Happy New Year to all and hope to meet you on the Air Waves some time soon during 2009! The new year has started rather chilly hear at the 2E0HTS QTH, so I decided to try out one of my Christmas presents that Louise (M3TLL) had got me ;-). I headed outside into the cold (0 degrees) with my LG KU 990, a 5Mega pixel camera phone and took some shots of the antennas looking slightly frozen. Despite the ice formation on the elements, signals are sounding clear with very little noise on the HF bands which is a welcomed change as the noise levels were very high during the Christmas period. (Too many Christmas Tree lights causing QRN h.i). Here are a few pictures of my antennas which are basic but work well for me at 1000ft asl. I Hope to work some good openings during 2009 and wish you all Happy DX!
Home Brew IOIo Beam (145/435 MHZ|) and One side of G5RV Leg Other side of opossite Leg of the G5RV and the Magnificent 1000 ft ASL View looking West 20m Home Brew Delta Loop Hustler 6BTV Ground Mounted
Thanks for all of the fantastic comments, advice, ideas and encouragement as well as all of the emails sent during the year. Thank you to All at Planet Ham. Thank you to all Stations worked and all QSLs received, hope to do it all over again in 2009. And finally Thank you All for visiting Ham radio operator.blogspot.com and reading my blog posts as well as putting up with the many radio video's h.i!
Have a great Christmas holiday and all the best for the new year!
After hearing Al, ZL1BD most mornings for the last couple of months it gave me great pleasure to make QSO with Al this morning on my work bound journey. ZL1BD AL was a real 5/9 into Baildon Moor when I heard him calling CQ at around 8.15 utc, I gave him a shout back using my Yaesu FT-857, Maldol HMC-20 antenna and 50watts. Al, ZL1BD came straight back to me and gave me a 5/6 report and also remembered me from our previous QSO from around 18 months ago. Al had remembered that I was near by to some relatives he had here in yorkshire U.K. and knows my home area quite well. I can now rest easily regarding the FT-857s performance as it seems to be working very well making good DX contacts from my Toyota Lucida Estima. I Hope to work more early morning DX openings during the winter months.
The WX is very wet here in Yorkshire at the moment so I decided to make the most of the situation by playing some radio. I worked some stations via the Earth orbiting VO-52 Satellite, OM3VAN, HA6NM, DL3JIN and MW0BBU all on the same pass which lasted around 10 Min's. I then had a listen around 20m and noticed that the noise levels were very low allowing weak signals to be heard. I heard some European stations working Australia, and the US Virgin Islands the pile ups were quite crazy, it reminded me back to the day I heard a US station once say it sounded like "Wild Dogs in a meat shop". A good way to sum up a lot of the mad pile ups you here when those rare or interesting stations are spotted and discovered on the Ham bands. Picture of OH2FFY/Mobile It was around 11.30 utc when I came across OH2FFY Greg working mobile on 14.187 mhz with a signal of 5/7 - 5/9 with QSB and lots of QRM (Mad Dogs h.i). I listened for over half an hour and realised that we had already made contact with each other via the Internets Youtube site, so I gave him a shout and we exchanged reports. Greg had made a half wave mono band antenna and sent me a message on one of my Ham Radio Youtube videos . It was great to get the chance to work Greg on his home brew antenna and Yaesu FT-747 from his mobile. Thanks Greg hope to hear you again and see you on Youtube.
Last night whilst tuning around 40M I managed to work some good DX into Senegal, West Africa which is a new Country for me. I was running 50W from the FT-767GX with a G5RV type Dipole when I heard a pile up around 7.092mhz, the voices stoped calling and I was able to hear the DX station 6W2SC.
6W2SC(Peter) was coming through up to Baildon Moor N.Yorks quite well with a 5/8 signal report received at my station. I worked Peter with a little patience form his good self, which he had as other stations were insistent on calling over me. h.i I still managed to make the qso despite the heavy QRM back to him sending a 5/5 2E0HTS signal. Its a nice bonus working a new one and lets hope propagation is improving at last! Thanks from myself to Peter 6W2SC for making it possible to add a next DXCC in the old log as well as the speedy eQSL confirmation ;-)
With the WX (weather) bringing snow flurries to the UK, this weeks radio activity has been spent once again in listening mode. Both the FT-767GX & FT-847 have been in operation receiving signals on HF and VHF in combinations of weather Fax's as well as satellite weather imagery. The snow was around 6 inches/30 centimeters at its peak which was on Thursday and is still present today (Saturday) despite the suns rays trying to melt it.
