Contesting

 Last week and this week I decided to try and work some stations during Tuesday nights RSGB VHF Contest. The Contests are held weekly on Tuesday evenings and Cover five VHF Bands. I have operated on two of the five Contest bands 144MHZ and 433MHZ.

Below is the table found at the RSGB Contest Committee Site explaining what band is used and the operating times of each Tuesday's evening Contest. Also the previous month - January's results can be seen via the Results links.

Every 1st Tuesday	2000-2230 (Local)	144MHz UK Activity Contest and Club Championship	AO AR	QTH Locators (M2) , Activity contest (S8) , Club Championship (S9)
Every 2nd Tuesday	2000-2230 (Local)	432MHz UKAC	AO AR	QTH Locators (M2) , Activity contest (S8) , Club Championship (S9)
Every 3rd Tuesday	2000-2230 (Local)	UHF UKAC	AO AR	QTH Locators (M2) , Activity contest (S8) , Club Championship (S9)
Every 4th Tuesday	2000-2230 (Local)	50MHz UKAC	AO AR	QTH Locators (M2) , Activity contest (S8) , Club Championship (S9)
Every 5th Tuesday	2000-2230 (Local)	70MHz UKAC	AO AR	QTH Locators (M2) , Activity contest (S8) , Club Championship (S9)

The contacts I made during both Contests were worked using the Yaesu FT-847 and the home made single loop horizontal antenna better known as the IOIo beam. ON 144Mhz I ran 50W and worked 17 stations with the furthest Station to be worked being M0BRA at a distance of 279km. The results were even better on 433MHz which surprised me as I only worked 10 stations with QSB and poor conditions, again I used the FT-847, IOIo antenna and this time only 35Watts. The furthest Station worked at 302km away was G5LK. Many Thanks to all Stations worked, I had a lot of fun as well as obtaining a few points!

I will be looking forward to using my humble antenna system and QRP Station in many more VHF Contests, hope to work some of you!

Most of you HF guys will have been active this weekend either Taking the ARRL Contest serious or like myself looking out for DX and giving a few points away at the same time. I made some nice QSO Sunday evening on 20M as the band stayed open until my bed time. I worked near enough 25 Stations in one hour with big signals and lots of fast signal reports/Power output exchanges. I worked on the 20M band with my Yaesu FT-847 and Vertical Antenna - Hustler 6BTV (ground mounted with 4X 20M radials). To my amazement the change in signal reflection and propagation path had influenced the change of my preferred HF Station a Yaesu FT-767GX and  Full wave Delta loop that normally does the best job for me. Not the case this time, It is good to have a choice of the two set ups. Check out the log to see the ft-847, 50W and a 6BTV performance.

Click on log to enlarge

That's all folks, until next time! 73!

The 2E0HTS Portable Antenna Mast Mount

Since I sold my Toyota Rav 4 I haven't had the means of setting up the spare Hustler 6BTV - Base Station Multi Banded HF Vertical. I used the tow bar fixing which I had made and had some excellent results with that one, not to mention the 14,411 YouTube Views on the Video I made using it.

With the first Mast Mount Creating so much attention the pressure was on to come up with another Mast Mount strong enough to bear the Hustler's 6 Band Load in windy but typical Yorkshire conditions.

I had seen some wheel bearing Mast Mounts on eBay, so I decided to make up my own version which worked out well.

Materials used:

3mm Mild Steel Plate, Cut at 260mm wide X 550mm long.
25mm X 25mm X 3mm Angle Iron (L), Two pieces cut to a length of 550mm.
70mm X 70mm X 3mm plate square, Two pieces cut in half into a triangle to become gusset supports.
200mm diameter 3mm plate, cut plate into a half circle then drill 12, 6mm holes to be used as radial mounts.
38mm diameter mild steel bar, 600mm long used as mast stub. ( I used solid bar, but pipe is also OK).

