP out and have installed it. And since then, it's been nice to make some casual contacts on the various HF bands again. Mostly I've been looking at 28MHz with a few nice contacts made around North and South America in the late afternoons and evenings. 14MHz has been quite fun later on in the evening - I've been having a quick tune around just before going to bed and have made some nice CW contacts, mostly into the USA. Al, WA7GSK in Idaho was a nice one the other evening.

Of course, I've been listening for my friends at T32C, but conditions haven't been good to that part of the world when I have had a chance to listen.

Polar Mesospheric Summer Echoes (PMSE)

2011-10-10T14:22:00.002+01:00

I just came across this fascinating post on Roger G3XBM's blog.

The openings from Europe to Japan - and perhaps Europe to West Coast USA on 50MHz sound candidates for this. Many years ago when I was part of the Square Bashers Expedition Group that activated squares around the UK mostly for 144MHz meteor scatter, we found that we could work well equipped Scandinavian stations such as SM2CKR pretty much any time we wanted. At the time we thought it was ionoscatter, but perhaps not.

I've got some reading to do now. Thanks Roger!

New version of WinDV available

2011-10-02T19:36:00.001+01:00

I was playing with my DVAP and the Icom E92 earlier in the day and I wondered if there was a new version of the WinDV software available. I'd previously been running 1.1.3 successfully. I checked over at http://www.Dutch-star.eu and sure enough there was! Version 1.3 was there. As before, installation was very straightforward. First impression was of the changed user interface, with a light blue background and and more rounded controls. The program works well. I quickly hooked up to the K6MDD repeater in San Francisco and had a nice QSO with Darryl, WA6YTD. Darryl confirmed the audio was good and that the program was doing everything it needed to. I enjoyed the option that if the station you are working or hearing is sending a lat/lon, then that is shown in terms of a Google Maps link that you can click on and see the position of the station. Easy to do, but enjoyable to use.

When did 28 MHz get good?

2011-09-25T21:09:00.001+01:00

I noticed a few tweets this afternoon about 28MHz being good. It wasn't until just now that I listened on the little Anytone rig. Sure enough there was some SSB coming through and some good signals on CW too. Now, so far I haven't connected up a keyed to the Anytone. Somehow it didn't seem right to hear conditions like that and not try to make a QSO or two. I quickly diverted the coax from the Anytone to the HF port on the FT847, my VHF rig which has a built in keyer. Despite being after 1930z there was still plenty coming in. Some quite big pileups as I suspect a lot of people, like me, wanted to get on and make some contacts. KG9N was first in the log. YV8AD next and then the band started to fade. But one last spin up the band and there was NE0X finishing off a QSO. Very happy to work Ron for the best DX of the day. Good to hear 28MHz in such great shape.

The Practical Wireless 70MHz contest

2011-09-25T17:54:00.001+01:00

I almost forgot! But I popped upstairs to have a quick listen just after lunch and decided to call CQ on 70MHz FM. I was pleased to be called and then a little surprised when a serial number was sent! I worked about 3 stations on FM and then decided to QSY onto the SSB end. As you know by now, the FT847 with the poor receiver and a vertical antenna is not an ideal tropo system. I was pleased to work G5RS/P in JO00 for a new square. One entrant who I suspect will feature in the leading stations made rather hard work of things by gabbling a report and locator and not sending a serial number! It took ages to get it out of them - long enough to make a quick QSO with a local in the meantime!Back on FM later, it was interesting to listen to Walt G3NYY/P operating from Broadway Tower. He was a great signal and it was good to be able to hear stations such as 2E0UAC in Coventry and even something from a station further north in Tamworth. Not bad for FM. I could also hear some fragments of a GW portable near Merthyr but sadly not enough for a QSO. A good afternoon on 70 MHz though.

My new club talk: 'My World of VHF'

2011-09-22T13:02:00.002+01:00

A few months ago, my friends at the Oxford and Harwell clubs both asked if I could come and give a talk to them. It's something that I enjoy doing - it's always good to meet people and if in some small way that I can encourage them to try something new or take a deeper interest in the hobby, then I'm delighted. What could I talk about though?

I decided to base the talk around the VHF/UHF column that I write for Practical Wireless in which I aim to cover as many aspects of VHF/UHF as I can and perhaps encourage people to look at their VHF/UHF radios in a different way.

I presented the talk for the first time at the Oxford club on Tuesday evening and I think it went ok! If as a presenter you enjoy it, it's generally a fair sign! It's always interesting to hear different perspectives from people.

- A first reaction from one attendee, 'VHF? Is there anyone on it these days?'. It was fun explaining that yes, there really is!

- Another interesting suggestion was that the introduction of CTCSS on VHF/UHF repeaters had led to a decline in activity. I explained that although to use many repeaters you need to send a CTCSS tone, you don't have to have CTCSS Decode on. So, if another repeater comes up on your frequency, you can still hear it. That's certainly how I set my rigs up, although it sounded like not all rigs allowed this. I'd be surprised if CTCSS' introduction had singularly led to a decline, but I've been surprised before....

- A very interesting discussion and heartfelt plea from an attendee about the RSGB's VHF/UHF awards and how poorly supported they are. Obtaining QSL cards, on 432MHz in particular, apparently, had proven very difficult. But the member in question said that details of the RSGB's VHF/UHF awards had not featured prominently in Radcom for many moons - did the society still have a commitment to them?

An interesting and enjoyable evening - thank you, ODARS! And I'm looking forward to visiting Harwell in a couple of weeks - and I'll try and tweak the talk a bit by then!

Revised 50MHz bandplan for Region 1

2011-09-22T12:40:00.002+01:00

Via an article on the Southgate ARC site, I noticed that the UK Six Metre Group had published a commentary on the new bandplan for 50MHz as agreed at the IARU Region 1 conference held in August 2011 in Sun City, South Africa.

The main new feature of the bandplan is that the majority of beacons will move from the lower portion of the band to the segment between 50.400 and 50.500, although synchronised beacons will share a segment from 50.000 to 50.030. Also, the new CW segment sees a 'Future International Calling' frequency at 50.050 and an Intercontinental Calling frequency at 50.090.

EME has a segment from 50.310 to 50.320 and MS from 50.320 to 50.380

A WSPR frequency is established at 50.401 plus or minus 500Hz with a beacon exclusive band from there to 50.500.

Digital Voice gets a mention in the top section of the band for the first time.

The new bandplan is set to take effect from 1st January 2012, although beacons have until the end of 2014 to move. See the bandplan here

T32C expedition - dxpeditioning never runs smoothly

2011-09-17T09:31:00.001+01:00

The FSDXA who are putting on the forthcoming T32C expedition plan things enormously well. Even when you plan and plan again, things go wrong. And so it is that their container with 6 tonnes of equipment is stuck in Tarawa (T30) and not where it should be. A boat has broken down, but despite promises, it has proved impossible to get the container to T32. The container has all the equipment required for the station so this is a significant setback. However, Yaesu have sprung to the rescue by lending 10 FT450s which can be hand carried. Lightweight linears, masts, aerials and computer equipment all need to be carried by the expedition operators. Knowing the group as I do, I am confident they will make a success of this. Read the full story at T32C.com

MMVARI - a skimmer for RTTY

2011-09-07T09:46:00.000+01:00

I enjoyed a drink and a meal with Justin, G4TSH on Monday evening. One of the things we talked about was some software called MMVARI. This software to decode RTTY has the ability to decode a number of streams. Ideal if you're running a pileup from a DXpedition. Or, for those of us at home, to have a display of RTTY activity across a portion of the band.

You can see it in action from CE0Y/I2DMI in this video

From some quick googling around it looks like the software can be integrated into the N1MM contest logging software for RTTY contesting. I know one DXpedition group who are planning to use it too...

Haven't downloaded this and tried it out myself, but it definitely looks of interest.

More on JT65A and why there there's more to Ham Radio than Morse Code

2011-08-25T12:21:00.003+01:00

Despite the fact that I haven't managed to make JT65-HF work on my laptop yet, the more I read about the JT65 modes and how people are working great DX with them, the more I'm impressed.

When PSK31 came out, it slipped into the 'almost mainstream' as a mode for people to work DX when they didn't have a big station for CW/SSB (wonder if we'll get to call them legacy modes one of these days...). PSK31 has built a great following over 10 or 12 years. I see JT65A for HF following in these footsteps.

Oh yes! Talking of legacy modes... someone who I greatly admire for a number of reasons recently posted on his Facebook status,'without CW it's just CB'.

Maybe it was a bit tongue-in-cheek - but I did laugh! What a 1980s view of the world! Sure Morse code is fun and it'll get through in many challenging conditions. I enjoy it myself and try to use it as well as I can. It's hardly the centre of the hobby or even advancement of the hobby, is it? To even suggest that without morse code that ham radio is just a 'appliance service' is pretty demeaning to people who have broader interests! And I think it's pretty demeaning to people who enjoy CB too ;-)

Anyway - have a look at these great articles from W6DTW and NW7US about JT65 - how it works and how you can use it in operation.

