National Communications Radio System Cabin

I stumbled across the perfect portable radio shack and would love to have it parked outside. Someone will be grabbing themselves a bargain as the MOD (Ministry Of Defence) are having a surplus equipment sale.
Check out National Communications Radio System Cabin for more details.

Radials

I hope you are all having a great New Year! Its been a busy couple of weeks and its great to be finally back here on my old ham radio blog catching up with some of my Ham buddies around the globe.

 Last year I fitted a selection of wire radials covering 40m through to 20M which have now become almost hidden in the grass. If you look carefully you can make a few blue radials out at the base of the mast in the picture above.

 I have been making up some additional radials for my 6BTV which I cut for 20m, 15m and 10m. This time I wanted to fix them slightly above the ground so I fed them directly at the antenna base where I used a mounting bolt as a stud to clamp too. The picture above shows the new radials attached and pinned to the ground which keeps them tidy as well as trip free.

 THE RESULT: My Hustler 6BTV now has a few more 1/4 wave radials and is working well on transmit as well as receive. During a test transmission I recently worked Ian - VK3MO again up on 20m at about 10.30 utc. As usual Ian was 5/9+.
 The 6BTV is also working really well on 40M as is my other antenna - Carolina Windom 80, its nice having the choice and switching between the two. 73 happy DXing

Have A Very Merry Christmas From 2E0HTS & Family

Today's NOAA 19 Weather Image For UK, Spain & France

Today's NOAA 19 weather satellite image recieved at my ham radio station in Yorkshire UK at 13.55 UTC. Equipment Used: Yaesu FT-847, Radiocom 5.2 Decoder, 5 element Yagi, G-5500 Elevation/Azimuth Rotator. The UK can be seen with lots of cloud cover at the middle right hand side of the decoded image.

More Ionospheric Ducting From The DX Mobile

As I entered the Car park at work this morning I gave a shout out to Chris VK1GG/P2, who for the second time this week was booming into my mobile "FT-100 Maldol Combo" on 20M.

VK1GG/P2 - Chris was working a pile of Europeans and fellow VKs (Australians) when he heard me calling him from my mobile at around 8.25 UTC this morning. We had a quick couple of overs and It was time for me to begin my working day. (With a smile on my face, you know the one. Only DXers have it hi hi)

Later in the evening at around 18.25 UTC, I was once again out and about in the mobile with the rig turned on listening in on 14.222 MHz.

Whilst driving, I heard JM1WBB - Isao coming in great as he worked lots of stations from various continents located around the world.

Isao - JM1WBB was hitting my little Yaesu FT-100 with a 5/9 signal all the way from Setagaya, Tokyo Japan. 

Once again I engaged the PTT calling "HTS/Mobile" where again I was in look as I was received  by Isao - JM1WBB with a 5/2 report into Japan. I was surprised to make the QSO at that time of day as well as being absolutely delighted.

Its always a great feeling getting good reports from DX Stations whilst using my mobile ham station, I hope you all have a great weekend, 73 happy DX.

Toyota Mobile Still Working Well On The 20M Band

My Monday morning work journey looked rather bleak for riding my motorcycle. It had been snowing over the night leaving icy patches and slippery surfaces which I prefer to avoid whilst travelling on two wheels.
So taking the easy option I proceeded to fire up the little Toyota 4 X 4 and at the same time I gave myself an opportunity to switch on my good old Yaesu FT-100 mobile radio.

Within a mile of  leaving my QTH I heard VK1GG/P2 calling CQ DX on 20 meters with a loud 5/8 signal.
 I gave Chris - VK1GG a couple of calls back and Chris heard me via the long path with a 5/4 signal. I was very pleased to make the QSO into VK2 land from my mobile at a distance of over 15000 miles.

I have worked many DX with the same FT-100 and Maldol HFC-20 mono band antenna throughout the years with excellent service and reliability not forgetting their superb performance. I first obtained this particular mobile set up back in 2004 and after today's DX performance into Canberra, Australia with Chris - VK1GG, I can say it is still doing a very nice job for me.

