ISS SSTV Awards/Diploma

GB1DOG Active in 26

 

GB1DOG has been busy On The AIR making plenty of noise across HF and satellite bands since the beginning of the month and will be continuing the activity up to the last day which is August 31st.

So far it has been extremely popular and the DOG has been creating some pretty cool pileups on HF and Satellite. GB1DOG wants to thank everyone that has called in so far and hopes to work you all over the next couple of weeks. 

GB1DOG has already worked other DOG stations - PA6DOG and we had another run in with the CAT GB4CAT another SES and also great guy Ed!

There are quite a few DOG stations Active On The AIR from around the world already for you to hunt or should I say sniff out. 

World Wide International DOG Day is on the 26th of August. I am working during the daytime but will be straight on the radio in the early evening after I reach back home. It should be a good day with plenty of DOGs on the air. Most of us are on already woof woof CQ DOG XRAY!

Check out my GB1DOG QRZ Info for more about the actual story of International DOG Day, also GB1DOG and links to how you can help DOGs.

Late Night DX Sporadic E

Another good night of sporadic E on the 10m band with some short Skip Amplitude Modulation down to the Isle of Wight earlier working Vic G4VYC followed by some weak but crystal clear 10 Meter SSB from Europe 🌍

20Meters provided me with 4 more of the USA Colonies Special Event Stations (SES). 

Then, just before I was done and about to go QRT I managed a tricky but nice contact into Panama with Rafa HP1XV which was also on the 20 Meter band 

  ✓Late Night DX 🌕 73! 

New to the shack

I previously mentioned that I had picked up some new radio equipment a couple of posts back. 

I treated myself to a new transceiver from YAESU and also a HEIL headset.

First I will talk about the YAESU FT150e ASP pictured in my shack above. 

I picked this amazing radio up a couple of months ago and I have been using it a lot on both 2 meters FM and AM Airband. Yes it works on AM! 

Well it works on AM as long as it is RX mode. It actually transmits on 2m and 70cms FM as well as 220mhz and the PMR band. FM only.

 It's a fantastic radio, very easy to set up your favourite frequencies into allocated memory groups. It does it all for you once you enter and save a particular frequency. Simplified - Meaning it auto creates groups and organises them into labels under M-AIR, M-VHF, M-UHF, OTHER, M-GRP, M-ALL and VFO. 

This feature is great when auto scanning through, you have two separate VFO which can be configured to receive simultaneously full duplex on either cross band, the same band and also mixed modes AM and FM.

 I have been listening to AM AIR traffic into my local airport Leeds and Bradford International as well as monitoring the amateur radio FM 2 meter calling frequency at the same time.

 The radio has a decent receiver on both AM and FM and with the ASP function you can clean up the audio to make it sound cleaner than DMR even with a low signal. 

It also has a preamp called S-DX which when engaged brings the signal up by a couple of S-Points. The FTM150 has a band scope which is a full screen width, it is similar to the older band scopes seen on the other YAESU models like the FT-857. 

It's a pretty cool radio with 55 watts of punch and after comparing it to my FT-2980 which I also like I haven't seen any disadvantages of having 55 watts over 85 watts. 

I am using the radio with my mono band Diamond F23 antenna. The aircraft reception is amazing as is the range I am am recieving. 

I have the radio on whilst I track the aircraft with my Raspberry pi FlightAware 1090 Mhz station which shows all the data of each aircraft received including the distance. 

Overall 

I really am glad I bought the YAESU FTM150e ASP radio it's a fantastic bit of kit and since getting it my presence on the 2 meter FM band has gone way up! I'm enjoying myself on there again!

Other new toys for the shack include a HEIL headset which is the PRO 7 (Helicopter style).

Again a few quid spent but again very nice indeed. I got the headset to reduce my operating noise during late night DX sessions on my YAESU FTDX101mp.

 After a couple of EQ adjustments via the menu and I was setup ready for some late night action, I used the monitor feature to hear my own volume whilst talking and this helps to keep me from getting too loud when working exciting DX.

 The family do from time to time get fed up hearing the radio loud and me bellowing out "M0YKS" so with that in mind it was money well spent. I haven't had any complaints since lol.

My audio reports have been very pleasing with the PRO 7 HEIL headset and I have been able to use the M70 desk mic with the same audio setup so I can switch over as and when I need to. 