See the articles from David and Tomas here

Low power portable on HF

2011-08-17T21:29:00.002+01:00

If you've been reading this blog recently, you may have got the impression that I've rather lost interest in HF operation. That's not entirely true. But I do think that DXing in general has lost its appeal on HF for me. There's the antisocial behaviour which dogs a lot of DX operations these days. And also, once you've played with WSPR and JT65 on HF, there's the nagging doubt that using CW or SSB at 100w or more is somewhat akin to fishing by lobbing a hand grenade into the water and seeing what floats to the surface. Of course, that's completely unfair, but it's a fun analogy! Nevertheless, it's clear that efficiency of an 'average' HF DX contact is suboptimal compared to a few mW and a 'decent' mode.

All that having been said, I still love being able to connect up a simple HF transceiver such as my FT817 and a simple antenna like my MP1 vertical and make CW contacts over hundreds or thousands of miles. It's particularly satisfying to do that from a portable location.

And so it was yesterday that I thoroughly enjoyed some 17 and 20m CW QSOs around Europe. It was good, too, to hear Mongolia coming in loud and clear on 30m. But I wasn't remotely tempted to get involved with the pileup!

Adventures in programming the Anytone AT5555

2011-08-17T21:09:00.003+01:00

As the Anytone 10m rig arrived, the different band segments were fine, but I thought it might be fun to reprogram it a little. One thing I was keen to do was to be able to listen (only listen, mind you) lower down on 27MHz ssb. I guessed that activity would be higher there than on 28MHz and that it might provide some useful propagation indicators.

I ordered the programming disk and lead which arrived quickly. However, I had an enormous amount of frustration getting the lead to install on my PC (and actually I tried pretty much every PC in the house). Sometimes the PC would detect it as a COM port and sometimes it wouldn't. I thought it must be me doing something wrong. However in the end, I talked with Paul in the sales/service department at Nevada and we agreed that I would send it back. I completely expected him to say that it worked fine for him, but happily he declared it a faulty lead. Unfortunately, though they were out of stock so I had to wait for a replacement.

The replacement duly arrived last week and the PC immediately picked up the COM port. I still had to fiddle and faff somewhat as I didn't realise that my Anytone had v4 software in it rather than v3. Once I ot that sorted out, I was able to retask one of the band segments so that I could listen around 27.555. This works well (on receive!).

And as I hoped, it has already shown that the band is open more often than activity on 28MHz would have us believe. Sadly, I have already heard music and mildly abusive language on there! Not much difference, in case anyone's feeling smug, to your average DX pileup on the amateur bands.

Positively though, the Anytone has been a real favourite through the summer, listening for Es on 28MHz. With the reprogrammed segment, I'm certain that it will be a great indication of when to put a CQ out on 10m.

Just as I thought the 70MHz Es season was over

2011-08-08T20:38:00.002+01:00

I was only saying to Andy G6REG this evening that I seemed to have missed all the 70MHz Es openings this year. After supper I popped up to the shack to listen on 28MHz and noticed a tweet from Gav M1BXF to say that 50 and 70MHz were open to Scandinavia. I was pleased to work several stations and new squares. After I'd got the ones in the log, I put the iPhone video camera on to record OH1LEU working one of my locals, G8CUL.

Remember, this is a little 70MHz station - the antenna is just a vertical

VHF simplex QSOs

2011-07-31T20:03:00.002+01:00

When I'm out and about mobile, I generally have at least one VFO scanning about 40 channels on 2m and 70cm. The 2m FM calling frequency (145.500) is one. But generally, I seem to end up making QSOs via the repeaters. This works well and I have lots of fun and interesting contacts.

This weekend I decided to leave one of the VFOs on 145.500 and make lots of CQ calls! It yielded a couple of decent contacts. Yesterday, from one of the lanes around the village, I worked a SOTA station M0TUB/P on the summit of Cleeve Hill near Cheltenham. And today, when I was driving back from Mum's near Cheltenham, I had an excellent QSO with Giles G0NXA across the town and up and over the Cotswold escarpment. I wonder if a few CQs on 145.500 on the daily commute will bear any fruit?

Reflections on the Es season so far

2011-07-31T19:54:00.002+01:00

The VHF Es season seemed to kick off early this year in mid April. So here we are at the end of July and it seems to have been going for a while. Sadly, it generally starts to tail off a bit now - normally.

The new V2000 aerial has proved a great success for single hop Es on 50MHz and I have two to three hundred QSOs in the log. 70MHz has been more sparse. I think I have probably spent too much time on 50MHz at the expense of 70MHz. And for me, 144MHZ has been a wipeout, with nothing heard or worked. But that's just a case of not being there at the right time.

The Anytone AT-5555 has proved a lot of fun on 28MHz with a good number of low power QSOs around Europe on Es. With the exception of very low power WSPR operation, this has been my most rewarding HF operation in a couple of years!

Farewell to Gerry Gearing G3JJG

2011-07-19T13:11:00.002+01:00

It wasn't until yesterday, browsing the Southgate ARC site that I learned of the death, on 21st June, of Gerry G3JJG. It was good to see that the Gloucestershire Echo had published a nice obituary for him, although it didn't mention his amateur radio interests!
I'd known Gerry since my days as a new licencee in Cheltenham. Particularly in those days, I was very much in awe of his ability in CW operating and learned a very great deal from Gerry and Derek, G3NKS in the 1980s and early 1990s as we took part in RSGB's NFD on behalf of the Cheltenham ARA. I remember Terry, G3JFH marvelling at Gerry's ability to dig out weak signals on the 40m band in the last hour or so of the contest when many other groups were working nothing!

Gerry's obituary mentions that he was tenacious! I can confirm that and had cause to receive more than one 'tenacious' e-mail when I was RadCom's Contest Columnist and therefore perceived to be responsible for the RSGB's Contest Calendar and Rules. Suffice to say that Gerry was not impressed with something (I completely forget now and he probably had a point in any case....) and I was TOLD about it!

Tenacious he was, but in my experience he was never rude and always a gentleman. He was a proud member of the First Class CW Operators Club and had served on their committee for several years.

I shall miss hearing G3JJG on the bands. Gerry, it was a pleasure to have known you.

The Anytone AT5555 28Mhz rig

2011-07-08T12:51:00.002+01:00

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'd been looking at these rigs. Well, I have had the chance to play with one and I must say I'm not disappointed.

Quite obviously the rig shows its CB heritage. It's quite big too. Certainly it wouldn't fit in the centre console of my VW Polo in the same way that the FT8900 does.

The rig comes with a mounting kit for the car (which I made double as a stand) since the loudspeaker is on the bottom of the case, not ideal if you want to place it on a shelf in the shack.

I've found the rig fun and easy to use. As supplied in the AT5555N configuration from Nevada, the rig is 28MHz amateur band only. I quickly got used to the channel change moving me up or down 10khz and using the clarifier to tune in between in either 1, 0.1 or 0.01 KHz steps. This is only of significance on CW/SSB of course.

So far, I have had the rig connected up to the Butternut HF6V at home and have had a number of contacts around Europe using Sporadic E propagation. Some more distant signals have been heard from South America and the Middle East.

Output power is around 10W FM and a little more on SSB. Entirely adequate to make some fun contacts. Haven't tried it on CW yet, but it should work with an external keyer.

I like the fact that the rig is available through Amazon making it easily accessible to someone who might be new to the hobby or getting back into it again.

If you've not played on 28MHz before then with rising solar flux, this is the time to do it!

The G4VXE blog is five years old

2011-06-27T12:52:00.002+01:00

I've just noticed that my first posting to this blog was on the 24 June 2006 - making the blog five years old.

What I have enjoyed about it is that I can write about anything that interests me in Amateur Radio be it a passing interest-du-jour or something more long standing.

It always fascinates me which posts get the most visits. The ones about setting up D-STAR have been popular - which I was pleased about. I was less pleased that a rare comment on RSGB politics was the best read post of all time on the blog! Why was I less pleased? Because this blog has always been about getting on and trying 'stuff' in Amateur Radio out - not paperwork and politics! So I guess if someone wants to write a blog on Amateur Radio politics, you'll get great readership. But I won't be writing it!

Thank you for reading the blog - if you've been reading since 2006 then my commiserations - but thank you!

How to get a coax cable through a cavity wall (or improper use of knitting equipment)

2011-06-27T12:39:00.003+01:00

For a while I'd been wanting to reroute the coax from the Butternut HF6V to the shack. Where was it going before, I hear you ask? Well, the lounge actually... it's a long story.

Got around to the job yesterday and put a new coax run in up the garden, secured it to the fence and neatly tacked it up along the side of the house. When we put the V2000 vertical up on the house the other day, we drilled another hole into the shack to take this coax.

However, I had a very frustrating half hour or so trying to get the coax through the hole (which it turned out was not quite straight) - the coax kept missing the hole at the other side of the cavity and curling around.

Julie seeing my exasperation suggested I had lunch whilst I worked out a plan. Over a prawn mayo sandwich I noticed a number 8 knitting needle sitting on her desk....

Once replete, I marched outside with the knitting needle, a knife and some insulation tape. I stripped back the outer of the coax and the screen, leaving the inner of the coax to the same length as the knitting needle. I then taped the end of the coax as tightly as possible to the sharp end of the knitting needle. And poked!

