Fantastic results from my Mobile Station

Wow! who says the bands are dead! this morning i was on the same journey to work when i stumbled across ZL1BD-AL.He was signing off with a G station when i called in on my humble ft100 with 50watts through my mono band Maldol antenna and to his amazement and mine we managed a 10 min QSO whilst i was driving to work.He was 5/7 to 5/9 all the way and i returned with a 5/7,i was more than pleased with that and had a good rag chew with AL rather than a usual 5/9 73 which what usually happens H.I.
So anyone thinking about going mobile i can strongly recommend the Maldol HFC20 mobile antenna's.As far as the rig my FT100 is certainly proving to be a little gem,giving repeated regular fantastic results...


On Wednesday 21st i was tuning around the 20m band whilst driving to work and come across a strong VK station on my mobile ft100.To my delight i managed to sneak into the pile up with a 5/7 with VK9DNX which was quite a surprise with my 50watts and 1.2m long Maldol hfc20 mobile antenna.I herd other VK stations and also ZL stations were herd on my mobile station.this was between 8.00 and 8.30 am

See you on 20M between 8.00 and 8.30 from the mobile.73 good DX!!

SSTV on 80M

SSTV on 80M - 3.730 myself 2E0HTS in QSO with OH2BT from Finland.........

Girl GuideThinking Day On the Air at the Starcentre

A view of the Mars Landscape at the STARCENTRE


Today was Thinking Day on the Air,which is an annual event for Girl guides around the world.This year Keighley and Bradford Guides took part at the Starcentre and i had the pleasure of operating the Station and assisting them with Ham Radio qso's around Europe on HF,we worked many stations mainly on 20M and a few on 40M and 2M. Contacts were made with Germany,Hungary,Ukraine,Italy,Russia,Romania,Spain,Yugoslavia and England.

This is where the shack is located at the college's Starcentre,its the Communication Centre.A large plasma screen is connected to the P.C and allows others to see whats going on in the shack,in this picture it shows Satellite tracking and decoding.

Here you can see Girl Guides operating the FT1000mp and also logging worked Stations.

YL's seem to attract plenty of calls a total of 30 Guides took part in the Event and they all had a HF QSO some had many.They will all receive a communicator badge for their participation and efforts.

Yes its ME having a play on HF, luckily i work at College full time and get to operate the Station regular which is only fair as i set the Station up in the first place H.I!

The FT1000mp in SSTV mode this was a hit with the Guides as i took their photo's and sent them out across the airwaves via SSTV on 20M

The other end of the shack is mainly used for VHF operation,as you can see more P.C's this time used for weather Satellite tracking and receiving,also the Internet such as QRZ.COM,Eqsl etc. To the right is the PSU,FT2600m 2M rig,Azimuth/Elevation controller,VR5000 receiver,ATU and FT890 which was used to receive more stations which were logged towards the Communicator badge.

This is a close up of the VR5000 receiver which i got the College to buy so that when I was not around other members of staff who are not licenced radio Hams can use this receiver to aid their teaching sessions.Well that was the idea, however i feel that the other members of staff seem to be scared of the radio equipment in general and avoid using it! This is a shame as we Hams are only too happy to help people get their licence. The use of radio has been a great tool for me using Science, maths,electronics,geography and propagation to help young people learn something and have fun and a good time.

I'm pleased to report that the Girl Guides really took to radio and had a great time at the Starcentre,hopefully we may hear some of the Girl Guides in the up and coming future of Amateur Radio.

that's all for now 73 and thanks for visiting this web blog.

Cq Cq Looking For DX

This week has proved to be quite interesting and i am pleased to report good DX has been worked on my Humble Ham Station.
After adding some 1/4 wave radials for 20M to the Hustler 6btv i seem to be working Stateside even easier than before! with good QSO's with AB1AI, W5OU,N3PF,N3UEV,K4VV and the well known W2ONV.These contacts all took place early evening just as the Sun was setting,all on the 20M Band.

I went on to Work Cuba for the first time but more surprisingly was that it was on the 40M Band using a simple G5RV and 50 watts.The cuban station was CO8LY and 5/9 reports were exchanged. VO1CRM from Canada and FM5DN from Martinique were both worked on 40m late evening time. Two more new DXCC were added to my collection taking it to 111 Countries in total,the new DXCC worked were D44BS from Cape Verde Island, and YW0DX operating as a DXpedition group from Aves Island both rare DX Stations especially using the G5RV and also on 40M.

YW0DX is part of the 4M5DXgroup who are currently active throughout February on Aves Island which incidentally is only 2m above sea level. When any storms hit the Island it becomes fully submerged, you can get an idea of what its like on the picture that is posted on the Stations QRZ.COM look up page which you can see here.

I hope you enjoyed this post ill be listen/operating on 20M and 40M in the Evenings so if you hear me please say Hello. 73 and good DX to all, thanks for visiting this site.

Pictures/ images of rigs i own and use

Kenwood TH7E handheld TX145/430 rx 0-1300mhz

Yaesu Ft470 (my first 2m/70cm radio still going strong) Yaesu Ft767GX HF,6,2 and 70cm

Yaesu FT890 HF (my first HF rig)

Yaesu FT100 HF,6,2 & 70 (i use this every day operating mobile & have had Excellent results)

Yaesu FT857 HF,6,2 & 70 (i use this rig mainly on 2m,70cm and 6m.i also have it connected to my p.c and down load satellite images e.t.c)

Yaesu FT 847 Earth station HF,6,2 & 70cm