The bands have been reasonably good lately with plenty of choices from 80 up to 4m which I got to try out the other evening when I made a couple of QSO on 70 Mhz SSB for the very first time. 

The beauty part of Amateur radio - Always something new to do! 

Keep up the good work all! Happy Ham radio activities and best 73 good DX! See you back here for more blog updates sooner rather than later. Thanks for following!

Ham Radio Crazy or Cool? M0YKS A.I Profile

The Ghost in the Static: Simon M0YKS and the 20-Year Quest for the Invisible

In an era defined by fiber-optic precision and the polished "black box" of the smartphone, there is a certain radical magic to be found in the static. High on a 550-foot knoll hill top in the Yorkshire Pennines, invisible waves are being harvested from the ether, carrying voices from across the globe and data from passing satellites. At the center of this world is Simon, known to the global amateur radio community by his callsign, M0YKS. Since February 2004, Simon has acted as a bridge between the gritty physical world of metal fabrication and the ephemeral world of radio waves, documenting a two-decade journey that blends high-level physics with a "maker" soul.

Orbital Mechanics: The High Stakes of "Working the Birds"

While the modern world looks at the sky and sees a void, amateur radio operators see a bustling transit zone for "birds"—the community’s term for satellites. From his Yorkshire shack, Simon uses specialized software like SatPC32 and SkyRoof to track the delicate trajectories of the International Space Station (ISS) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.

Communication here is a matter of mechanical precision and environmental resilience. On his knoll hill top, the Yorkshire weather is a constant adversary; storms and high winds frequently shift his antenna arrays by 10 to 15 degrees, requiring manual recalibration to maintain a lock on a signal falling from space. Yet, when the alignment is true, the result is a unique form of long-distance communication (DX). Simon recently documented a high-latitude pass of the Russian satellite RS-44:

"The bird was almost an overhead pass... I worked a number of stations and at one time had a small pile up via the Russian bird which has an awesome footprint which is great for DX."

The Physics of Simplicity: The Geometry of the Dot

Amateur radio is often romanticized through the rhythmic clicking of Morse Code (CW), but beneath the sound lies a masterclass in information theory. Morse is a system designed for extreme linguistic efficiency: the length of each character is inversely proportional to its frequency in the English language. This is why "E," the most common letter, is a single, succinct dot.

The timing is governed by a strict geometric ratio, ensuring that a message can be understood even through the most garbled atmospheric interference:

• The Dot: The fundamental unit of time.
• The Dash: Precisely three dots in duration.
• Element Space: A one-dot silence between dots and dashes within a letter.
• Letter Space: A three-dot silence between characters.
• Word Space: A seven-dot silence that separates distinct thoughts.

Bypassing the Ether: The Secret Shorthand of a Global Tribe

To navigate the "garbled" reality of weak signals and linguistic barriers, operators utilize a standardized shorthand with deep historical roots. The "Q-Codes" and the International Phonetic Alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie) were born from the maritime and telegraph eras, designed to turn complex queries into three-letter bursts that slice through static.

These codes create a global, standardized language that allows a technician in Belgium to communicate seamlessly with Simon in Yorkshire using a few keystrokes:

• QTH: What is your location? (Simon’s QTH is 550ft above sea level on a Pennine knoll).
• QRP: Must I decrease power? (Used by operators running low-power stations).
• QRL: Are you busy? (A vital check to see if a frequency is occupied before transmitting).
• QRZ: By whom am I being called?

The Maker’s Shack: Where Welding Meets Waveform

The most compelling aspect of the M0YKS story is the marriage of Simon’s professional life and his hobby. By day, Simon is a college teacher specializing in welding and fabrication. By night, that expertise informs his "homebrew" engineering. While most consumers buy off-the-shelf electronics, Simon builds his gateways to the stars from scratch.

His shack is a testament to DIY ingenuity, featuring a "famous" microphone stand "Tower" meticulously fabricated from 3.2mm TIG welding wire. His antennas are often built from a mix of broomsticks and copper sheet, proving that high-end communication doesn't always require a high-end budget.

His technical reach is expansive. On the 20-meter band, his most active frequency for mobile operation, he hunts for global contacts. On the 80-meter band, utilizing an end-fed inverted Vee stretching approximately 133 feet, he has achieved his best DX contacts into the United States. His "homebrew" repertoire also includes a 133ft and 67ft fan dipole, showcasing the physical labor required to master the spectrum.