The needle and coax went through the hole first time. From the inside, I undid the insulation tape from the tip and pulled the coax through as far as it would go. Then I went outside and gently retracted the knitting needle (I really didn't want the coax to follow it!).

Back inside and I was then able to pull the coax through into the shack fully! And hastily, I rinsed the knitting needle to ensure it was once again fit for knitting!

So, I can now play HF should I wish. Currently the Butternut vertical is connected to the Anytone AT-5555. More on that in a separate post.

If you don't have a knitting needle handy, a straightened metal coathanger may serve the same purpose.

New version of WinDV v1.1.3 available

2011-06-24T18:39:00.004+01:00

It was a nice surprise to have an e-mail last week from Fred, PA4YBR explaining that a new version of the WinDV DSTAR software is available for download.

I grabbed a copy and have been playing with it in conjunction with my DVAP Dongle. Like the previous version, v1.1.3 works well and has some useful new features. If you've got GPS on your rig, you can pass that into the network and have your location shown on http://aprs.fi and there's also an interface to ircDDB which I have to admit, I've not explored yet.

I like the fact that WinDV allows you to set up connects from the software, rather than fiddling around setting callsigns on the (in my case) IC-E92. There's more debugging information than in the current DVAP Tool as well.

WinDV works with DVAPs and Hotspots too. I definitely recommend you check it out - you can download it here

Awards from eQSL

2011-06-17T13:04:00.004+01:00

I happened to logon to my eQSL account the other day - I'd recently configured my logging program, Winlog32 to automatically upload QSO records as I make them. I hadn't logged into eQSL for quite a while, but I noticed that I'd qualified for eDX100 (100 countries confirmed on eQSL) and ePFX300 (Over 300 prefixes confirmed on eQSL).

It was fun getting the certificates back - I'm not at all into the whole awards / QSL part of radio at all - but since all I had to do was press 'Apply for award' then that's ok!

Funny wording on the certs though.....

28MHz musings

2011-06-17T12:51:00.003+01:00

I've been quite tempted by one of the Anytone AT5555 10m transceivers. Quite clearly its heritage is a CB radio, but there's an appeal in the simplicity of it. A few watts of SSB on 28MHz can go a long way as we know by now, and FM can be fun at times. Partly I'd thought about having one for the car - as long as I could find a 10m mobile antenna that will fit under the barrier at the station! Reading around on the web, reviews are fairly favourable. Still haven't quite convinced myself to push 'buy' on the website! Anyone reading this that's tried one?

Either way - the musings have convinced me to reroute the coax from the Butternut vertical to the shack (it was previously routed to the lounge...) so that I can listen on 28MHz a bit more on one of the rigs I've got around. If I get a chance this weekend I'll work on that.

Pick me up an HT on the way home!

2011-06-17T12:33:00.002+01:00

It's a rainy lunchtime in London and I just popped over to the City branch of Maplin to pick up a few connectors for something I want to do at the weekend. Whilst I was in there I had a look around.

To my surprise, under the communication section was a 144MHz handheld for about £90. It's badged Moonraker, but I'm guessing it is one of the many radios finding their way to our market from China. Doubtless the quality isn't going to be quite as good as one as one that you'd pay two or three times the price for, but at that price it would be worth trying.

What excites me about seeing equipment available so readily and as cheaply is that it has the potential to tempt people to take their first steps in amateur radio - or even to return to the hobby.

I've worked quite a number of people who had dropped out of the hobby over the years, but had seen the budget priced transceivers and been tempted to pick one up and try it out.

If you've got a ham licence, but no transceiver - why not give one a go! Amateur radio is much more than an HT - but every journey has to start somewhere!

A success for my new FM monitoring capability...

2011-06-09T13:11:00.003+01:00

I posted a few weeks ago that I'd got a V2000 antenna up for 50/144/432MHz. When I've not been using it on 50MHz, I have had an FM mobile rig scanning about 35 channels. Some of those channels have repeaters close by and others are generally quiet, but liven up if there is a hint of improved propagation.

The variation in propagation on a daily basis is fascinating, particularly in the morning and evenings.

Last Sunday was a particularly interesting day though. I was working in the shack off and on and left the rig monitoring 145.500 and tried to answer when anyone came up. There were a couple of local QSOs and a couple of not so local ones. I was pleased to work Roger, G4OCO/M near Ely in Cambridgeshire which seemed a decent distance from me. It seemed that conditions were perhaps slightly improved to the east and north east.

Later on in the afternoon I worked ON8DM on 144MHz SSB. Just afterwards I noticed a signal on 145.675, weaker than GB3RD that I normally hear on that channel but stronger than the other signals I normally hear there. I wondered what it was and stopped the scan to listen. Over the next few minutes a conversation started up in a language I didn't immediately recognise. In fact, I suspected it was perhaps an ON repeater, as I'd just worked Belgium on SSB. Signals came up a bit more and then I heard the repeater send a CW ID - LA9MR! LA9MR is located in southern Norway in JO38 around 920km from Longworth.

There was absolutely no hint that the band was open in that direction - no beacons on SSB - I listened! It must have been a very localised opening. The signals from LA9MR were audible for about 45 minutes before fading back into the noise.

Really fascinating!

Simplex D-STAR

2011-06-09T13:07:00.002+01:00

Things have been busy here so not much chance to update the blog, but just a few moments now, so....

It's good to hear that some people are having a go at using D-STAR for simplex contacts rather than just repeater/network based work. Des, G0RBD in Chippenham has just got started on the mode and has been making some interesting simplex QSOs.

What I hadn't realised was that 144.6125 appears to be being used for simplex contacts on 144MHz. So if you're out and about mobile or portable with D-STAR kit, it could well be worth a call on there!

Congratulations John Sluymer VE3EJ!

2011-05-23T13:25:00.001+01:00

I was delighted to read that John, VE3EJ had been 'inducted' into the CQ Contest Hall of Hame this weekend at the Dayton Hamvention.

Here's what the citation had to say:

"The 2011 inductee to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame is John Sluymer, VE3EJ. Sluymer has been an active contester and DXer since 1973 and is a founding member and current President of Contest Club Ontario, which has grown from 16 to 250 members in less than a decade. He also holds numerous Canadian domestic and DX contest records, was named the 2006 Radio Amateur of the Year by the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC). A frequent host for single- and multi-op contest operations from his station, Sluymer is a longtime member of the CQ WW Contest Committee and a frequent speaker at hamfest forums and club meetings"

Congratulations, John! I had the genuine pleasure of getting to know John when I worked in Toronto, Canada during the late 1990s. John is everything it says there, but lots more too. He's a genuinely warm and great guy. He and his wife, Hazel have welcomed me to their house on many occasions - radio related and non radio-related! Though I've not seen John in a few years now, we run across each other on the bands from time to time and it's always great to hear from him.

Well done John !

Sporadic E on 50 and 70MHz

2011-05-22T20:06:00.003+01:00

Over the last week, I've seen people reporting Es on 50MHz in particular, but by the time I've got home, I haven't had the energy or time to go and have a look on the bands! But this weekend has been good.

I'm particularly pleased to have had the opportunity to play as about 2 weeks ago, I got a Diamond V-2000 vertical for 50/144/433MHz up in the air. I'll do a separate post about how it's been working out on 144 and 433MHz and how I've been using it. However, this weekend was the first time I've used it in anger on 50MHz.

Yesterday afternoon I noticed that 50MHz seemed to be open when I checked using the 70MHz vertical (which works on 50MHz too!). I swapped the V2000 over onto the FT-847. Over a period of a couple of hours I worked around 40 stations on 50MHz - exclusively on CW. Best DX was LZ1UQ in KN12 at around 2107km. Worked some new squares and some nice QSOs in general - and was pleased to note that the new vertical gave me a 2 or 3 S-point advantage over the old vertical (which has worked the US and Puerto Rico on 50MHz!).

During the afternoon, I kept checking 70MHz and was very pleased to find LA6MV (JO59) calling CQ and even more pleased when he was able to hear me! I also heard LA4ANA (JO59) but didn't work him. Heard the LA5VHF beacon from JO48 coming through as well. A little later, I also worked 9A2SB on 70MHz. This was using the 70MHz vertical.

There was some Es around this morning (22nd May) as well, mostly the same stations that I worked yesterday on 50MHz, but made a couple of 'new' QSOs.

The V2000 is noticeably quieter than the compromise antenna I've used before. It would be nice to have beams up for 50 and 70MHz, but given that my main interest is Es on those bands then the 'vertical approach' works out well. Incidentally, the picture makes the vertical look as if it's very close to the power line... it's not!

Opening the case on an Ascom SE-550

2011-05-17T12:30:00.001+01:00

I was talking to Rob, G4XUT yesterday about getting the case of an Ascom SE-550 open - in order to make some adjustments to the internal squelch pot.

Rob very kindly put together a list of instructions on how to get the rig apart which I thought someone else might find of use. Thanks Rob!

To get into the Ascom:-
Assuming that the mobile bracket has already been removed.
Disconnect the rear connector by loosening the retaining screw.
Remove the Mic plug connector.
Unplug the code plug which is above the mic connector.
Remove the screw behind code plug.
Detach the front panel with is hinged on the L/H side.
Remove the 4 screws at the front and 4 screws at the rear.
Carefully pull apart the two main boards from the main housing.
Carefully re-assemble the two boards.
Replace the front panel, code plug and the mic plug.
Power up and adjust sq or whatever as required.

