Ham Radio Operator - M0YKS: August 2023

Ham Radio Operator - M0YKS

Ham Radio Experiments & Fun With Simon M0YKS Yorkshire UK

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Stealth Cushcraft MA5B 5 band Yagi "mini beam"

Well it's been up for 8 years and is still working really well for me. Yes I am talking about the HF mini beam which has a small footprint and a big signal. The largest element is aprox 17.10 ft wide and the boom is only 7.30 ft long. Despite its relatively compact size it works absolutely Fabulously and I would not change it as it's a perfect fit for my garden.

As you can see in the picture my MA5B is not a sight for sore eyes but is instead very difficult to find. It's mounted via a heavy home brew tripod base which houses a mast taking the antenna to just 20ft above the ground. The trees are old and well established towering above the beam.

After years of operation with previous poor conditions and now with much better band conditions I can honestly say what a great antenna the Cushcraft MA5B really is. I can usually work who I can hear unless they are running extra high power QRO and have a high noise level at their end.

The recieve is something special about this multi band mini beam as many that watch my YouTube live streams have said how well I receive and how clear the signal strength is as well as no noise. Obviously my location has something to do with this but when I compare signals with my other antennas - delta loop, dipole and 6BTV (multi band vertical) it stands out a mile how superior to them all the MA5B is. It's great having a few antennas to switch around and to be able to compare.

The construction quality.

As some of you know I am half way up the Pennines. This obviously is great for DX but lousy for calm gentle weather patterns. The past few years have provided plenty of storms with wind, damp, ice and other antenna nasties. The Cushcraft MA5B is really well constructed with thick walled tube and good quality fibre glass central connection tubes. My antenna was up at my work place for a number years before I bought our house so it's actually almost a 20 year old antenna.

Why am I writing this review now? Well I wanted to let you know that although it costs more than other antenna it lasts a long time with no trouble in between and the performance is virtually the same as a full sized Yagi. So if you are considering spending your hard earned cash I can give you the thumbs up with confidence that you will be happy with the Cushcraft MA5B antenna.

Last night I Just switched my radio on heard Japan with a big pile up calling. Gave one call and bingo straight in to Tokyo with Mac (Mitsuya) JG1OUT on 20m first call. CQ Dog X-ray! Cushcraft MA5B power! With 200w.

So here are the specs:

Antenna type: 5 band 3 element YAGI

Coverage HF Bands: 20, 17, 15, 12, 10 Meters. No ATU required.

Max power: 1200w

Turning Radius: 8.80ft

posted by MØYKS Simon @ August 24, 2023 0 comments

Sunday, August 20, 2023

Almost A Overhead Pass Today- SSB Satellite RS-44

This morning I caught the almost perfectly overhead pass of one of my current favorite satellites RS-44. I have made some awesome contacts via this bird and with my satellite antenna array I can work into it up to 3000 miles away which is more or less a full footprint.Here is the action caught on video as usual of course. Hope to hear you on the birds soon.

posted by MØYKS Simon @ August 20, 2023 0 comments

Saturday, August 19, 2023

Satellite SSB DX with RS-44

I finally got around to adjusting the UP-link on the SatPC32 software. It now matches the Doppler correction required to operate the SSB Transponder much easier with less adjustments whilst in QSO..

RS-44 Russian Sputnik Satellite.

A couple more contacts made and a final Doppler adjustment made towards the end of the pass. Now I am bang on frequency. Every radio differs slightly when setting up SatPC32 pre configured settings for the up link and down link. Careful adjustments using the CAT tab can be made when the pass is nice and clear. This helps to save time next time I use this bird as I will not require further fine tuning and will have a better copy. 73 thanks for following! I hope you have fun on the Satellite bands!

posted by MØYKS Simon @ August 19, 2023 0 comments

Thursday, August 17, 2023

Summer fun and plenty of DX

Well it has been a busy few weeks as we enjoy our summer holiday, we have been to many places from beautiful riverside walks, moor tops, coastal beach walking and beyond. Some of the places I was at included ham radio and I have been busy with my mobile and portable operation's.