I cut the plate using a guillotine with a 6mm a capacity, The angle iron strengthening strips were cut using a hack saw. The Iron bar was cut by band saw and the holes in the plate were cut using a plasma cutting torch.
I then assembled each component using the Metal Inert Gas (M.I.G) Welding process.
click on drawing to enlarge
Each joint is welded on both sides to ensure maximum strength 
Extra support provided by using gussets.
Pre drilled for accepting different radial wave lengths and cut to mate up to the Steel bar - Mast.
Tacked up ready to finish off the M.I.G Welding fun..
Some weight removed but strength still maintained using a plasma cutting torch.
The Proud owner and fabricator of Portable Mast Mount Number 2, Me Myself and I. (and you if you email me).
3 Tonnes of Toyota Estima holding down the Mount with the Hustler 6BTV fixed to it demonstrating its function.
The result... Looking good so far, will be building up the antenna properly soon and adding a few radials whilst trying it out on the FT-857 mobile/portable set up.
More to follow  regarding using the mount and antenna the next time I go out for a drive around, I will be looking forward to that!

Last night before pulling the plug

Last night before pulling the plug, I had a last radio contact to make which was with M0OGY - Dave in North Lincolnshire.
I recently became friends with Dave - M0OGY, via the ever growing YouTube Community of "Hams" and "SWLs" that have some very interesting Amateur radio videos on YouTube.
Dave and I recently worked each other for the first time last week on 2M SSB .

Last nights QSO was worked on 80m a totally different band, which worked much better with bigger and louder signals sent and received.
Dave's Shack looks impressive and can be seen in his video as he works with a Yaesu FT-1000 Delta, G5RV and 100 Watts.

I used My Yaesu FT-767 GX, Heil GoldLine Mic, G5RV, and 50 Watts to make the contact with Dave.
Tnx Dave.
It is a useful tool to be able to use YouTube as a means of checking how your station is sounding at the other end of the QSO.
I will slightly back down the ALC after hearing myself on Dave - M0OGY's Video.

Watch Dave's YouTube Video of the QSO at his end, where you can hear us both up to no good. hi hi

Site Meter Visits

It always amazes me where in the World you are all located! Thanks again for visiting Ham Radio.Operator.Blogspot.com and

Planetham.org 73 Have a nice Sunday!

Early Morning Expedition To Muddy SOTA NP028

Early this morning I ended up working 145 FM portable from North Pennine summit on the air 028 whilst walking the dog.
I used:
My hand held radio Kenwood TH-7F and 5 watts into a Diamond SRH771 antenna. Despite been up and about early in the morning I still managed to work Kevin - M0XLT & Adrian M3IAO. Watch the video to see how I avoided the MUD bath up on The Rombalds Moor SOTA.

20 Meters Is Open!

Some Nice DX In the Log!

YouTubers Make QSO

EA1GHW Double Moxon Style Homebrew Satellite Antenna

Thanks to fellow ham and friend Edmundo - EA1GHW, I am able to show you another great home brew satellite antenna system. ED, EA1GHW from Spain has been working satellites a lot longer than myself and has had some great results with his home brew antenna systems and a couple of hand held rigs. I first saw ED in action via his YouTube video's working through AO-51 and since then we have become friends via the Internet. I keep hearing ED and ED hears me via the "birds" but unfortunately we have always had too many other stations causing lots of QRM and have yet to get each other in the log! I am sure we will get over that soon with the better weather coming and the dark nights ending.
Hear you can see ED's design on paper.

This image shows the EA1GHW satellite antenna ready to assemble.

This image shows the completed satellite dual band antenna system ready to go!

Edmundo EA1GHW mentioned that he intends to add more elements to the antenna in the near future increasing the antenna gain. He also has told me that the EA1GHW antenna is working well so far! Well done ED! thanks for sharing the images of your great antenna. Keep up the good work!
I will be listening out for ED on the future satellite passes.

A Fun Day Had By All

Sunday was a fun day for Yorkshire Radio Ham's M1PAC - Phil, M6AXL -Adam, M3TLL - Louise and myself 2E0HTS - Simon.

Adam and Phil set up their station early Sunday morning up on Rombalds moor which is high up out in the sticks near to our QTH. They were running QRP and worked through plenty of pile ups on the 144 SSB portion of the VHF bands.

Louise and I joined them in the afternoon and worked one or two nice contacts on HF which included the previously mentioned CRAG CASHOTA activation at Elslack operated by MX0BCQ/p with Kevin - M0XLT at the controls.