As usual the best satellite images came fro NOOA 17 using Radio Com 5.2 to decode and satscape to track. This image shows the clear sky over the UK, but looking at the approaching weather front that is in the Atlantic we better enjoy it while it lasts! RX using IOIo beam & FT-847 Here was the scene earlier on in the week, I guess I wont be riding the Kwacker for a while. h.i
The Snow did bring some good openings on Tuesday on 2m ssb during the contest as I worked some good Scottish DX using 50W on the home brew IOIo beam. Thanks to GM4PPT dick, GM6JNJ David and all the others worked during the evening. I am very pleased with the little IOIo beams performance on 2M SSB and will be listening out for any good DX!
Hope to catch you all on HF or VHF, 73 TNX for all of your comments!
This weekend brought freezing temperatures to the Yorkshire Moor where we live, I couldn't resist putting this spectacular view looking north west from my QTH up the Aire Valley on here for all to see. Normal visibility from this QTH is usually up to 30 miles, this weekends view was almost from a fairy tale. The QTH is at around 1000 ft above sea level and as you can see anywhere below a 1000 ft has been eaten up by freezing fog. click on image to enlarge Other news apart from the WX is I tried the Maldol HMC-6S on my mobile set up. The antenna is a bit on the big side for driving around with, but when stationary I was pleased to hear the multi banded beast pulling in some big signals on 20m. I checked the SWR on the 20m band and it was 1.1, the other bands were also working but propagation was not so lively. I will be fully testing the antenna in the near future on the other HF bands, more than likely when Spring arrives. click on image to enlarge That's all for now, just a quickie. 73
p.s Hope you had a great birthday Louise(M3TLL). :-)
The WX-Weather has brought snow, wind and freezing temperatures to North Europe. At my QTH-Location Baildon Moor, N.England, at 1000ft above sea level the temperature dropped to 0 degrees Celsius last night and we had a threat of snow but it did not settle.
The bands were in good shape late last night/early this morning, as I worked Russia, The Ukraine, The USA and lots of other Stations from Europe using PSK31 on 40 & 80M. All signals were loud on both bands with plenty of activity, I dragged my self away around 2am to get some sleep but it wasn't easy! h.i
At present the sun is beaming with outside temperatures at 5.0 degrees Celsius and the wind is stirring making it feel even colder.
The image I have just received is from Earth orbiting weather monitoring satellite NOOA 17, which just passed by heading South West. The image shows N.W and W Europe with N.England under heavy cloud cover. I believe this is probably the best image I have received for a while using the IOIo beam, FT-847 and radio com software. 73 de The Weather Man, 2E0HTS Simon
My journey to work on my Kawasaki Z750 was becoming unnecessary now that the dark nights and late sunrises have got under way and we are now into Winter. So for the last couple of weeks I have had the opportunity to use the FT-857 on 20m and 2M from in my Toyota Estima Lucida mobile Ham shack.
Conditions have been quite remarkable most mornings at around 8.00utc as I embark on my work bound journey, I am listening up and down 20m ever hopeful of some distant signals. Recently without to much tuning around I have come across some big signals, real 5/9 from the Far East.
Last week I heard a few VKs on the morning run as well as ZL1BD, who boomed through and as usual with a large following from G-land and Europe. I worked AL ZL1BD some time last year when conditions were good in my old mobile RAV-4 using the FT-100. It will be good to make the QSO on the FT-857 and latest Toyota, I will get lucky one of these fine mornings I am sure! h.i AL ZL1BD was loud again this morning at around 8.15utc on 20M, but my 50w doesn't always manage the job. :-( Especially during the early morning pile ups h.i!
The biggest surprise this week was again around 8.10 utc, when I heard Bejing-China and also Japan both on separate occasions with 5/9 signals. Unfortunately only received and again did not quite make the journey back, but as and when the cycle gains momentum I will stand a better chance.
I did manage to make QSO with Satellite confirmed qsl and fellow Ham jose EA3AGH, this morning on 20m. It was great to hear Jose on 20m instead of the usual AO-51 amateur satellite, Jose EA3AGH was coming through very well on HF.
