Ham Radio Operator - M0YKS

I had to carry out a soldering task earlier in the week when I developed a fault with my HEiL GM-5 GOLDLINE studio mic. On inspection I found a wire had parted company with the board located in the head unit. As I disassembled the mic I found that practically all of the soldered wired terminals were not too good and could easily separate as well.   After removing the narrow/wide filter switch I re attached the wires using my soldering iron.  That wasn't so bad! Back together and ready to test back on the FT-1000. Fingers crossed and back in business once again on its lattice tower mount.  Yep, all working! The next day after spending time with my family I was back in the shack with my fully functioning microphone operating the late night DX shift when I got the opportunity to try my antenna's out on Ian VK3MO, located in Melbourne down under! it was around 11.30 pm local time when I came across Ian - VK3MO who was  in qso with another UK Ham, who I c

I am pleased to be able to report that our new baby daughter is doing fantastic on her 5th day with us, the sleepless nights are not as bad as expected and she is already settling in well to the "HTS" family life. Earlier today just after lunch baby Martha was resting and Elsie her big sister decided to rearrange her farm. I could not  miss out on the opportunity and once again back in the DX seat I was with my trusty FT-1000 MKV and Cobweb antenna HF setup. Time was short so I quickly checked the bands and heard HL5KY coming in very well up on the 15 metre band. I gave a few calls over the pile up and ended up hitting the jackpot getting Joe - HL5KY operating out of South Korea which is a brand new country for me and my winlog32 ham radio log . Cool! Another great result including some interesting and very local qrm in the shack created by Elsie. My YL Louise caught the QSO on video, I apologise for the noise from the toy farm during the video and for any difficulti

In the early hours of Wednesday morning we were blessed by the arrival of our new baby daughter - Martha Rose, who weighed in at 8lb, 10oz. Martha Rose is doing just great as is Mum Louise (M3TLL) and Elsie who is now graduated to big sister! 73 and listen out for some new qrm when I am active h.i

Over the weekend I managed to get some radio play time in on the HF Bands which were quite lively to say the least. I decided to catch some of my radio fun on video, I caught some DX up on 12m with the homebrew Delta Loop antenna and Yaesu FT-890 xmtr. The video also shows my Delta Loop and also includes further shack activity with my Yaesu FT-1000 MKV and Cobweb antenna system. I hope you enjoy it, I certainly had fun making it, its a bit raw and amateur as my video editing software has gone silent key. 73 happy Dx! Simon..

VK6WC SHACK  Once again on my work bound journey I was trawling the 20m band when I heard John - VK6WC  from Perth in Western Australia. I gave just one call to John and was heard by VK6WC in Perth loud and clear  with a 5/6 signal from my mobile. VK6WC - John was a solid 5/9 to my FT-857 as I drove my Toyota over the moors at around 7.20 utc. John was running 400w from a FT-2000 into a Stepper IR antenna which was beaming long path.  Another great qso from the mobile, with a DX distance of 15773 miles! Yep for me, Ham radio is definitely still very cool when you can do things like this. 73. Update: I was back in the mobile an hour later when I worked VK6ANC  operated by fellow Yorkshireman Barry, from nearby Huddersfield. VK6ANC was a big signal to my mobile peaking at 5/9+ at times and sounding nice. I was once again putting a 5/6 signal into VK6 and had a good long rag chew with Barry who was enjoying operating from the Northern Corridor Radio Group shack pictured belo

Monday mornings come around a bit too fast! This morning I was mobiling on my way to work when I heard quite a few strong signals coming in on 20m. One of those signals was Larisa - EU7LA coming in 5/9 solid to my little Yaesu FT-857 and Maldol mono band antenna. I made a quick qso with Larisa before arriving at work which was a great way to start the working week! When I looked Larisa up on QRZ I found some excellent paintings by EU7LA that are well worth checking out, I added one below. 73 happy "Ham"ing.