Our Portable/Mobile QTH

Adams New Beast of a Beam with Human Rotator Phil

Phil, Adam & Louise

The Yorkshire Moor Top Ham Brigade!

Check out the action and signals/stations worked on the video, including M0YCM-Les, G4JNN-Paul, 5D0IPY-Rachid & MX0BCQ/P-Kevin.

Craven Radio Amateur Group CRAG R.S.G.B Presentation

This week Louise - M3TLL and myself were invited to attend the Craven Radio Amateur Group Club meeting at their Club headquarters. The CRAG group are a very active group of radio amateurs that operate from North Yorkshires Craven District. On arrival we were well received by all of the Craggie's and it was great to be able to put faces to the voices I have been speaking with for so long.

The evening was very interesting as the Club had an video evening  arranged which featured the latest digital mode - D-STAR. The video was very informative and was quite exclusive as the R.S.G.B region 4 Deputy region manager Nigel - G1JKE who presented the film had not had the opportunity to show at his local club yet. 

The evening also included a special presentation to Chris - 2E0XLG who has recently upgraded his licence from his foundation call M3XLG.  Chris had made tremendous progress whilst operating under M3XLG with a maximum output power of 10 watts. Chris's achievements were outstanding during 2008 and his awards were for: Leading Foundation Licensee RSGB 144 MHZ Low power Contest 2008 & The RSGB 144 MHZ UK Activity 2008 Contest.

 Chris has also won the RSGB 6Meter UK Activity 2008 Contest as well as the RSGB 70CMS UK Activity 2008 Contest, and Chris will shortly be receiving a RSGB Shield for his amazing efforts. Well done Chris! Way to Go!

Chris 2E0XLG receiving his R.S.G.B Awards presented by Nigel G1JKE - R.S.G.B Region 4 Deputy region Manager.

We really enjoyed meeting our old friend Kevin - M0XLT and Richard- 2E0NTT as well as new Faces but known voices M1DHA - Alan, G4CPA - Geoff, G7WAW - David, G7COD - Andrew, M0DRF - Derry, 2E0ZCL - Barry, G4BLH - Mike, G1JKE - Nigel, M0GGR - Andy, M6AXL - Adam and Chris - 2E0XLG.

We will be looking forward to meeting up and also working them all again soon. The Craven Radio Amateur Group will be active this Sunday operating CASHOTA (Castles And Stately Homes On The Air) from a roman Fort nearby to Elsack in North Yorkshire.

Home brew IOIo (MK 6) Step by Step Assembly

Since last summer many off you have contacted me regarding the Satellite antenna designed by EA4CYQ which is known as the IOIo beam. I already have built a total of 5 IOIo antenna's so far, all slightly different made up of anything available at hand. As many of you already know I have been working the ISS and many Satellites from my shack using IOIo beams with good results running QRP.

So with the feedback and fantastic comments I have been receiving I thought I would try a next version using some materials I had knocking around.

 But this time I thought I would share the build and decided to post the step by step instructions here at ham radio operator blogspot and planet ham.The EA4CYQ original design was followed and this is how it goes!

Materials used:

12mm aluminium box section tube. (boom)

3mm plastic sheet. (insulators and clamps)

2.4mm Welding wire. (elements)

Various self tapping screws.

Cable ties.

50 ohm feeder/coaxial cable. (2 lengths for dual bands)

Sponge foam and insulation/sticky tape. (handle)

Step 1) The IOIo paperwork.  I made the elements from 2.4mm diameter T.I.G welding wire which worked out at:

 145 mhz reflecting element( I )= 1004mm.

 145 mhz loop element ( O) total length = 2058mm. 

435 mhz reflecting element ( I )= 337mm. 

435 mhz loop element (0) total length = 642mm.

 The spacing of each element from back to front = 

152mm, - 324mm, - 100mm, -  51mm & - 108mm. 

(visible on the drawing , click to enlarge).