Simples!!

Operating the May 144MHz contest from Sardinia with IS0BSR

2011-05-13T17:57:00.004+01:00

Marco, IS0BSR/IS0, who I heard in March sent me his latest video - some images, audio and log details from the May 144MHz contest.

Hope you enjoy it.

This is a nice way of representing a contest.

WinDV - an alternative to DVAP Tool

2011-05-11T13:29:00.002+01:00

I was looking around for some information on DSTAR repeaters and the alternatives to commercial equipment when I happened across the Dutch*Star site.

The site is entitled 'D-STAR for the rest of us' and in the words from the introduction to the site is about 'about making your own equipment for the D-STAR communications system for Amateur Radio operators, ranging from simple GMSK node adapters ("modems") to complete transceivers, repeaters and so on'

What particularly interested me was the WinDV software. It's an alternative to the well tried and tested 'DVAP Tool' by Robin AA4RC. I have to add that DVAP Tool has always worked well for me but it's always interesting and fun to try out new software.

WinDV can be downloaded here Installation is very straightforward and really consists of unzipping the file.

Configuration too was straightforward. The only 'challenge' was to find out what COM port the DVAP was resident on. My DVAP Tool configuration told me that. I plugged my callsign and the COM port (COM10, in my case) into the settings and the program came up.

One thing that I liked about WinDV compared to DVAP Tool was the ability to connect to a reflector or repeater from the software - which is perhaps quicker than fiddling around in the menus on the E92 (in my case!). You can also configure WinDV to automatically connect to a particular reflector or repeater when it starts up which is a nice touch.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so I connected the software to REF001C and switched my E92 on. Reflector traffic was audible as expected and I found that I was able to transmit as expected - I had a nice QSO with KJ6MOH in Austin, Texas.

The software is described as beta, but on the basis of a few minutes 'testing' seems to work well, so if you have a DVAP, you may well be interested to try this software and see how you get on.

Ridgeway Repeater Group (GB3WH/GB3TD) AGM on 11th May

2011-05-10T13:18:00.002+01:00

It's annual general meeting time again for the Ridgeway Repeater Group (http://www.rrg.org.uk). The group looks after the GB3WH and GB3TD as well MB7UR and GB3NW in the Swindon area.

If you are close by, do come along - it would be great to see you there.

The meeting will be held at 19:30 at Thring Townsend, 6 Drakes Meadow, Penny Lane, Swindon. SN3 3LL

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North American 70MHz beacon WE9XUP active for Summer 2011

2011-05-03T12:50:00.002+01:00

I was very pleased to receive the following news this morning, via Dave, WW2R from Brian, WA1ZMS. The callsign has changed this year - but with the same configuration this beacon was heard in Europe last summer - so it is well worth listening for!

"As of 12:30z on 2 May, a 4-Meter Band Radio Science E-skip Trans-Atlantic (TA) propagation beacon is QRV from the East Coast of the US. QRG is 70.005 MHz, QTH is FM07fm, CW emissions.

ERP is 3kW aimed at 60 degrees true towards Europe. This year’s parameters are identical to the previous 2010 operations but with a new call sign, WE9XUP, for 2011.

The beacon is scheduled to run 24 hours a day until 1 Sept, 2011 but must QRT sooner if there are technical or *any* QRM issues. This is a Non-Amateur beacon (just like 2010 operations) and 2-way QSOs are not permitted.

Any and all QSL/SWL reports are welcome via email to:
WA1ZMS ( at ) ARRL ( dot ) NET.

This beacon has been licensed solely with the gracious co-operation of the
Society of Broadcast Engineers (representing the TV industry, which holds the Primary 4-Meter Band spectrum allocation) here in the US -- and the FCC’s Office of Engineering Technology.

Although there is no possibility of an Amateur Allocation on the 4-Meter Band in the US in the foreseeable future (because the TV Broadcast Service is the sole allocated radio service), as the transmitter licensee I am ever grateful that this beacon could be QRV again in 2011 for propagation research -- exploring Trans- Atlantic E-Skip propagation, with the dream of a TA QSO taking place someday on the 2-meter band!

Here's hoping for many more E-skip TA reports on the 4-Meter Band this year!

73,
-Brian, WA1ZMS"

Celebrating the Royal Wedding as GR4VXE

2011-05-01T19:48:00.002+01:00

I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that OFCOM had offered us the chance to use a special prefix to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton (have you noticed how she's become Catherine recently!). The special call can be used from the date of their wedding, 29th April for 11 days.

On the day of the wedding my QSOs were all on 70MHz - but it was nice to catch up with some of the locals as I was using the special call. I was out and about a little from the mobile on both 144MHz and 433MHz too, so fun to use the call there too. Tried a few CQs on 29.600MHz FM, but no luck!

Today, I caught a little sporadic E on 50MHz this morning, so worked I0JX and I0WTD from the Rome area. Once again, tried a CQ on 70.200MHz but no luck. Also had a really nice DSTAR QSO with Gordon, G8PNN from Northumberland who I'd not spoken to for years. It was really good to catch up and hear about some of the interesting QSOs that he's been having recently - including optical ones!

This afternoon, after some pleasant 70MHz FM QSOs, I biked over to Windmill Hill taking the FT817 and whip as well as the Icom IC-E92. 28MHz was quite interesting and I was pleased to hear some African DX coming through; ZS1AX, ZS1ACH and a 5R7 (I think) all on phone. Heard a I3 working into Brazil (PP5) on CW and A61Q on 24MHz CW before switching over to VHF/UHF.

I called through GB3UK on Cleeve Hill and worked Mike, G4UXC a friend from a long way back. We were licenced around the same sort of time and it was good to work him with the special call. Last but not least, before pedalling back to Longworth was a QSO with John, G4SRE/M in Swindon. John's a great 70MHz FM enthusiast so we swapped news about the band. John's a native of South Wales and I'm hoping that I'll be able to work him on 70MHz FM from a mountain top in Wales at some point! Ought to be able to do it from here...

And this evening, I was pleased to work the Camb-Hams expedition to the Isle of Arran, GS3PYE/P on 7MHz - probably my first 7MHz SSB QSO in a couple of years!

Easter weekend activities

2011-04-24T19:06:00.004+01:00

On Friday afternoon, I drove over to Broadway Tower Country Park to meet with Dave G4FRE (WW2R) who is in the country for a few days. It was great to see Dave and chat about all sorts of different radio from LF to Microwaves. Dave's an inspiring guy and I always come away with some project in mind! Recently Dave's been playing some QRSS using his N4FRE call which has proven quite interesting.

Dave also has been trying out one of the Down East Microwave transverters for 70MHz which look interesting (as do the ones for the other bands) and he mentioned that he'd heard an ON station on 70MHz from his Malvern QTH. We talked about EME on bands from 144MHz to 2.3GHz. A very pleasant afternoon sitting in the sun on the hillside, eating ice-cream!

It was interesting listening on the handheld and from the car from Broadway - it's a good location and I heard lots of stations and repeaters I wouldn't normally here from home. The new GB3GT 50MHz repeater on Clee Hill was S7 from the mobile and I listened to some interesting QSOs on the GB3TF 433MHz repeater.

For my birthday, amongst other things, Julie gave me a handlebar bag for my bike. Conveniently, an FT817 and paddle fits in easy, as well as the trusty IC-E92D handheld. This morning I cycled up to Windmill Hill, a couple of miles from here which has an excellent take off in most directions although isn't actually very much higher than home.

Most of my listening was on 28MHz using the FT817 and ATX-Walkabout antenna

The band wasn't wide open, but I heard XU7ACY from Cambodia, an Indian station as well as some Europeans on CW with 5B4AIX on SSB. Didn't work anyone but it was most enjoyable. Before leaving the hill, I worked Rob, G4XUT on the GB3TD 433MHz repeater.

This afternoon I was excited to work my first Sporadic E QSOs of the season on 50MHz, with QSOs with EA7HG and EA7/G1WUU both in IM87. Also tried some CQs on 70.200MHz, but no luck so far.

N1IC's 50 states in 50 days D-STAR challenge

2011-04-20T12:48:00.002+01:00

I always like reading about the challenges that people set themselves in Ham Radio. Challenges come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Keith, G6NHU's QSO365 project has rightly attracted a lot of attention.

Here's a fun one, too, that I read about yesterday. Nick, N1IC has set himself the challenge of making contact with each of the 50 states of the USA using D-STAR, in 50days.

You can read about Nick's progress here

I'm certainly going to look out for Nick on D-STAR. I won't be able to help him with a new state, but it'll be nice to say hello.

Mapping the grid squares you've worked on VHF/UHF

2011-04-13T13:24:00.002+01:00

I was playing around in the RSGB's 432MHz activity contest last night (enjoyable but no-one terribly distant worked) when I saw a tweet go by, from AI4RI, I think, asking if anyone knew any tools for mapping the grid squares that they've worked at VHF.

I use the Winlog32 logging program, written by Colin, G0CUZ which has some grid mapping capability built in - although it does not overlay the squares onto a map.