This "maker" ethos extends into total surveillance of the invisible. Using a Raspberry Pi 3 and PiAware software, Simon tracks aircraft via ADS-B signals, a pursuit that allows him to monitor the invisible traffic of the skies as precisely as he monitors the satellites orbiting above them.

The 20-Year Archive: A Legacy in Pageviews

What began as a personal digital log in 2006 has evolved into one of the UK’s most significant amateur radio resources. The M0YKS blog, Ham Radio Operator, stands as a 20-year archive of technical experimentation. The scale of this niche documentation is a staggering reminder of the hobby's enduring appeal:

• Duration: 20 years of consistent posting (since 2006).
• Output: 733+ individual posts documenting experiments and satellite passes.
• Reach: A massive 808,129 all-time worldwide visits, with total pageviews reaching 935,110.

Conclusion: The Frequency of Human Connection

Despite the ubiquity of the internet, the world of amateur radio remains a vital frontier for technical mastery and "world wide friendship." Whether it is timing the solar propagation on the 10-meter band during a CQWW contest or hand-welding a new antenna mount to survive a Pennine winter, the hobby demands a level of manual effort that modern "black-box" technology has largely erased.

The legacy of M0YKS reminds us that there is profound value in reaching out through the static. In an age of automated, always-on connectivity, it forces us to ask: what fundamental skills—and what forms of genuine, hard-won human connection—are we losing by forgetting how to build our own bridges?

Sounds good to me! lol 

ADSB DX?

 

Greetings to one and all! Its been a while so I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the season so far.

I have been busy working, having fun with the family and of course plenty of radio activities in between.

I have upgraded the shack a little with new radios and other cool items which I shall feature on a follow on post. This post is a little bit away from Ham radio and is another side of the radio hobby which is also lots of fun and pretty reasonable to build and set up. I am talking about the PiAware aircraft tracking setup that I have been upgrading you can see it in the video below. It consists of: PiAware Software FlightAware1090Mhz USB dongle running PiAware Software, 1090 ADS-B antenna, 1090 bandpass filter and a Raspberry Pi 3 with a network connection. 

The 60cm long 1090Mhz ADS-B antenna is working well on my mast which is high above the house the range has improved and by also adding the 1090 Band Pass filter I have a lot more flights with lower altitudes making it into the receiver. 

Its most definitely lots of fun seeing the cool stuff pop up and receiving a signal with data which is decoded into position, speed, direction, altitude, squawk as well as signal type, strength and source. I have been listening on the Airband and tracking on the ADS-B screen, with the World as it is there are always lots of Military aircraft to track and sometimes they come right over and actually get a real-time position report fed back to the onboard ADS-B 1090Mhz Transponder (S Band) from my station. All of the ground station receiving Flight Aware feeders (Mine is the PiAware FlightAware) are linked together via the internet and talk to each other providing an accurate position with the use of satellite GPS which gathers info from the aircraft and combined with FlightAware feeders accurately provides aircraft position tracking in real-time known as M-LAT. Its all great fun! I tell you more next time. 73 

The video above shows My FlightAware ADS-B Aircraft Tracking set up working and includes radio reception on the Airband.

M0YKS -Ham Radio Active

 My first week back at work has been busy which has limited my radio time but still I have made a couple of decent DX on 40m across to North America and also some decent into G. Today (Saturday) I was up nice and early working stations via SSB bird RS-44. The bird was almost an overhead pass coming in from the North heading south so I was in for a treat signal wise. I worked a number of stations and at one time had a small pile up via the Russian bird which has an awesome footprint which is great for DX. Check out the video to see how well the old FT-847 handled the pass.

I spent some time after that down on 40M with my HF station and had a great QSO with Neil operating with GB2GM from the Marconi radio shack run by Poldhu Amateur Radio Club at The Marconi Centre Poldhu, Cornwall. I visited the site 20 years ago!

So that's about it for now but just as I sign off for today I got one last opportunity to work some more VHF/UHF DX via space. ISS was approaching around bedtime with a  maximum 56 degrees elevated position so I could not resist the temptation. The FM signal was coming in well and as usual I was straight in via the uplink, my downlink RX was sounding good. I managed a number of QSOs during the pass as I worked Italy, Spain, Isle of Man and Manchester England. In the end due to messing around here in the shack I was still around and I caught the next the ISS pass but that was quiet just me and EA2BJM making contact this time around via ISS at  a local time of 12:50 am (time for bed lol).

