Ham Radio Operator - M0YKS

Over the past 12 months the display on my Yaesu FT-857 has developed the "zebra stripes" problem which after looking in to it, this has probably happened because of high temperature from the sunlight entering into my vehicle. The best way to resolve the fault is to install a new board into the front panel which I carried out last night with successful results. I began by contacting YAESU UK who came straight back with the cost and part numbers which was very reasonable as the total cost for a complete brand new panel and new AF/SQ VR control was under £140. The panel has a screen and selector control so I thought I would renew the AF/SQ control at the same time. The staff at YAESU UK are extremely knowledgeable and very helpful indeed, I gained a few tips from one of the gentleman at YAESU UK regarding the task I was about to undergo.  The AF/SQ VR required careful soldering as the terminals are very tiny but apart from that the job was not too difficult and I managed t...

I decided that I would like to make a purpose made steel racking system for my shack. I wanted something that would house more equipment as my existing rack is just a tad too small. I have made the frame out of tube and box section. I just need to put in some shelves and then get some paint.

"Exempt Radio Amateur aerials from requiring planning permission" Current planning regulations severely restrict the ability of licensed Radio Amateurs to erect experimental aerial systems. We the undersigned require the government to amend the law to exempt all licensed Radio Amateurs (and C.B. radio users) from requiring planning permission for their aerials. Please follow this link to sign the petition 

Port William Scotland It's been a brilliant summer break and I managed to get in lots of radio time during our summer tour of Scotland and Wales. FT-857 mobile Maldol antenna The MK7 Transit performed well as we enjoyed many nights under the stars and I got the opportunity to operate mobile using MW0YKS/M as well as MM0YKS/M. I also made some good VHF contacts from my holiday cabin during my visits and my home shack was on the air when I was home. M0YKS Shack Operating from the Cabin FT-2600m Enjoying the view to Ireland and The Isle of man from the Mull of Galloway Scotland Campsite crew I made a few ham radio videos which are available via my YouTube channel which were from my shack and mobile.  I saw some amazing nature and countryside and had fun working the FT-857 mobile whilst clocking up some miles. The bands were poor but the beaches of Anglsey Wales and Galloway Scotland made up for that. Mull of Galloway Light House So once agai...

Just a quick update regarding my last post about Eltima software. Any radio amateurs and short wave listeners wishing to use Eltima products can get special discount and support. This has kindly been arranged by Helga from Eltima software solutions. If this is something for you just mention you're a Ham or SWL and that you have visited my blog. Contact helga@eltima.com    I hope that some of you fellow hams benefit from this and thanks again to all at Eltima Software Solutions.  If any other amateur radio related techs, developers or sales would like there products reviewing, testing, rating as well as good play around with in my shack. Please feel free to contact myself Simon M0YKS as I am always up for a good blog post to share with the World Wide Ham Community. 

I was recently contacted by Helga from Eltima Software who design software and apps which can be used in the field of amateur radio. Helga offered me the chance to take a look at a couple of software solutions of interest which are  Virtual Serial Pro  and  Serial to Ethernet Connector . Helga has been involved in the research of what can be achieved using the Eltima Virtual Serial Pro com port application in regard to Amateur Radio and has written an interesting article called  How to Control Ham Radio Transceiver from Several Apps at a Time . 1. Virtual Serial Port Driver: creates pairs of virtual COM ports. 2. Serial Port Splitter (Virtual Serial Port Driver Pro): helps to create bundles of virtual serial ports and set custom port parameters, allows managing real and virtual COM ports. 3. Serial Port Monitor: displays, logs, and analyzes RS232/422/485 COM port activity. 4. Serial to Ethernet Connector: allows sharing serial ports over Ethernet, LAN, and ...

The holidays are going well, after a trip to the Welsh island of Anglesey I'm now enjoying the good wx and occasional VHF openings as well as some short skip HF qso's into G land from the cabin on the Yorkshire moor tops.