Another tweet from AI4RI quickly appeared saying that he'd found the WorkedGrids software from VE2ZAZ. I'd seen it mentioned before but not tried it.

The software installed quickly and I was able to point it at an ADIF file that Winlog32 had created. If you have a logging program that keeps the log in plain text, ADIF or Cabrillo then you can use WorkedGrids to scan the file automatically and plot your grids on a map. Winlog32 keeps the log in an Access database so I had to create an ADIF export and point WorkedGrids at that.

WorkedGrids setup allows you to select which bands you are interested in, I chose 50,70,144 and 432MHz, but you could just as easily select other bands. Having done that, a basic but effective map was displayed, showing the grid squares I'd worked on each band.

I seem to remember that DX Atlas by Afreet Software - as used by the FSDXA's 3B9C expedition some years ago has a similar capability.

UK amateurs have the opportunity to use special callsigns to celebrate the Royal Wedding

2011-04-13T13:12:00.003+01:00

UK radio amateurs have the opportunity to apply for a special callsign to mark the occasion of the forthcoming royal wedding.

It's all quite simple. G4VXE would become GR4VXE, GW5NF would become GR5NF, MM3JFM would become MR3JFM and so on. In order to do this, you need to apply, through the RSGB to OFCOM for a Notice of Variation (NoV). The only information you need to provide is your callsign and a contact e-mail address.

The special callsigns can be used between 29th April and 9th May 2011.

You can read about how to apply and the conditions of the variation here

I've applied, so it will be a bit of fun to use GR4VXE for a few days. Who knows, I may even fire up the HF transceiver...

India to Oman on 145Mhz FM

2011-04-12T13:16:00.002+01:00

I love reading about VHF openings and operation in other parts of the world.

I just found this fascinating post by OM Satheesh, VU2WSM regarding an opening from Oman to India on 145MHz.

T32C dxpedition raffle

2011-04-11T13:15:00.003+01:00

Earlier on in the year, I mentioned the T32C expedition to be mounted later on in the year by my old friends at the FSDXA.

Perhaps you might like to consider supporting the expedition and having a chance of winning a prize? The way to do this is to enter the raffle for a Yaesu FT-950.

You can read about the raffle here and the expedition in general here

70MHz FM update

2011-04-08T13:19:00.002+01:00

You'll recall that I've mentioned a few times the mysterious 'hum' that appeared on my 70MHz transmissions. Several times this seemed to be down to poor SWR because of a frozen aerial, another time a poor power connection, a further time a cat had knocked the negative supply to the rig from the PSU. Then it happened again last week and I couldn't really decide what the cause was.

Since I had recently acquired a converted Ascom SE550 rig for 70MHz I decided to use that instead. Got it all connected up and it seemed to work ok. I was very pleased of Andy, G0BEQ's manual which helped me set up the memories, configure the squelch, dispose of the roger beep (!) and generally tweak the rig as I wanted it.

However, Julie complained (quite rightly!) that the audio from the rig was particularly loud, even at minimum setting. Loud squelch bursts were clearly audible downstairs away from the shack! To get over this, I have done a rather crude (but effective) modification of putting a 100k pot in the speaker lead and using that to trim the audio level.

The converted SE550 seems to be working alright. There was a little tropo around on 70MHz yesterday and I was surprised that distant stations were being heard through the Tring Parrot, MB7FM - stations from as far afield as Clacton on Sea and Portsmouth. Sadly, I couldn't hear them direct, although there was just a hint of G3VXM from Portsmouth.

DX Code of Conduct update and the New DXers handbook

2011-04-08T13:02:00.003+01:00

Good to hear from Randy, W6SJ and the DX Code of Conduct committee who are doing their best to improve operating standards on the DX bands in particular.

For DXers new and old, there's the New DXers Handbook written by K7UA

Time to start thinking about 50MHz again

2011-04-05T12:41:00.002+01:00

Over the winter, I confess my 50MHz mobile activity has been confined to a few QSOs here and there through the different 50MHz repeaters that I can hear (GB3FX, GB3ZY and now GB3GT). The mobile rig scans 51.510, the FM calling channel, but nothing has been heard on there for some months, at least when I've been around!

However, as we move into April, thoughts turn to the Es season which will shortly, we hope be starting up, perhaps towards the end of the month in earnest, building towards a peak during June.

For the last few evenings, as I've been driving home, I've been calling CQ on 51.510 in the hope of raising someone. It will be intriguing to see what mobile coverage is like, compared to 70MHz or 144MHz. And I can't wait to hear distant stations coming through again! One year, I remember an EA4 mobile station was very active.

If anyone within 50-70 miles of me reads this and is around in the early evenings 17:15 to 17:45z or so, please have a listen! Ken, G0PPM near Stroud in Gloucestershire is trying out 50MHz mobile too - so listen out for him.

Congratulations SV2DCD and ZS6WAB: 70MHz first

2011-04-02T17:34:00.003+01:00

Just catching up with the week's VHF news. Really good to see this video of the first ever 70MHz TEP QSO between Greece and South Africa.

They start out on WSJT but stick with the video and you'll hear them work on SSB.

Congratulations to you both!

And I wish I could get my FT847 to work *that* well on 70MHz. I've seen the receive board advertised on eBay. Interesting that Leo, SV2DCD's 847 will run about 70W output!

What the RSGB needs now...a personal view

2011-03-28T16:04:00.003+01:00

I normally try to steer this blog away from ham radio politics. In my opinion, too much time is spent on politicing rather than advancing the hobby. And in a way, I suppose, that's what this blog post is about.

The RSGB website today carries a statement that the General Manager, Peter Kirby (who, incidentally is no relation of mine...) has 'left the Society's employment after the discovery of financial irregularities on his part'.

More than that, I do not know.

Peter had a difficult job to do, one which I would not wish to attempt. But it seems to me that with Peter's departure, there is the opportunity for the RSGB to be run by someone who has a vision of amateur radio in the 21st century.

It would be good to see the society taking a lead with inspiring people to take part in amateur radio. There is much new and good in the hobby and many new ways (blogging, social media just to pluck a couple out of the air...) to inspire and engage people. Under Peter's stewardship, it seemed to me that the society was stuck in a 1970s (maybe) time warp - of headmasterly toned communication with similar 1970 styled communication methods being employed.

The RSGB needs, desperately, to freshen their image! I know many people, deeply involved with the RSGB that read this blog - people that can communicate their passion. These people are just the one's who should be writing the society's blogs, tweets, Facebook updates - as well as the GB2RS audio and video podcasts/YouTube videos.

My wife Julie just popped in to ask what I was blogging about. I told her. As she put it - financial irregularities in the UK's National Radio Society? It hardly paints a positive view of the hobby, does it.

Along with my hopes for a more visionary approach to the hobby, it is good to see that Don Beattie, G3BJ has assumed (for the time being) the role of RSGB's General Manager. A safer pair of managerial hands I cannot imagine, belonging to a REAL radio amateur.

Today represents a REAL opportunity for the RSGB.

Commonwealth contest - and my QRPP contest QSO...

2011-03-19T08:56:00.002Z

As readers of this blog will know, I've been letting HF and particularly HF contesting take a bit of a back seat recently. No particular reason, but it's just one of those ebbs and flows in my interests in the hobby - it's happened before and I'm sure it will happen again.

Last weekend was the RSGB's Commonwealth Contest, often known as BERU. This contest is quite an individual one and one that you either love or hate. Anyway, that's by-the-by, I love it and many of my Canadian friends, especially John, VE3EJ take part in it, so I always like to support their activity.

I found a few minutes on Saturday evening to make some QSOs, mostly on 7MHz, where I worked John VE3EJ as well as a handful of others including 8P9AA, VY2SS, VE3JM, VO1TA and ZC4LI. I half intended to look at sunrise the next morning, but didn't get around to it.

And then my QRPP contact. QRPP is very low power - generally considered to be less than one watt. On Tuesday evening, I'd heard someone mention that it was one of the 80m CW Cumulative Contests. I tuned around quickly to see who was on and the very loudest signal was John, G3VPW who is about 3 miles from here in a village to the south of us. John was about 40db over 9! I turned the rig down to as little power as I could manage, around 100mw. Although it took me a few calls, I worked John - probably my lowest ever powered contact on HF!

70MHz update: And MB7FM back on air

2011-03-19T08:50:00.003Z

Last evening was a momentous one for me on 70MHz! I popped into the shack after I'd got in from work and switched the rigs on, including the 70MHz FM rig. Andy, G6REG/M called CQ on 70.450MHz and I answered him.

Andy was about 12 miles away on the edge of Oxford and we had a great QSO as he drove down the A420 towards me. Then it struck me! By the time he got to the roundaboout just to the south of me, he was about a couple of miles away from me.

Quickly, I got the Wouxun 70MHz handheld out and called him! He heard me, despite the handheld being in the shack. We did a couple of overs on the handheld as Andy headed west, out to a distance of 2 or 3 miles. Signals were still S9. So that was great! I knew the Wouxun worked well, especially with the Garex Flexwhip, but I hadn't actually had a contact with it. Thanks Andy! Hopefully now that the weather is improving, I will be able to make some QSOs with the Wouxun from various high spots.