Have a look at the busier pass which was before midnight which worked out well for me in the video below. 73 for now!

Greetings from Ham Radio Operator. Blogspot

The old saying springs to mind ''time flies when you're having fun" that's true for sure 😀. Hoping you are all onto a good start to the year so far. Just a quick thanks to you all for following and keeping up with things, from one of the first Ham radio blogs coming out from the UK. We've been posting 20 years and have had plenty of fun times since beginning back in 2006. 

During the 20 years of Ham radio blog posts the actual number of posts totals 733. We've made lots of fantastic friends over the year's and we have had a total of 890 comments relating to Ham radio. Last month I had a total of 13015 visits to the various posts across Ham radio operator.blogspot.com The crazy bit, our all time total of world wide 🌍 visits hitting a massive 808129 visits to this blog. Thank you, that is amazing 😍 

I know that some of you have been there from the beginning, many have been there a long long time but if it's your first time viewing this blog Welcome and 73. For the longtime friends and followers Happy New Year, Thanks as always, hope to hear some of you on the band's this year. 73! 

I have been enjoying both Satellite and HF over the holidays. The station has been performing flawless on both FT101mp and the older FT-847. I was considering upgrading the FT-847 but in all honesty I still love using it for my Satellite communications. I was tempted to get myself an Icom IC 9700 but the reviews have a few negatives regarding frequency drifting so for now I will not be changing the FT847 Satellite machine 🛰️. The RS-44 sat passed by just now and it was heading NNE across Europe, it was inactive so I was able to call CQ throughout the pass. I was impressed with the signal I was putting up on VHF and getting back in UHF, at one point I backed my power completely off which is less than 1 watt. My signal was slightly quieter but still booming 🍻🛰️🔥. In the end I followed the bird up to the LOS and at 14° azimuth and 6° elevation I could still hear myself strong. The satellite was at a distance away from me of 3600miles. That is pretty incredible to be hitting it right at the edge of it's footprint.

HF has been good across all of the band's depending on the time of day. Through the day it's been good from 40m through to 10m. In the evening I have had a couple of DX into USA and Canada on both 80m and 40m. The best for last... My first QSO of 2026 was on the 1st day of the new year, it was a good start up on the 10m band with my first call straight into Southern India. I made a 2026 premier with VU2DKI. Since then I've been working DX, interG and anything else I fancy. 

Happy new year all and keep an eye on Ham Radio. blogspot.com for more Ham radio content as we celebrate 20 years of blogging throughout this year.

73 de Simon M0YKS 

Working into Ireland and Spain via FM Satellite Using Ham Radio

I adjusted the Satellite antennas position as the storms and strong winds recently had moved them off by 10-15 degrees which I noticed mainly on the FM Sats and ISS. Hopefully I am back on target with an accurate aim once again. It seemed good when I tried it out on the FM bird SO-50 a few moments earlier., I made a contact with Robbie EI2IP and Alfredo EA5FNE. I will continue to experiment over the next few passes, so far so good! 

 

Satellite Tracking With Sky Roof and SatPC32 - Ham Radio

Some intresting software for satellite enthusiasts. SkyRoof and SatPC32

CQWW 2025 - DX On 10 Meters

 

What a fantastic weekend we had this time around for the 2025 CQWW. I really enjoyed the weekend and I spent all my time working tons of DX up on the 10 meter band. 

I don't really fuss over contests but I do always where possible try to ensure that I partake in the CQWW SSB contest. This is the best contest of all in my opinion, I usually operate across all bands and normally work anywhere from 16 to 22 Zones. 

Last year was very good propagation, I entered as a High power with 200W Single operator All Bands Station and came in 7th place Classic Op in England.

This year I ran Low power 100W and worked as a Single operator on 10 Meter only. My over all Zone count went up by 2 extra as I managed to work 24 out of 40 Zones this time around on the one band. The conditions were very good especially Far East and Pacific areas. North and South America were also coming in well and I grabbed a couple of previously unworked Islands from the West Indies.

The 10 Meter band was open early morning both days and stayed open up  until 20:00 UTC Sat eve and around about 19:00 on Sunday. After 10 Meters closed down I checked the lower HF bands which were all lively with Contest activity. It was most definitely a fantastic weekend of DX opportunities and My Cushcraft MA5B is no longer a mini beam on 28Mhz its a full size Yagi for 10M and works amazing!  Its pretty brilliant on 15M as well as the other bands its designed to work on.