Ham Assistance Needed

Radio Amateurs are needed to help The Central Research Institute of Machine Building (TSNIIMASH) in Russia with some space plasma experiments taking place onboard the International Space Station (ISS) Nov 25nd - 28th and Dec 2nd -5th. The experiment will use the ISS Amateur Radio 145.825 MHz FM AX.25 1200 bps packet radio downlink.

For more information visit Amsat or find the website about the experiment here

Mexico On 10M FM

After work this evening I fired up my ham radio shack and started tuning up and down the bands.
I had heard recent reports that the 10m repeater KQ2H was coming in strong on a regular basis with lots of interesting stations working through it.

I tuned my FT1000 to 29.620MHz FM and sure enough I could hear the KQ2H repeater. KQ2H is located across the Atlantic near New York in the Catskill Mountains.

I heard lots of stations calling through to begin with, it was slightly chaotic at times but then I suddenly heard Jose - XE2YHR coming in well with a big signal.

After calling him three times Jose pulled me out of the crowd and we had a short QSO exchanging reports and location information.

It was very nice indeed getting into Mexico via a repeater in New York on 10 meters FM.
I'll be listening up on Ten FM over the weekend to see what activity might be found as well as enjoying time with the family.

73 all have a great weekend & happy DXing

Operating 10 Meters during CQWW

Over the weekend I enjoyed some of the fantastic openings up on the 10 meter band during this years WWCQ Contest.

I managed to work some excellent DX for the first time in a long time up on 28MHz. The last time I heard conditions as good as they were, was back in the 80s when I was an avid 11 Meter DXer as well as a spotty faced teenager. My old President Adams at the time brought exotic signals to my early radio days.

I still have some old chicken box kit from way back which includes a couple of 40 channel AM rigs, an original colt as well as a little president AR7. I also have a Ham International Multimode II.

This years WWCQ contest was worked mainly on 10 Meters for me using my FT1000mp MKV field and Carolina Windom antenna (CW80). I exceeded my previous total of 15 Zones by spending my time up on 10m more or less throughout the contest and working a total of 21 World wide zones. This is the best I have done since getting on the air during WWCQ and I am pleasantly surprised how well my humble station is working for me at my relatively new QTH.

I made many great contacts into 25 different DXCC during the 2011 CQWW contest and had a lot of fun doing it.

Countries I worked include:

1 The USA

2 Argentina

3 Cyprus

4 Iceland

5 Uruguay

6 Montenegro

7 France

8 Kazakhstan

9 United Arab Emirates

10 Asiatic Russia

11 European Russia

12 China

13 Japan

14 French Guiana

15 Turks & Caicos

16 Costa Rica

17 Bermuda

18 Brazil

19 Surinam

20 Dominican Republic

21 Turkey

22 Canada

23 Greece

24 Morocco

25 The Gambia

As usual I made sure that I caught some of this years WWCQ contest on video whilst working up on Ten meters. The video shows lots of fantastic signals booming in from various World wide zones.

I hope you enjoy it. 73!

Radio Equipment Rack

Whilst enjoying the half term break from work we have been getting a few household jobs done. One job I have been considering doing involved moving my radio gear from one side of the room to the other.

I made a metal racking system that has been on standby and today was the day I was going to get to use it. I began by dismantling my radio equipment carefully and then I moved one coax at a time avoiding any possible mix ups. I decided to run a new earthing wire to the outside, where I soldered it to a brass grounding spike.

I made the box section rack big enough to house all of my equipment and rigs including my PC tower.

It fits nice and snug inside a corner alcove wear I can operate the various rigs and bands nice and comfortably with ease.

The new layout is more spacious and user friendly than the previous shack set up and better still, the YL likes it!

I took a few pictures showing the new radio shack layout with my home brew rack housing my YAESU powered station.
View of the Shack in twilight operations
Close up view showing the sturdy construction of box section tube joined together using the MIG welding process.