The mobile HAM Radio station is still the same old original YAESU FT-857 and Maldol mobile mono band antenna's. This still works awesome as ever despite been 20 years in service. I have been making quite a few FM 2M mobile contacts recently as well and that has been pretty cool as well as providing impressive performance with my second antenna that is permanently mounted on the van roof. It is a Diamond dual band VHF UHF antenna. I have also had that one years as well 😀.

Whilst in Scotland (last week) I had plenty of time to work portable and we also had electric hook up on the beach side camp at Port William. This allowed me to set up my 50amp PSU which I used to power the fridge as well as my very old first HF radio that I bought.

Yes it is my YAESU FT-890 which is still a great radio to operate.

I had it nice in our Van Awning right at the side of the Irish Sea on the West coast in S.W Scotland. My van was used as the ground plane and antenna base which I connected a second length of coaxial feed line to the van mount straight into the radio in the awning. I also got out my big Hustler antenna and tried out both the RM-20 and RM-40 resonators (20m and 40m band).

The FT-890 and Hustlers worked fabulous /p as I operated as MM0YKS/P. I made some great DX into Indonesia, USA, South America and The West Indies whilst /P and /M. It was lots of fun and also confused as few lol as my call changed to MM0 from my usual M0.

The week before that we were over at the East Yorkshire Coast

we stayed at a converted farm house near to the sea which again was great for radio in between the family fun and sand castles.

My latest enjoyment mission was yesterday when we visited Yorkshire Air Museum and spent the afternoon admiring the amazing aircraft on display. A good place to visit if you are up in Yorkshire.

The weeks off have been busy but we have done a lot of good things and made every day count no matter what the weather has had to offer. I have walked miles lol 😅.

A few more things to enjoy before a brand new year of teaching begins again. One of those is my YAESU FTDX-101MP which I am getting in with very well indeed. This morning I was into the South Cook Islands for the second time this year. I also have had some amazing contacts worldwide as we enjoy the solar activity of cycle 25. Some recent favourite DX include China, Japan, Peru and even Pakistan and Iran. There are too many to mention but it is very good to hear so much DX and to be able to work them.

thanks for reading this blog and following my ham Radio adventures. I will be listening out on HF and the Satellite bands and hopefully back with you live from the the shack on another livestream this Sunday around about 21.00 UTC 22.00 local.

Here is something to keep you busy until then. Best 73 to all.

posted by MØYKS Simon @ August 17, 2023 0 comments

Sunday, August 06, 2023

Using The YAESU FT-4X Portable - Beamsley Beacon Summit N.Yorkshire

When Elsie M7ELC obtained her foundation amateur radio licence my good friend Pat W0OKE, Norm and the whole Portland Oregon HRO team sent her a fantastic first radio to celebrate her achievement as at that time, 2021, Elsie was 10 yrs old . She was very happy to receive this lovely radio which is the YAESU FT-4X. She uses it every now and again but not as often as the mobile FT-857 or shack station. So I decided with her permission to give it a go myself. After all my FTDX-101MP gets her attention so its a fair deal.

So today's adventure was to hike to the top of one of the local trig points about 15 miles to the North West of Baildon. The exact location is overlooking Bolton Abbey situated higher up above on Langbar Moor and is known as Beamsley Beacon which is 1300 FT ASL.

A great walk and also spot on for VHF UHF QRP.

The YAESU FT-4X is really nice radio to operate and is nice and simple to use so with my eyesight not as good as it was I found it great. The most impressive bit was its clear receive quality and from the reports it gets out well. When I got back home I ordered a 1/4 wave (aprox 40cms long) antenna to try it with next time around. I definitely would recommend this radio after using it. If you had two of these dual band radios your well on your way for the satellites and ISS. All you would require further is an Arrow antenna or something similar. Anyway back to Beamsley Beacon with the video of the adventure below.

posted by MØYKS Simon @ August 06, 2023 0 comments

Custom Search

About Me

Name: MØYKS Simon
Home: Baildon, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
About Me:
See my complete profile