And the other thing that came out of last evening's 70MHz activity was that the Tring 'parrot', MB7FM is back on air. It vanished a few weeks ago as you may remember but it's great to hear it back in service.

March 144/432MHz contest and a special mention to IS0BSR

2011-03-08T22:22:00.003Z

Last weekend was busy, but I managed a few minutes on Sunday morning to listen to 144/432MHz and make a few QSOs during the contest. I had forgotten that it was a European co-ordinated contest, so there was plenty of activity from all over EU and conditions were quite good.

My best QSOs were F5OOM/P in JN38 and DF5GZ/P in JN47 on 144MHz. F1ISM was the best DX on 432MHz from JN09. But around 0800z, I was tuning up and down the band and I heard a great meteor burst from IS0BSR - I called him but sadly the burst wasn't long enough!

However, this evening, I e-mailled Marco, IS0BSR to let him know that I heard him and he sent me a link to this great video of his contest activity from the weekend! Fascinating to see the station that allowed me to hear his 144MHz signals all the way from Sardinia!

VHF/UHF Tropo

2011-03-03T12:52:00.002Z

With the high pressure over the last couple of days, conditions have been good on VHF/UHF. The only chance I've had to operate has been whilst I've been mobile, but there have still been interesting things to hear.

Listening on 145.650 last night as I was driving home, I could hear ON0WV weakly but clearly. This morning, the Bedford repeater, GB3BF was easily audible in Oxfordshire on 145.7875. I gather that there was good activity on SSB last night on 144MHz with DK1CO (JO63) and a number of Dutch stations being worked.

Albrecht AE2990AFS - 24/28MHz portable

2011-03-03T12:41:00.002Z

Thanks to Julian, G4ILO for drawing my attention to the Albrecht AE2990AFS portable rig on his blog.

As Julian describes, the rig is actually a multimode, multistandard CB rig, but it can be very readily converted for amateur bands use.

With solar activity starting to improve, it seems, 24 and 28MHz should become much more interesting and full of possibilities. Of course, low power and simple antennas will not always get through, but as conditions improve, so will your chances.

I was part of the team that operated from the Comoros islands as D68C back in 2001 and for many of the operators, one of the memorable QSOs that we had was with a portable station in California who was using a handheld 28MHz radio at a bus stop! And one solar cycle before that, I remember listening to mobile stations driving around Tokyo, Japan whilst I was using converted CB rig with a 28MHz vertical in the loft.

As I've already got an FT817 it would be hard to justify spending money on the Albrecht, but it certainly looks like a lot of fun and I can imagine them becoming popular.

And now it's off again....MB7FM off air

2011-02-24T17:51:00.003Z

The Tring 'parrot' repeater has been quite handy for testing the MyDel-5189 70MHz rig that I'm currently reviewing. Tried to call it up on Tuesday evening without any success, so I wondered if the aerial had fallen off, but I was still able to work some local stations at the usual signal strength.

I checked with Selim, 2E0CKF in London to see if he was hearing MB7FM and he wasn't either. So looks like there's a problem.

Hopefully MB7FM will be back again before long - it's a nice aid to 70MHz FM activity in the South-East. In the meantime, it's always good to make simplex QSOs, in any case.

K0BAM reaches 1000 QSO milestone through FM satellites

2011-02-22T17:25:00.002Z

I noticed a tweet from Jim, K0BAM in Colorado at the weekend, saying that he'd made over 1000 QSOs through the FM satellites. I asked him if he could send me some more information which I will use in the Practical Wireless column. Jim also shared with me this video, which I think you'll enjoy too.

It's something a bit different, but completely fascinating and using equipment that many of us already have - though that Arrow dual band antenna looks useful!

Congratulations, Jim!

Catching up on the week (Harwell rally, hands-free and 70MHz FM)

2011-02-19T17:39:00.004Z

What no blog posts this week? It's been a busy week with one thing and another and I don't seem to have got around to it.

Last Sunday I enjoyed going to the Didcot rally. It was well attended - better, I think, than for some years. As far as I was concerned it was a mostly social event and it was good to see a number of friends face to face and have a quick chat. I didn't spend too much money, but grabbed a 70MHz quarterwave mobile antenna for the car from the Garex stand and an audio lead to help Julie with her presentation about 'Earthwatch, Cheetah's and Me (her!)' which she did for the local WI this week.

Coming back from the rally, I felt my foot go! Just an attack of tendonitis, but it's been painful through the week and I've been avoiding walking which is unlike me!

What else has been happening? I noticed a conversation on Twitter about Digi-interfaces and noted that someone recommended Alan, M0AQC as being a good source of reasonably priced interfaces. His web page has the details. I also noticed that Alan makes hands-free kits. I'd hoped to see one at the Didcot rally but didn't. I was conscious that if you are operating mobile these days, a hands-free kit is considered essential. I checked with Alan that one of his would work with the FT8900R - he said yes - so one has arrived and been installed.

The unit is a clip on microphone which could go on the sunvisor, although I just clipped it onto my collar to get a better audio level and a switch box with LED which I've attached to the dashboard. Reports so far have been good. The only downside is that I've lost the ability to scan or change power levels from the program keys on the microphone. No big deal, it's something I can manage in different ways.

I've got a MyDel-5189 70MHz FM mobile rig in to review for Practical Wireless magazine. I've got it set up in the shack and it's been working well. I'll save the details for the review, BUT - something I immediately enjoyed was the ability to scan various channels on 70MHz. That was something that I'd never done with my Philips FM1000 converted rig.

I wondered if it was possible and after a quick look at the manual for the PA4DEN conversion I was able to store frequencies and scan them. Result!

Proud to be in a '40 top blogs about ham radio' list

2011-02-19T17:27:00.002Z

I was a little surprised when I was looking for something just now, to find this blog listed in Satellite Dish's '40 top blogs about ham radio'

Just a bit of fun - and it was nice to discover some new and interesting radio blogs by going through the list - equally, there are a couple of my favourite radio blogs which aren't on the list, so I think I'd better suggest a recount!

The Hepburn tropo site was right!

2011-02-07T12:38:00.004Z

In my last post, I said that the Hepburn tropo site was pointing towards good VHF/UHF conditions from the south-west of the UK towards Spain by last weekend. When I got on to 432MHz SSB, late yesterday morning, I heard one or two people talking about good conditions to the south. I had a quick chat with Mike, G8CUL operating at the Harwell club as G3PIA and he mentioned that there had been a Spanish contest earlier on and that some contacts had been made. Unfortunately by the time I got on, if conditions were still there, there was no activity.

I enjoyed making a few contacts in the 432MHz AFS contest over reasonable distances; G4ZTR and G1OGY/P both in Essex, G4ODA in Lincolnshire and G0HFX/P in Devon being some of the more distant ones. Good to work Pete, 2E0SQL trying out his new system too. Before heading over the Cotswolds to see Mum, I had a couple of quick 70MHz QSOs; G8FAK near Milton Keynes and G3NPI at Buckingham.

I'd pretty much given up/forgotten about the tropo when we came back in the evening until I saw a post from Ken, G0PPM on Facebook saying that he was hearing a French station on 145MHz FM. Thought it was worth a listen, so I popped upstairs to see if I could hear anything.

The Swiss beacon, HB9HB was coming through nicely, but CQ calls in that direction on both 144 and 432MHz didn't result in any QSOs. However, just as I was about to give up, I heard a weakish call on 144.300 - I could tell it was a French station and the signals came up a little as I turned my beam to the south and I was able to get the callsign as F1MOZ. That triggered something in the memory banks - and a quick Google confirmed that he was located in IN93. Signals weren't great on my little 5element, but I was delighted (and faintly surprised) when he came back and gave me a report!

Driving to work this morning, I was still hearing some tropo and there was a French repeater coming through on 145.650. I listened for a while and it turned out to be F5ZNN, located to the east of Paris.

A fun few hours on VHF

2011-02-02T13:22:00.004Z

I know some of my "HF only" friends have a slight disregard for VHF and particularly for FM. That's fine - it's up to each of us how we choose to enjoy our hobby. But I defy anyone who's enthralled by the 'magic of radio' not to be excited by the following circumstances...

On Monday evening, I was driving home from the station and as usual, had the FT8900 scanning on one of the VFOs. It very quickly became apparent there was some VHF tropo ducting around. 145.750 seemed particularly lively. I could hear the F5ZBH repeater in North-Eastern France very strongly and then to the west, I could hear the GB3BC repeater in South Wales. It made fascinating listening!

When I got home and found a few moments to look at the Hepburn tropo website and found that we were on the edge of a tropo duct, stretching up from western France, along the English Channel across the Netherlands and into northern Germany. I found I couldn't hear anything along the duct, although I did work F8BRK (IN99) quickly. He was working Dutch, German and even some Polish stations along the duct.

Later on in the evening, I noticed the Swiss beacon, HB9HB coming through steadily on 144MHz. Despite a number of CQ calls in that direction on both 144 and 432MHz, I didn't work anything, but having said that, I have noticed before that hearing HB9HB is not necessarily an indicator of working F and HB9 stations, as the beacon is so high, it may be that the ducting is going over the heads of the stations that might be available to work.