Step 2) I don't like wasting materials so I joined two short scrap pieces of tube together by filing some 12mm round bar into a square interference type fitting.
Once filed up I was able to tap the squared round bar into the ally tube to join the boom. 
Once mated up it gave a total length of 1000mm (1M) 
Step 3) Using some 3mm plastic sheet I drew a desired shape and cut the plastic using a hand shear otherwise known as a bench knife. The sheet at this stage is used to insulate and  mount the elements to the boom. Also mark the element spacings using a marker pen on the boom.
Step 4) drill 6 holes that will allow the cable ties to hold the elements as well as clamp the insulated mounts to the boom. I drilled the centre of the plastic so I could see the previously pen marked position of each mount easily on the ally boom. Just one more to go giving a grand total of 6 plastic insulated mounts.
Step 5) Here you can see the central holes showing the spacing pen marks of the boom. Once lined up, pilot drill the boom and attach the plastic mounts/insulators using self tapping screws.
Step 6) Time to solder the 50 ohms coaxial feeders to both loops, then cable tie (tie rap) the elements to the fitted insulator mounts. 
A close up of the 435mhz Loop and reflecting element cable tied and soldered up.
Repeat the technique for the 145mhz side of the antenna and use a separate 50 ohms feeder. Once this stage is complete the IOIo starts to take shape and just needs the elements fixing firmly. 
Stage 7) I cut a 50mm x 1000mm strip of plastic, aligned the elements and using more self tapping screws I was able to clamp down the elements. This stiffened up the antenna and prevented the elements from moving out of line. The antenna is now ready to solder the plugs on to connect to your desired radio. I used 2 PL259 plugs.

Here is a closer look at the bottom side of the finished mk 6 IOIo antenna.  (the front end 435 mhz )
The full picture showing the bottom  side of the finished antenna.
The view here shows the complete antenna from the top side.Here is a close up of the finished project.
I tried it using my old Yaesu FT-470 and was very pleased when I opened up a repeater 25 miles away +60 db on 145mhz. It worked well also on 433mhz providing me with  instant and easy access into the local 70cms repeater. (not bad to say its resonant on 435mhz and I was inside my qth using less than 5 watts.) I will try it on a satellite over the next few days.

So once again I was pleased with my antenna tinkering and this model was much lighter so I shouldn't get too much arm ache when I am out playing. 

 I hope some more of you have a go at making one. Thanks to all of you again for telling me about your personal experiences in building Satellite antenna's for Amateur Radio. I look forward to hearing more about your projects and I hope to hear you coming through loud and clear via the "birds". Good luck and best 73

Visit To The Northern Cross Radio Rally

The Northern Cross Radio Rally took place earlier today and saw myself and Louise M3TLL  check out it's new venue at Ossett School near Wakefield. The new venue took a bit of finding and gave both Louise and myself a good chuckle when the guys operating the talk in frequency had difficulties in directing us in. Once we found our own way we were able to advise them and other rally travelling hams how to get there h.i

The Venue Ossett School

Once we ventured inside there were one or two interesting seller's with the usual plugs and fittings

This vendor got it right, very well organised in bags of 10, I bought £10 worth of PL259 plugs. It should keep me quiet for a week or two.
Tempting but I must have enough antenna's (according to the YL).
Some good reading courtesy of the RSGB book stand.

A nice selection of mobile antenna.
Junk Sale? Is there such a thing when it comes to radio equipment?
Myself 2E0HTS in shopping mode.
Other Yorkshire Hams on the hunt for a bargain.

The W.A.B (Worked All Britain) Stand run by Darren G0BWB & Brian G0BFJ. Great to meet you guys after hearing you on the W.A.B Net.

The W.A.B Stand
In fact I was so impressed I decided to buy a new book number from the new series that has recently started. The new book number I now have is 18433. My old series book number is 16382 so hope to work on a W.A.B frequency in the near future. More amazing the picture shows me signing and parting with Cash, not very Yorkshire like h.i.

Brian - G0BFJ and myself 2E0HTS - Simon.

Yes it is a really silly grin! But £12.00 for a discone antenna would probably do the same grin on any Hams face. Also a bag of W.A.B goodies and other bits. 

So a fun day had by all and 3 W.A.B square entries already in the new W.A.B book.  73 good DX and thanks to Louise M3TLL for the photo taking and all of the support as usual.