I have still got the same antenna, Maldol HFC-20 and as previously reviewed, it still works very well indeed! The HMS-6S will get a good trying out as soon as I get some spare time.
Other activities WEATHER FAX IMAGES & RECEIVING Over the past couple of weeks, I have been considerably busy with little time available to play radio in the evenings. Even so, I have managed one or two PSK31 contacts on 40M and 80M as well as receiving weather Fax's from NORTHWOOD's nautical, meteorological and information centre.
The Fax's show detailed images and information regarding weather fronts and can be very interesting as well as very easy to receive. NORTHWOOD is just one of the many Ground Stations transmitting weather FAX and DATA.
Signals can be easily received on multiple bands at the same time during each transmission, ensuring good reception at any time of the day depending on which particular band provides the best conditions to your location. The short wave band is very accommodating and you will find plenty of signals to receive and decode. I use Radio Com 5.2 to decode the Fax transmissions, just the same way as the NOOA weather satellite transmissions. NORTHWOOD DAILY SCHEDULE RADIO COM SOFTWARE RECEIVING NORTHWOOD FAX TRANSMISSIONS TODAY'S NORTHWOOD Fax's RX On 8.038.1 USB AT 2E0HTS QTH 21.00-21.30 utc
Interface: Phono leads, TX via CAT Cable and Nomic Rig Blaster.
Software: Radio Com 5.2.
I find this side of the hobby equally as interesting as the many other forms of radio communications, I hope you find this interesting and look forward to hearing about any of your experiences and comments.
OTHER NEWS Check out M1PAC new web blog with some interesting antenna arrays as well as other goodies! IT Is Well worth a look!!
I have had a passion for tracking and receiving NOOA weather Satellites for a few years and have tried a few different antenna's along the way with some reasonable images being received. I have had the home brew IOIo beam up for the last two months and have been pleasantly surprised with its performance. The best way to ensure a clear image is achieved by having an almost inaudible sound level from the output of your radio to the sound card. In other words make sure the sound-in to your computer is set very low from the radio.
The software I have been running since 2004 is Radio Com 5.2 which has now been superseded by version 6.0. Radio Com 5.2 seems to work exceptionally well still, and I have had a lot of Radio Hams around the world getting in touch with me since they have watched the Weather Satellite videos I did for this site and Youtube.
A lot of other Hams told me that they were using WXtoIMG decoding software which allowed the user to play around with the received image and also add colour. The main concern using the WXtoIMG software was that the image quality was not so great compared to the images I had received using Radio Com. However it does work and can be downloaded free if you fancy trying it?
Radio Com 5.2 and 6.0 allows image manipulation and also provides a pallet of colours, which can be edited in once the image has been received and saved.
The only down side to Radio Com software is paying for it! The software gives you full rig control of two radios at the same time and multi mode decoding for just about everything from CW, PSK, SSTV to RTTY it has a built in digital filter as well as spectrum analyser. The actual screen is very pleasant to the eye and simple to use, however the program will not run without the Radio Com Dongle which is a serial type fitting to your computer.(Preventing any coping/pirating of the program).
Here is the Pass and course of NOOA 17 at 10.00 utc Here is this mornings image from NOOA 17 showing North Europe to North Africa received on 137.620 FM. I will be listening out for more passes whilst awaiting the solar cycle to provide some good propagation here in North England. So far a slow start!
I’ve been using the Multi band Maldol HMC-6 S antenna, for the last 3 years at my QTH as a stand by antenna and have been pleasantly surprised with its overall performance.
The Vertical Mobile/Portable antenna covers 6 bands, 40M, 15M, 10M, 6M (HF) and (VHF) 2M & 70CMS.
I’ve used it a lot for listening across the HF bands as well as some short wave frequencies, I’ve also put out some good signals and made some good DX contacts on 40M, 15M and 10M as well as 6M using a good ground plane system (20 foot Metal Container). It even Works well on 2M, I have not tried 70cms but the SWR appeared to be good across the band.
I have also got a range of Maldol Mono band mobile HF antenna’s and have been planning to try the HMC-6 fitted to the Toyota’s rear fixing instead of the mono bander’s. This has proven to be difficult to stop running the mono band Maldols, down to the good results that I can honestly say I have had. The Mono band Maldol,s especially 40M, 20M and 15M will be a hard act to follow for any mobile antenna.