Next morning, I checked HB9HB before going to work, but it had faded. I had the rig on scan in the car as I drove to the station, looking for any tropo. To my surprise, I heard a loud FM signal with an Italian accent come up. It proved to me on 145.800MHz which meant only one thing - the International Space Station. For around 5 or 6 minutes, I was fascinated to listen to IR0ISS, one of the astronauts aboard the ISS answering questions from schoolchildren at a school near Lyon in France (of course, I could only hear one side of the conversation!).

Truly a varied and magical few hours on VHF! Oh, and by the way, by the look of the Hepburn tropo forecast maps, there could be some propagation from the southern/south-western UK towards Spain and the Canaries this coming weekend! Let's see!

What does it sound like to listen to 2m from space?

2011-01-26T19:16:00.002Z

The people best qualified to answer that question are the astronauts who've operated on ham radio from the International Space Station. Some weeks ago, I saw people talking about a video made by Col. Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC who was a very enthusiastic operator of NA1SS from the International Space Station. I had a chance to see the video today. It's fascinating on all sorts of levels!

During the video you'll see the inside of the ISS and be able to hear what it sounds like to operate from the International Space Station.

I particularly love the segment where Doug talks to the station near Houston and offers to come over and give a talk to the club. Wow!!!

Pieces of eight... or why the Tring Parrot (MB7FM) is no longer sick

2011-01-24T13:36:00.003Z

When I got the 70MHz PMR set installed again just before Christmas, I remembered the MB7FM 'simplex' repeater on 70.4375MHz. The way it works is that you transmit a message, which it stores and then forwards when you stop transmitting. It will store a maximum of 120 seconds of audio. I tried to access the repeater, colloquially known as the parrot, as it repeats what you say. No luck! I assumed at the time that this was because my aerial had degraded and my signals weren't reaching Tring! Actually, it would appear that the parrot was, er, sick and off-air.

Yesterday I was tuning around 70MHz and noticed a signal on 70.4375MHz. I was delighted to find that it was the parrot and that I could hear it. I had a couple of QSOs through it, one with Andy, 2E0VPX in Leighton Buzzard and with David, G8JGO/P near Peterborough.

Interestingly, I could hear fragments of both stations directly, though it would have been impossible to make a QSO without the parrot.

Apparently the parrot was restored to service early in the New Year. If you're in the South East of the UK and have 70MHz FM, give it a go - hopefully you will make some interesting contacts through it that you wouldn't ordinarily be able to make on simplex.

More on Meteor detecting using the NAVSPASUR

2011-01-22T08:23:00.004Z

Dave, WW2R/G4FRE kindly pointed me in the direction of a really interesting article, dating back to 1998, written by Dr Tony Phillips on the NASA website. Rather than using the GRAVES transmitter in France, this is based on the NAVSPASUR radar in in Texas. This radar operates at 216.98MHz as opposed to the 143.049MHz at GRAVES.

The article shows some great illustrations of reflections AND satellite echoes which is something I was really curious about.

Enjoy the article here

I'd be interested to hear from any North American readers if they have any success listening to this system.

Listening to Moonbounce on 1296MHz with your browser

2011-01-16T19:01:00.003Z

I noticed today that the PI9CAM group who use a huge 25m diameter dish for 1296MHz moonbounce would be active. The great thing about these guys is that you can listen to their receiver using a WEBSDR receiver at http://websdr.camras.nl:8901/

I took a very quick video - which isn't great quality, but you'll hear PI9CAM working a JA station. Remember the signals are bounced off the moon - a round trip around around 500,000 miles! You get a demonstration of the speed that radio signals travel at (the speed of light!) by listening to the echo from PI9CAM. You'll hear him stop transmitting and then after a pause, you'll hear the echo as it comes back from the moon.

A lot of EME takes place using the WSJT modes, but the contact on the video is in SSB - testament to the great equipment in use at PI9CAM! As I write this, I'm listening to LX1DB on SSB too - so I highly recommend you have a listen next time the group is active - check their webpage for details.

Monitoring the Graves transmitter (143.049) using the Easygram software

2011-01-15T14:52:00.004Z

Since I discovered the Graves transmitter on 143.049 a week or so ago, I have been listening quite a lot. There are plenty of meteor reflections to listen to and it's also interesting to note that there are some weak but steady signals audible in addition to the meteor reflections. My guess is that these are reflections from aircraft - after all there are plenty in the air between here and Dijon.

Today, I installed the Easygram software on my laptop. I have used this software previously for beacon monitoring and other analysis. I quickly configured up the software and was able to see consistent traces from the transmitter. I can't see any evidence of Doppler shift on the 'steady, constant' signal, which I would expect to see if an aircraft was involved - so perhaps it is tropo after all (Having said all of that, I am listening to the transmitter whilst writing this, and I can distinctly hear aircraft scatter on it!).

Here's an example of an image from Easygram which shows a meteor ping from the transmitter. If you look closely at the image, there is a faint trace line towards the centre of the screen - this is the weak, steady signal, probably the tropo signal from the transmitter.

Here is the location of the transmitter shown on Google Maps

View Larger Map

How WW2R does WSPR

2011-01-14T13:24:00.002Z

I've known Dave Robinson, WW2R/G4FRE for very many years. He's one of the most enthusiastic and innovative radio amateurs I know. Talking to Dave is to be inspired about some project or another.

I was just looking on Dave's website to catch up on something completely unrelated to this post, when I found Dave's page on how he tackled operating on 7 and 10MHz WSPR with a homebrew station. I'm sure you'll find it as fascinating as I did.

» Read about WW2R's WSPR station

Tracking the ISS

2011-01-13T13:38:00.003Z

Perhaps like me, you enjoy watching the International Space Station pass overhead. It's wonderful to see - a testament to humankind's ingenuity. If you look carefully, even with the naked eye you can discern the shape of the massive solar panels that look like 'wings' on the side of the spacecraft.

As radio amateurs, we can listen for radio operation from space. Voice contacts have been heard over the last few days, so you may want to listen on 145.800MHz when the spacecraft is in range.

When is it in range? I just noticed this handy Google 'Gadget' which shows when the ISS is passing over a particular area!

Interesting Meteor Scatter article - Geminids 2010

2011-01-06T13:17:00.004Z

Through a link on the Southgate Amateur Radio blog, I found an interesting article written by Dr David Knight of the Norman Lockyer Observatory radio club at Sidmouth. The article details experiments that David performed during the Geminids meteor shower in December 2010 on a frequency close to 144MHz.

David monitors a high-power transmitter close to the Alps on 143.049.

I'm very interested to read about this transmitter and of David's experiments. It sounds as if the transmitter he uses could be a useful propagation monitor for me. I'll have a listen and see what can be heard in 'flat conditions'.

Have a read of David's paper here

One trace is annotated with a suggestion that the reflected signal is from a satellite in low earth orbit. I was intrigued by this. I've heard many reflections from meteors and of course aircraft. I wonder if a satellite or the ISS could reflect sufficient signal?

What do I want to achieve in amateur radio this year?

2011-01-03T12:16:00.003Z

At the beginning of each year I always think it's fun to try and set some goals for the year. Sometimes I find my focus changes and I end up not doing them, but it's always interesting to look back on

Here's what I'm thinking of at the moment:

1 - Activity. Try to maintain my rule of calling CQ each day on one band or another and to let no CQ call go unsanswered - even if it's just a quick hello.

2 - 70MHz. I seem to have spent more time on 70MHz than ever before in the last year. I'm currently enjoying 70MHz FM, but I hope to focus on CW/SSB during the Sporadic E season. Although the FT847 gives me some CW/SSB capability at low power and a poor receiver. I want to improve on that. It may involve a transverter driven from the FT817, or perhaps modifying the FT847. Keen to do *SOMETHING* to improve what I can hear on 70MHz.

3 - 50/144/432MHz. I'm keen to install a collinear antenna for these three bands. The intention is to erect a small mast on the house which will also support a TV antenna for the boys' TV. On top of the mast can go a collinear for 50/144/432 MHz. I'm hoping that I can use this antenna for Sporadic E on 50MHz as well as regular FM operation on 144 and 432MHz. Currently I have no vertically polarised antenna for 144 and 432MHz and it would be useful to be able to scan the FM channels to monitor propagation more closely, as the repeater channels very often show hints of openings before there is adequate activity on SSB.

4 - 1296MHz. I'm getting more intrigued by 1296MHz and would like to get some sort of capability on the band in the year. Not sure whether this may just be simple 1296MHz FM from a handheld or something else. We'll see. I can do so simple 1297MHz receive using a scanner, so it will be interesting to see if that yields any results.

ZS6DJM's modified FT897 including 70MHz transverter

2011-01-01T12:29:00.003Z

I was just chatting to Dave, G4AQK on 70MHz and he mentioned that he'd seen a video on YouTube showing how ZS6DJM had modified an FT897 to include a Spectrum 70MHz transverter.

Interesting! The transverter is located in the battery compartment and a switch has been added to the top of the rig to switch the transverter on and off. Very neat

New Year's Eve Tropo

2011-01-01T09:07:00.002Z

New Year's Eve dawned with some fairly localised (to me) but quite intense tropo on VHF/UHF. When I first switched on the 144MHz rig around 0815z (It *WAS* a day off!) I noticed the GB3VHF beacon in Kent was well over S9 - it's normal strength is around S6.

