Looking Forward to 2022

-
As we say goodbye to another weird year of disruption caused by the ongoing pandemic, ironically everyone has caught Covid In my household including myself. The good thing is we seem to be not too ill just temperatures, aching and fatigue so far. As for ham radio it has been a good year for sure. I have enjoyed the next solar cycle starting up and have had plenty of good DX on HF. My activities via Space has been good with great results into the Satellites and ISS as well as improving the reception by moving the antenna array. I would say my /M operation has been less than I would have hoped for which of course is down to the fuel prices being unreasonable here in the UK. Our Government is determined to limit our travel one way or another. I will be glad when this year is finished with for sure, let's hope 2022 heads us all in a much more desirable direction. The best thing for me of 2021 is M7ELC Elsie my daughter getting on the air and not much else can beat that happy feeling. Have a good Christmas holiday all and a much better New year! 

Comments

PE4BAS, Bas said…
Hope you will get healthy soon Simon and family. My believe is that everyone will get covid. So far we didn't get it. Hopefully the vaccin will protect us getting very ill. It was indeed an interesting year and especially for Elsie getting on air with her own license. Very special indeed since most youth isn't interested in radio at all. Wishing you and your family all the best for 2022 already. 73, Bas
11:44 am
MØYKS Simon said…
Thanks again Bas, your comments are always appreciated my friend. Iam holding in there so far and the girls are not so ill thankfully. I agree totally about everyone getting it eventually. The only good thing is it will hopefully clear off before the holidays start for us. Hopefully when I stop sweating and feel better I can catch some DX 🤐.

In the meantime stay safe your side and all the best season greetings to you and your family. 73 buddy
12:04 pm
VE9KK said…
Good morning Simon, very much enjoy reading your posts. Yes it sure has been an odd year but as you said the solar conditions are on the way up finally. Lets hope the COVID is on it's way out in 2022. At this end we so far have not had COVID.
73 and all the best in the New Year.
Mike
VE9KK
12:41 pm
MØYKS Simon said…
Hi Mike thanks for the comment and good to hear you are avoiding the virus your side. I have a good path to Canada from here and regularly work stations from over your side. It's been a bit quiet on an evening when I like to get on but that is probably the time of year. I do hear DX on 40m and 80m again now we are into winter. Hope you have a great Christmas and an even greater new year. Thanks again for the blog visit and support. Best 73 de Simon M0YKS and family.
2:38 pm
F4FUL said…
Happy new year and good health!
3:28 pm
MØYKS Simon said…
All the best to you Cyril, Have a good Christmas and happy 2022
4:12 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Full Size Delta Loop for 20M

-
Image
I came across a simple delta loop design courtesy of dxzone found on the net some time ago and have been planning to give it a go for a while. This weekend I had a couple of hours spare, so I decided to give it a go using some 2mm multi strand wire cable, a dipole centre and a mixture of 75 ohm and 50 ohm coaxial cable. The delta loop is supposed to be resonant on 20 meters but I found it to be a little high so at present I am tuning the Loop with my mfj-969 which copes extremely well. The resonant frequency is 13.2 MHz at the moment so the next chance I get, I shall shorten the overall length making sure that each of the three sides are still equal in length, and hopefully adjusting the antenna for maximum performance ATU free for 14.2 MHz. I believe the miscalculation in the resonant length is probably down to the fact that my wire is covered in the plastic sleeving from the manufacturer which always effects the swr as I have noticed in past experiments with dipoles you always get sl...
Read more

Homebrew 40/80 Trap Dipole Design

-
Image
This Antenna design was one that I used about 4 years ago, it worked exceptionally well on 80m and 40m. The size of the antenna makes a Half wave length on 80 meters, and with the traps a half wave on 40m with a SWR (standing wave ratio) of 1:1-1.5 across both bands. It worked well also on 20m with the use of an A.T.U (antenna tuning unit). I made my version of this antenna using 3mm multi strand copper cable which I left covered by the PVC insulation. The traps can either be home brewed using some 40mm diameter plastic drain pipe and winding wire around the pipe approximately 10 turns, then connected in line after the 10 metre lengths. Or the alternative is to purchase some commercially made 7.1 MHz traps, and fit them in line the same way. The antenna can be fed with 50 ohm coax with a home brew balan or again a commercially purchased balan. The wire lengths of the dipole are 2x 10 metres and 2x 6.7 metres as shown on the diagram above. This antenna can be mounted quite low to the gr...
Read more

YAESU G - 5500 Elevation Rotator Repair

-
Image
After 10 years of careful use my G-5500 eventually developed a couple of faults on the elevation rotator side.  Fault 1. For the past year I have had to guess the elevation as the readout was no longer working on the controller unit. I suspected the position switch which was located inside the rotator up above the house roof which was a pain in the butt to say the least. Fault 2. Over the winter the gearbox on the elevation rotor seized up solid. I plucked up some courage and erected my ladder and which with the aid of a rope to lower the mast it all worked out quite straight forward. Once down out with the impact driver and away I went. Once I split the case with the impact driver which was easy, I found lots of sandy grit and dried out remains of what should have or once was gearbox/bearing grease. The next step was to inspect the seized gearbox and then remove the main shaft which can only be carried out by first removing the entire gear housing u...
Read more