Latest EQSLs

This is an EQSL card I received this week from the station I worked in the Special Events video. It is from Nigel who was working the call sign MX0SSW which is Silcoates school. They were raising money for the blind. I worked this station on 2m FM.

This card from HR1AAB is from Alberto who is located in Honduras, South America, he was a 5 and 9 signal on 20m. I used my FT-847 and the antenna was the vertical multi-band Hustler 6BTV.

This is a card which was a nice surprise from Maurizio who is not a Licensed Ham but what we call a shortwave listener. He heard me speaking to a station in Spain on 40m, again on the FT-847 but this time I used a dipole antenna which is a G5RV. The same evening I managed to work over 25 stations on 40m, countries included Greece, Italy, Spain, Russia, Tenerife, France, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. There are many shortwave listeners and as you can see they do have fun sending cards also. Some shortwave listeners win awards for collecting cards from all around the world. If you are interested in becoming a shortwave listener you may do so by buying a HF receiver and construct some home-brew wire antennas making it quite a cheap way to get involved in the world of radio.


Good luck to all and 73s.

latest piece of kit

The Shack is looking cool with my latest addition.I am now the proud owner of a MFJ-969 Deluxe Versa Tuner II,this unit arrived from the USA courtesy of Hamcity.com and after paying the import tax it worked out that i saved £32. The MFJ-969 Antenna Tuner gives you MFJ's superb AirCore Roller Inductor and full 6 meteres through 160 Meter coverage!You get everything you've ever wanted including...300 Watts PEP SSB full featured antenna tuner, widest matching range, full size lighted Cross-Needle SWR/Wattmeter reads true peak forward power, QRM-Free PreTune, 8 Position antenna switch, built in 50 Ohm dummy load, heavy duty 4:1 balun -- all in a tough, attractive cabinet. MFJ's famous 1 year No Matter What warranty.
The MFJ-969 Antenna Tuner's AirCore Roller Inductor, gear driven turns counter and spinner knob gives you exact inductance control for absolute minimum SWR. MFJ's exclusive AirCore Roller Inductor has an air core that can't burn up! You get ultra-high-Q, the lowest loss, highest efficiency and highest power handling of any roller inductor in ham radio.
MFJ's exclusive Self-Resonance Killer Keeps potentially damaging self-resonances away from your frequency. Huge self-cleaning wiping contact gives you excellent low-resistance connection without contact arcing or burning.Solid 1/4 inch brass shaft, self-align bearings -- smooth non-binding operation.
The MFJ-969 Antenna Tuner covers all frequencies from 160 Meters thru 6 Meters, including the "magic band" -- the widest matching range of any full featured antenna tuner. Match dipoles, verticals, inverted vees, random wires, beams, mobile whips, SWL receiving antennas -- nearly any antenna. You can use coax cable, random wire or balanced lines. Has heavy duty 4:1 balun.
MFJ's new ActivePeak reading Circuit accurately reads true peak forward power -- an MFJ exclusive.
MFJ's lighted Cross Needle SWR/Wattmeter reads SWR, true peak forwards and average reflected power simultaneously on 300 Wat or 30 Watt ranges.
So ill be in test mode for the next week or so but it seems to be working well so far.73 to all DE 2E0HTS Simon

Talking to Special Events Stations from my QTH

QSL from WP4AOO

This week the HF bands haven't been in good shape at all, the other evening was spent trying to work DX stations on 40m and 20m. I was most surprised when I ran into my old friend VE3OWV Nick on 40m, this was amazing as I was using my G5RV. I also worked a handful of German stations, some Italians and a Spaniard all on 40m. The spanish station was only operating on 5 watts (QRP).

After a couple of hours of 40m I decided to flick back up to 20m (my favourite band) and worked 2 stations from Puerto Rico. Above is a card from one of them Jose WP4AOO. I did this contact on my Cobwebb but then switched to the Hustler 6 BTV and added a couple of S points to the signal with a 5 and 9.

This morning on my way to work I had a quick contact with a VK station (Australia) on 20m - not bad for a mobile on 50 watts eh?!

73s for now

A Quick Contact Into Russia

This is a short film demonstrating a contact into Russia with RA1ZN (Vic) on HF using my Mobile station which is a Yaesu FT100 and Maldol 20m Monostick and some good propagation. Enjoy it!

73s

DE 2E0HTS Simon.

Working DX Whilst Mobile

This week I haven't been on air much during the evenings, I had a quick listen around but the bands have been a bit quieter on an evening. My activity this week has been mainly from my mobile station which comprises of a Yaesu FT-100, 2 Maldol HF antennas mounted on the rear (one for 14MHz and one for 7MHz) through a 2-way switch. Also, on the rear wheel there is a 7/8 wave 145/433MHz this is fixed to a home-brew stainless bracket.

My activity was mainly on listening mode travelling to workbut I did manage to contact Russia, Estonia and the Ukraine with solid 5 and 9 signals both ways. Receiving wise I have heard ZL (New Zealand) and VKs (Australian stations) quite loud all on 14MHz. This has been happening at 7.15 UTC.

On my return journey USA, Saudi Arabia and most of Europe have been giving excellent signals to the mobile which is disguised as a porcupine but is actually a humble Toyota Rav4.

Other Bits and Pieces

QSL (confirmation)

This is a QSL card from a station I spoke to from my home setup. He was located at the Russian Space Centre Energia. His callsign was R3K. I have many other QSL cards from all around the world. These cards confirm a QSO (voice contact) with stations using similar equipment all around the world.

Weather Satellites

This is also another part of the hobby I am interested in. This is an image of the UK, Europe and Africa transmitted from a weather satellite orbiting the Earth and received by my humble station. The radio I used was the Yaesu FT-857 hard-wired to my PC using Bonito Radcom software to decode weather images.