Didn't get a chance to operate, but I had the FT8900 on in the car as I was driving down to see the bees and noticed that the GB3PO repeater at Ipswich and the GB3BX repeater near Wolverhampton were coming through.

From home, literally seconds before we went off to see Mum in Cheltenham, there was a flurry of activity on 70.450MHz FM. 2E0EKF, 2E0CBP and G0AUI were all coming through. Looked them up this morning and 2E0EKF is in Chigwell, Essex and G0AUI in Haywards Heath, Sussex (can't find 2E0CBP at the moment!). Shame there wasn't an opportunity to call them as that would have been an excellent distance on 70Mhz FM.

Happy New Year!

The Christmas VHF/UHF cumulatives

2010-12-29T16:20:00.002Z

Although I don't enter the contests as such, I always enjoy taking a few moments to try and make some contacts in the RSGB Christmas VHF/UHF Cumulatives. I particularly enjoy the multi-band element - where you work someone on one band and then try and work them on the other bands that they have available.

This year, I had 144 and 432MHz available as per normal, but I thought I would try on 70MHz FM as well. In theory, I have 70MHz CW/SSB, but as you will remember, the FT847 has such a poor receiver for weak signals, it's not really worth using in a 'tropo' context. I missed most of the first session, but was intrigued to hear 2E0NEY from near Bath on 70MHz FM, on the Wouxun handheld, as I was coming back from a walk. Naturally, I called him, but alas, I still haven't made a QSO on the handheld!

Some of the notable QSOs from the two sessions; ON4WY was worked on 144MHz in two sessions, GW8IZR from Anglesey, (IO73) was a very welcome one on 144Mhz. It's not that far, but the antenna isn't that good to the north as there are some local obstructions. It was good working Dave, G4ASR on both 144 and 432MHz. I even heard him a couple of times on 70MHz FM but didn't manage to attract his attention! Stewart, G0LGS from Cheltenham was loud on both 144 and 432MHz which I thought was good going, considering the path over the Cotswolds. Similarly, Brian, G6HIE in Worthing, under the South Downs was doing well and it was fun to make it on both 144 and 432MHz with him. I should really have tried on 70MHz FM - could be an interesting path!

Chris, G4CCC was the best DX on 70MHz FM at 42km, only just further than Colin, G3TA at 41km! Lots of fun trying a bit more 70MHz FM and I'm confident the gear is working reasonably well now.

No great DX in the sessions, but an enjoyable mix of contacts on different bands during the sessions

What Santa brought to me - a Pentaflex PSU

2010-12-27T14:15:00.003Z

Santa was, as usual, very generous in his, er, deposits here. There were no specific amateur radio themed gifts this year, as I am well provisioned in that department! I did, however, have a couple of things for my astronomical telescope.

One of these was a Pentaflex 'Mobile Power Station'. This looks like a giant torch, but is in fact, a great big rechargeable battery. The idea was to use this for my telescope which otherwise uses a gazillion AA batteries to guide the tube onto the correct target and it can go through them pretty quickly! I've got more crafty and thrifty about moving the telescope around, but I realised that the PSU for the scope would be a good idea.

Of course, the unit will not just power a telescope! It will be absolutely ideal for powering an FT817 or similar on holiday. It's relatively portable, though quite heavy - so I don't think it's the answer to carting up a mountain for SOTA or similar activities - but definitely a great answer to having plenty of 12v readily available.

70MHz FM: Or when 3 stations came back to a CQ...

2010-12-27T13:59:00.002Z

Over the last couple of days, I've had the 70MHz FM set on when I've been in the shack. I've probably said, but the set is an converted Philips FM1000 series set.

A few days ago, I called CQ and Dave, G4AQK from Swindon called me and asked if I knew there was a lot of hum on my transmission. I didn't but, switching on the monitor receivers confirmed the issue. I soon found that if I touched the case, the problem went away. I tried various earthing points without any success. Caught up with Rob, G4XUT a bit later and he suggested that it might have been an RF feedback issue.

Bearing in mind Rob's suggestion (which I was quietly a little sceptical about, as the issue seemed to be independent of power level) I grabbed a ferrite ring and put it on the power lead, close to the rig. That solved the problem - so I forgot about it.

A few days ago, I called CQ on 70.45MHz FM again and thought I'd check the transmission. Despite the ferrite ring, the hum was back! Tried another ferrite on the microphone lead, but that didn't do any good! Then the penny droppped!

The outside temperature was around -12C (unseasonally cold in these parts). I think there was ice on the antenna (probably in it too!) and this was affecting the SWR. This morning, outside temperatures had risen and thawed a lot of the snow and ice. The hum has gone! So I'm sure that's what causes the problem.

Meanwhile, this morning, I heard Chris, G4CCC from near Reading calling CQ on 70.450MHz. Called him back and was surprised to hear him say that three people had come back to his CQ! Two of the others were in Surrey and barely audible up here in the frozen wastes of Oxfordshire - but it's great to hear more activity on 70Mhz.

Got a 70MHz FM set? Why not hook it up and try and make a contact or two?

More real radio and Cyrillic morse

2010-12-09T13:09:00.003Z

When I called Radcom VHF editor, David, G4ASR last weekend in the 144MHz AFS contest, it was fun when he replied "Good to see you doing real radio, Tim, don't bother with the other stuff!". Thanks for reading the blog, Dave!

There couldn't be anything much more 'real radio' than 3.5MHz CW, could there? Last night Julie was out at a WI meeting (oooh - I haven't mentioned her Etsy shop for a while - there are some lovely gifts for someone in your life - look out particularly for things she's made featuring our home-grown lavender) and I switched on the HF radio for some 'company' as some people would the TV...

Looking around the low-end of 80m, I tuned from station to station to get a sense of what the band was doing and stopped on a CW ragchew to see who it was. My CW's not quite as sharp as it used to be, but it's not bad and I don't miss much. But this QSO was getting me worried - I really couldn't understand much at all. Fortunately all became clear when the callsigns were sent - it was a UA4 talking to a UA1. Of course, they were using Cyrillic Morse - hence it seemed like some of the characters might be familiar, yet weren't! I always love to hear those Russian QSOs and on a winter's evening, it's surprising just how deep into the Asian continent you can hear if the band's quiet.

And so it was until an expedition landed in the vicinity (ZL8X?) and all hell broke loose. Then, it was time to go and make a coffee...

Back on 70MHz FM

2010-12-05T12:51:00.002Z

With the Es season just a distant memory, I've moved the 70MHz antenna from the FT847 onto the 70MHz FM rig, which is a converted Philips FM1000 PMR set. It seems to be working, though there are no QSOs to report just yet. I can hear the MB7UW packet node on 70.4875 some miles away and the GB3RAL beacon on 70.050 is loud! Test transmissions from the Wouxun handheld within the shack are loud too. So, hopefully there will be a QSO before long.

There's a net in Swindon on a Friday night now, 2000z, run by John, G4SRE - starting off on 70.450 and moving to 70.475 - so should be able to work some of those guys, and there's also some activity from Reading on, I think, a Tuesday night.

Ottawa D-STAR symposium resources online

2010-12-03T13:43:00.003Z

Earlier in the week, I noticed from Alan, VA3STL's blog that the proceedings of the Ottawa D-STAR symposium were on-line.

Alsn did a nice write up on his blog and it's great to see that the slides from many of the presentations are online too.

I've not really had a chance to look at the presentations fully yet, but at a first glance they look great - I've learned plenty in the few slides I've looked at so far.

Thanks to Alan, VA3STL and also to the Ottawa Amateur Radio D-STAR group for this interesting resource.

Propagation: one of the fascinations of amateur radio

2010-12-03T12:43:00.002Z

For me, and I'm sure I've said this before, one of the fascinations of radio is how how signals travel from one place to another; how signals can be strong one day and almost inaudible another. I find this true at both VHF and HF.

One of the pleasures I find on HF is to listen to a band that you think should be closed and see what's coming through. That's what happened the other night. I'd had a quick spin around 28MHz which wasn't doing anything at all (it was well after sunset) so I went down onto the bottom end of 14MHz.

The band was pretty quiet - but the great thing was that the only signals coming through were from several thousand miles away. First heard was a chirpy weak one, which turned out to be from Honduras, working into the USA. I listened to him for a while and tuned up and down the band a bit, only to find a Venezuelan station at good strength. He was also working into the USA.

Though I didn't get a chance to call, I'll bet a contact would have been possible and it's often fun to surprise people with a call from far away.

Even when you think the band is closed - have a listen!

Win 1000 QSL cards!

2010-12-03T12:22:00.003Z

This is PROBABLY the only time you'll see QSL cards mentioned on this blog. It's really not my thing. BUT, I know it's important to a lot of radio amateurs and, as long as you don't force me to send bits of cardboard around the globe, then that's ok with me....

Over at amateurRadio.com where Matt, W1MST kindly syndicates my blog, you can win 1000 QSL cards from KB3IFH QSL cards. The cards look great!

So, why not enter the competition and try and win the QSLs? If you do, and you've worked me, you don't need to send me one, though. Thanks all the same. Good luck!