I just finished updating information regarding operating frequencies for amateur satellite and ISS operation. I also added some useful links and videos as well as live video feed from the ISS. Check out the satellite tracking section of my Ham Radio Site To view the latest updates . 73

Right now, I am listening to some DX on 17m and thought I would share the view from my armchair! 73 Happy DX. BTW I just worked W1AW/P1 on 18.143Mz with a 5/9 report both ways.

Earlier today I checked over my home brew Delta Loop and ended up re tightening the guy ropes. After that I was playing around with the recently self repaired Yaesu FT-890 which is hooked up to the loop and came across VU2SWS - Sarla who was working a "pile up" on the 17m band. After a few attempts I made it into India and received a 5/3 report from Sarla - VU2SWS pictured below. A great contact as well as a good result for the FT-890 and Delta Loop setup! 73 & thanks goes to Sarla for pulling my signal in through the pile up!

FT-890 & Recent Delta Loop Experiment: I have owned my Yaesu FT-890 since 2002 and have enjoyed years of reliable service. A couple of months ago you may recall that I recently reinstated the FT-890 as a second set up allowing operation from our dining room as well as my regular shack. I have since worked a good page and a half of paper logged QSO's into places like the Middle East, The US and EU as well as across Russia. I have been using the homemade 20m Delta Loop that I recently made and installed which is performing very well on 20m. The delta loop works well on 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m with the help of an old Nevada TM1000 manual antenna tuning unit.This week I managed to get into a couple of US repeaters up on 29Mhz using the FT-890 and Delta Loop which is pretty cool. Frequency Drift:  Whilst enjoying my old rig I discovered that it had developed an error and occasionally would drift up and down frequency both RXing and TXing. The drifting in frequency seeme

It is exactly 10 years since I sat the exam and first obtained my amateur radio licence. Two days after becoming a radio ham I made contact with my loyal buddy and YouTube video co-presenter,  Dudley the DX hound. 10 years on, we are both wearing well and have managed to put together a very nice family which will be increasing in size yet again this coming April. I am proud to be able to inform you all that we are having another baby girl! 73 Happy DX.

WX Warning of severe storms! The UK continues to get battered with gale force winds, snow and lots of heavy rain storms. Here in Baildon, West Yorkshire my Ham radio antennas are holding up well  despite the bad WX conditions. Earlier I had to recover my daughters play house which had been dismantled and blown away, fortunately it will be ok and should easily be reassembled. Our dustbins have also wandered off somewhere down the garden spitting rubbish out along the way, which will be not so fun to collect in the morning. All things said and done I can't complain too much as I am well used to bad weather due to living at altitude up on the windy Yorkshire Pennine mountains. Hopefully the storms will ease up in the early hours of tomorrow as predicted and the antennas will remain undamaged. Recent Radioactivity I have been enjoying some good openings on 20m whilst mobile especially in the mornings and during the past three weeks I have made qso's into the US, Tasm

The RSGB has published new band plans for the UK amateur radio spectrum which covers frequencies from 136kHz to 250GHz.  Copies of the band plan is freely available to all (including non members) via the Operating section of the RSGB website. You can also view the latest band plan here    which I have added to my Amateur Radio Portal  archives. 73!

On my workbound journey this morning I got lucky when I made QSO into ZL land from my mobile Ham radio station. As usual I was listening around the 20m band on my FT-857 searching for interesting stations when I came across Al, ZL1BD. At approximately 08.15 utc I gave a call back to ZL1BD's CQ call from my mobile and was heard at Al's station in Hamilton, New Zealand. My signal report was 5/6 and Al was coming in at 5/8-9 to my mobile as I drove my car. Al mentioned it had been two years since our last QSO which I still remember well. It surprised me just how quickly the time had passed.  I was very pleased to make the contact again this morning especially as my Yaesu FT-857 recent install seems to work well. Finally I can feel confident that it is as good as my beloved FT-100 which is having a well deserved rest (for now h.i). It sure is great fun operating mobile and never ceases to amaze me how well you can get a signal to radiate. Who knows what tomorrow mornings mobile

I just finished clearing out my eQSL archive and have uploaded my latest QSL cards to view at my Online gallery.