As usual I had the M0YKS HAMRADIO videos capturing some of the contest DX. These are on my channel and added to my CQWW Playlist found below. It has CQWW Contests from 2006 to 2025. I hope to catch you next time around in CQWW2026 all being well. 73 tnx.

Yaesu FTDX101MP Audio Settings

After being asked for my audio settings for the FTDX101MP (or FTDX101D) I thought I would share my settings here for you to view.

These settings work well for me on all Phone modes - AM, SSB and FM. I have the M70 microphone 🎤.

Hope it is useful for some of you guys with YAESU FTDX Radio 

HAM RADIO PREP and WORLD RADIO LEAGUE. Savings & Discount Codes

 After recently getting myself up to date with a brand new super slick  windows 11 computer, I have been looking and exploring some of the latest cool amateur radio online logging programs. It's fantastic that we can not only access our radio logs online but these days we see what the other side of the radio contact looks like. I remember getting really excited when I received a bunch of QSL cards through the post all those years ago. I still have them all despite getting into trouble for collecting stuff or hoarding lol. These days I have to admit it is much easier and a lot faster to receive confirmation of a cherished DX radio contact. 

So what else has changed? Well the graphics, images and video content are now making our hobby look cooler than ever and site scraping of Ham radio operator location and equipment details, locator squares, DXCC are self generated thanks to the amazing technical support of the ever evolving Ham Radio community. 

We have some good people out there that build up the ever changing Ham Radio online platforms and applications. 

As you know I use QRZ.com, SATPC32, Winlog32, eQSL.cc, Station Master, MMSSTV, Chirp, OpenGD77 and more. I have a few interesting apps on my phone and tablet such as Look4SAT, Echolink, Ham GPS and World Radio League.

I really enjoy playing around with them all and they certainly fit well with the amateur radio hobby.

Recently I have been playing around with the WRL app and platform. I noticed that the POTA (Parks on the Air) map was particularly well detailed and I also noticed my QTH is surrounded by un activated POTA locations. I have always enjoyed working mobile so having a heap of options on my doorstep is something that I can see myself getting into. 

POTA Map of My Local Parks to Activate

After creating a log I delved into some of the other features on the WRL website which are visually appealing such as the real time DX signal paths coming around the globe as seen below.

I have seen some similar features on Station Master which is the amazing work of fellow YouTuber Stu G5STU. 
The WRL site has lots of interesting features and does offer a free user log on where you can access a lot of features. 

However because your still reading this,  I can share with you a special discount code should you wish to gain membership. This has been offered to me to pass on for anyone to use. Licenced or SWL and it's international so it will work no matter what your location is. 

Click on the link to obtain a 10% discount for anyone that would like WRL (World Radio League) membership.

WRL are also behind Ham Radio Prep which is another awesome online resource based in the US. If you're reading from across the pond and not yet an amateur radio license holder this could be your lucky day. 

Ham Radio Prep offer Ham Radio Online Classes and allow you to access information and training to set you on your way to calling CQ for yourself. After a few hours of online study you will be ready to pass your Ham Radio exam. It boasts on their site you will pass first time or get your money back.

There is a free lesson to try which you can access here. 

If Ham Radio Prep is something you would like to enrol on you can get a discount by using this discount code: M0YKS 

This will mainly be of interest to anyone in the USA but again the code will work for anyone anywhere in the world 🌎.

The codes have been sent to me from Ham Radio Prep Partnerships to help build the amateur radio communities of the future to maintain and safeguard the radio hobby for us all. 

I received some very positive feedback regarding the videos and general Ham Radio Content that I have been blasting out for the last 20 years. This is very encouraging for myself as my YouTube channel celebrates it's 19 year. I started the Ham Radio YouTube Channel back in September 2006. If you were there then and here now I thank you! Let's hope we can continue for many more years to come. 

Thanks for reading and following. 

Special thanks for the Discount codes to Catalina from Ham Radio Prep.

Recap Discount Codes

 WRL (World Radio League)  get yourself a membership Follow this link for the 10% discount: 

Ham Radio Prep  enrol onto your course and get a discount by using this discount code: M0YKS 

Catch up with you all soon. Good luck if you're in your way to getting your own Amateur radio call sign. 73 de Simon M0YKS