Now that's all sorted, its time to make some coffee and QSOs. 73

VK2GWK Worked on 15M Long Path - video

Up early as usual and listening around 21.290MHz this morning, I heard a strong signal coming out of Australia. It was coming in at my station at around 5/7 to 8 from the Ham station of VK2GWK, operator - Henk.

VK2GWK - Henk was calling CQ DX so I gave Henk a quick call back making it back around the globe into Henks QTH which is nearby to Sydney, making another great DX qso.

During the contact I was running my FT1000mp MK-V hooked up to the CW-80 wire antenna. Henk was beaming long path to my QTH coming in loud and clear as seen in the video.

After our qso I checked VK2GWK on QRZ.com and found a neat link by Henk where I downloaded his QSL card for our recent QSO. Great idea Henk! Tnx & 73.

ZL2WL - New Zealand

I continued the early breakfast DX by working into New Zealand. I tried my luck on my Carolina Windom this time and got my signal heard at 5/1 when I made QSO with Wayne - ZL2WL. Once again the good old 20m band performed its magic and another good DX QSO enters my log. 73

Early Morning Long Path To VK

Another advantage of having a 7 month old baby Daughter is that I am up and awake very early. Lucky for me I can also catch up with some long path DXing on my Ham Radio Station.

This morning at 06.25 utc I was tuning around the 20m band when I heard Neil - VK2IZI coming through with a 5/9 signal out of Australia. The exact frequency where I caught up with Neil was 14.178MHz, I gave just one call using the Hustler 6BTV which was received long path by Neil 5/7. I was surprised the vertical was working so well for me, I did my usual comparison test whilst receiving Neil on my wire Carolina Windom, which was almost the same as the vertical. The wire RX the signal from VK at the same 5/7 to 5/9 strength, so I decided to stick with the vertical during our QSO.

Neil - VK2IZI is located in the Blue Mountains near by to Sydney and was running an Optibeam antenna system. The Optibeam was working very well for him. Yesterday morning I heard lots of Japanese Stations coming through up and down the HF bands, its great catching the bands so lively during the early morning openings.

Well that's it for now, guess its time to change a nappy and get get some more coffee, happy DXing catch you on the long path!

Surface pressure forecast

Strong winds have continued throughout the day so I decided to receive some forecast information from Northwood RN (London). I tuned my receiver to 4.608.09 MHz USB where I decoded a +20db signal using Radiocom 5.2 on my P.C as seen in the screenshot.


The surface pressure analysis received at my location shows tightly packed isobars across the UK indicating strong winds.
RX 2

RX 1

Happy Birthday Sputnik

It's 54 years since the launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik. Launched on Oct 4, 1957 Sputnik paved the way for satellite communications which has been enjoyed by many radio amateurs around the world.

Named after the Russian word for satellite Sputnik was 22 inches in diameter and thanks to heavy batteries weighed 184 pounds. According to Wikipedia:

"The satellite had a one-watt, 3.5 kg (7.7 lb) radio transmitting unit inside, developed by V. I. Lappo from NII-885, that worked on two frequencies, 20.005 and 40.002 MHz. Signals on the first frequency were transmitted in 0.3 sec pulses (under normal temperature and pressure conditions on-board), with pauses of the same duration filled by pulses on the second frequency. Analysis of the radio signals was used to gather information about the electron density of the ionosphere."

The satellite travelled at a whopping 18,000 miles an hour. Its elliptical orbit varied from between 584 miles and 143 miles from the Earth which it circled once every hour and 36 minutes.

As well as technologically paving the way for satellite communications Sputnik heralded an important era of the Cold War, heightening tensions between the US and Russia which would take many years to thaw. Now on the ham bands Russians and Americans share many happy QSOs and rather than being a signal of suspicion and discontent Sputnik is seen as a key point in Ham Radio history.

So, Happy Birthday Sputnik! I hope to be making some satellite QSOs in your honour to celebrate!