This plan is now beginning to take shape mainly due to Phil M1PAC’s generous influence as Phil managed to obtain the HMC-14 C add on part, which replaces the 40M coil/whip. It turns the HFC-6 S into a 20M, 15M, 10M, 6M & 2/70CM banded antenna. Phil told me that since Maldol no longer make antennas it is virtually impossible to obtain a new HMC-6 S, but there are a few Ham Shops with a few accessories/add on bands if you look hard enough. I was definitely feeling lucky that day. If you want one, you will have to keep an eye on EBay etc.
M1PAC Phil gave me the Maldol 20M attachment as a gift, I was extremely surprised, very pleased as well as grateful as you know what! Thanks Phil, I owe you one!.
So the next stage will probably have to wait until the weekend when I can try it out on the Toyota’s, Yaesu FT-857. I am fairly confident it will work well, but I will know soon enough. If it performs as well on 20M as it does with the 40M section attached, I will be more than happy.
Any results will be posted here at HamRadioOperator.Blogspot.Com and PlanetHam.Org. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend! 73
Over the weekend we managed to team up with Phil M1PAC and Craig M3CSD and headed off South in Convoy style to The Great Northern Hamfest located in Barnsley South Yorkshire. The drive took just short of an hour and passed by quickly as we enjoyed rag chewing on 2M FM.
On arriving we were joined on the frequency by Mick a local G station who kindly refreshed our memory's of the rally's location and best parking positions, which proved to be very helpful. On entering the rally I began searching the different stalls with the aid of Louise M3TLL and it wasn't long before we both spotted some bargains.
The first of three nice extension speakers I picked up was this heavy little maxon at the cost of £1.00. This had made the trip well worthwhile and is now connected to the FT-847. I picked up at CAT interface lead for the FT-847, some dipole centre's, Coaxial plugs and some wire type antenna insulators, all in mind for further projects.
As well as grabbing some bargains I bumped into some friends. Here is a regular rag chewer every Sunday evening on sked, Jeff, G0GNU inside the rally. As I walked around the rally, Steve M1ERS recognised me from the Youtube video's I've made and introduced himself. It was a real pleasure meeting Steve and putting a face to the name I've been seeing on my video comments.
Steve, M1ERS and myself Simon, 2E0HTS at Steve and company's D-STAR Stand inside the rally. Craig, M3CSD and Phil, M1PAC Carrying new radio goodies. The Barnsley people were very friendly and helpful, all in all it was a good day out and great to get another excuse to tinker around with the bits and pieces I picked up in Barnsley's Hamfest.
CQ World Wide Contest Every year I look forward to using my HF Ham Radio Station during the World Wide CQ Contest. CQ WW is where World Wide participation makes it possible to work new DX locations and rare activations brought to life by enthusiastic radio amateurs from all nations spread around the globe. The Contest lasts all weekend, 48 hours in total.
This year's Contest brought some new Countries and call signs into the humble 2E0HTS station. In total I worked 15 Zones and 64 different Countries without trying too hard. I managed 131 different QSO's in between the constant searching up and down the bands, compared to most Station's I was only playing h.i Some Station's make Thousands of QSO's as we Ham's Know already! ;-)
I really enjoyed giving a few points away during the Contest and it was nice hearing some of the regular Contest Station's as well as the new ones of course!
One big Thank you to All Station's worked!
I did manage to get some of the World Wide CQ Contest on video later on in the Contest. Watch the video to see for yourself, the splatter and pile ups at my QTH using my Yaesu FT-767GX, Home brewed Delta Loop, G5RV and Hustler Vertical. CQ WW VIDEO
Here is my Log created by Winlog32 and converted for the internet by Louise M3TLL. Thanks to Louise for putting up with the roar of HF all weekend as well as all the encouragement and support. ;-)
Today's SSTV transmission received from NA1SS at 10.11utc with a 5/9+40 signal at 2E0HTS Simon's QTH.
I also heard Richard call out and I managed to get into the ISS and Richard came back, but it was very quick as half of Europe was calling at the same time. Hopefully I will get a better QSO next time. Thanks Richard and all at ARISS.
