2021 Ham Radio Fun!

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A very late Happy new year to each and everyone,  I hope you are all keeping well and safe as we enter another year over shadowed by this dreadful virus. Once again I am working online with my students rather than being in the welding and fabrication workshop where I belong. Despite the chaos there is plenty of fun and laughter in the household and I have also been very active on the ham radio bands. My log has never looked so healthy and I have been making many QSO meeting some great guys and girls on the air. 

The last few months have flown by and I now seem to be live streaming both welding sessions and ham radio from the shack. Every Sunday evening I have been live on YouTube working lots and lots of other radio amateurs on 80 and 40m as well as up on 20m when conditions permit. Its started to become a weekly ritual and I have almost formed a virtual gathering of regular friends via the YouTube channel stream and of course on the air. It is a real pleasure to finally get to meet/make qso with so many of you guys and girls that have been following my ham radio antics. The weekly check in is becoming very popular and I would like to thank each and everyone of you for making the effort and trying to call in. 

The weekly check in usually happens after I settle down my two fast growing daughters and get them into dream land. I try to get on the air for 22.00 utc and sometimes a little bit earlier if at all possible. Each week the number of callers seems to be growing and last nights live stream was great fun with a mini pile up at one point. 

My good friend and fellow blogger/youtuber Bas PE4BAS was one of the many super contacts that I made last night and as ever was coming in superb with an arm chair copy. Many of you guys come through exceptionally well on my recently home brewed 40/80 fan dipole. Its certainly working very well for me and with the 400 watts I have been hitting the USA and Caribbean on a regular bases, its fantastic to work so many great operators from around the world and see so many regulars on the live stream chat. There are too many great guys and girls to start naming everyone but please keep it up guys as I am really enjoying the fun and banter. 


Some of my favourite contacts have been with Barry - G6JMX, Chris - GM4ZJI, Jimbo - G1JSP, Michael - W3MLJ, Brayden - KC1KUG, Marija - YU3AWA and Frankie - VP2MNI. But in all honesty you have all been top guys and girls and have really helped me to de-stress in the current lock down situation. I cant wait to catch up with all of you and some of you that have been trying but not quite made it through yet.

See you all next Sunday around about 22.00 zulu for some more fun in the shack live and direct on my ham radio YouTube channel.

Here is a sneak peak of what kind of craziness we get up too.


Once again a Big Big Thankyou to all callers/friends that have made the evening so much fun. If you haven't managed to join in yet I hope to catch up with you soon.
In the meantime keep playing ham radio or SWL or CB or what ever it is that makes you happy and helps to pass the time in lock down. Stay safe and best 73 as ever de M0YKS Simon



Comments

PE4BAS, Bas said…
Great to work you on 80m. Not the first time, but for me a first time live on youtube. I showed some colleagues the point were I called you and they asked if that was really me calling you hihi :-). It was really a good copy almost the whole time. Live streaming radio contacts really seems to get popular especially now with all this lockdowns. Listening to my own voice now it revealed my english is not as bad as I thought after all. Gives me some confidence for future chats. Talking in another language is always a matter of practise.
By the way, live streaming welding, do you really weld live on youtube or is it just theoretical? Till we meet again...stay safe and healthy to you and your family. 73, Bas
9:14 pm
MØYKS Simon said…
Good Morning Bas! Yes you came through excellently ''arm chair copy'' or BBC Quality hi hi. Glad your work colleagues enjoyed it!

Live streaming is super fun and great for interaction with the followers/watchers also a cool way to check your signal report in real time. Shame my connection has developed a fault hi hi I am awaiting a BT Engineer to call back tomorrow and repair a connection outside somewhere. Hopefully I will be back live streaming again over the weekend once its fixed.

The online welding is theory based and we have plenty of technical information to get through. 7 units in total so I will be busy for a while yet hi hi. We just got confirmation to say we can go ahead and to get the latest Lincoln Electric Virtual welder and that will be awesome for sure! Its the top end of Virtual welding machines so I am really excited about that. When we get it I will video it working. It won't be just yet though.

Your English is superb as is your voice, I enjoyed listening to you very much! Cool accent you have! Catch up soon bro, regards to the family, stay safe and thanks for calling in and of course the comments. 73 de M0YKS Simon and Fam
9:06 am
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