Have A Happy Ham Christmas

World Wide Propagation Direct To My FT-857 Mobile

On my way in to work I was amazed to hear loud signals from every corner of the Earth. I received ZL1BD as well as VP8LP both on 20m at about 8.15 utc, (I have previously worked these guys). Shame I had to do a days work instead of playing radio, lets hope the bands are just as good during the two week holiday starting next week. Happy DX & 73.

Mobiling into PT Land Brazil!

On my way to work this morning the 20m band was wide open and I made a nice QSO with PT2GTI from Brazil. PT2GTI Roberto was 5/9+10 db to my mobile and I received a 5/9+ report back. A nice way to start my working day. 73

My First HF Rig Still Going Strong

This little beauty has been hiding in the top of my wardrobe since I first moved in, I had almost forgotten all about my first ever HF Transceiver the YAESU FT-890.

I built a 20m dipole and went with the easy option of inverting the dipole fed with coax  from my sat array mast which is nearby on the outside wall. I hooked up my old Nevada TM1000 antenna tuner also tucked away in my wardrobe along with a brand spanking new 30 amp PSU I bought a few years back as a backup.

 Out with the soldering iron and the little setup was soon fired up and tucked away in the corner of our dining room. It is working well on 20m with the inverted V, I use the Nevada to tune the Inverted V for best reception on the other bands with ease as the old unit is well put together. I had always thought that the FT-890 was a great radio and I am planning on keeping it set up for a while. I can have a listen to the bands when I am sat at the table having a snack h.i.So far I made a QSO into Lithuania at a report of 5/9 with just 10 watts, so far so good. I'll keep you posted. 73..

Homebrew Microphone Mast

I can't quite remember just how many years I have been planning on replacing my prototype microphone mast/stand,  yesterday I finally made myself a shiny new one!

I engineered my latest home brew microphone stand to house my HEiL GM-5 studio mic at the perfect height for my operations. The early design was made from 6mm round bar making it heavy so this time I opted for some 3mm TIG welding wire making the new mast very light. I cut my wire to the required lengths during the assembly, which I carried out with the TIG Tungsten Inert Gas welding process.

Once completed, I gave it a coat of aluminum aerosol paint and left it to dry overnight.

This afternoon my daughter/apprentice and I began to assemble the microphone head mount and PTT switch to the new mast which also involved getting the soldering iron out (-: more fun :-). We checked the soldered joints with the multimeter which was the best thing ever for my new tech especially when I found an old electrical switch to hook up to the meter for her to play around with.

Whilst designing the latest microphone mast I included a fixing point for a push button PTT switch to be mounted. It worked out well allowing the switch to fit neatly on the side of the mast nicely secured with fused welded TIG joints seen below. 

Not the clearest picture but if you look carefully I included a Call Sign plate which rightfully is stamped up as 2e0HTS

After a final inspection by my up and coming Ham Girl not forgetting the vigorous azimuth rotation and elevation checks to the microphone mount. I received the go ahead to hook up the new homebrew microphone mast to my trusty Yaesu FT-1000MP MK-V.

All thats left to do now is have some fun making some QSO's on the bands with my new mast in my hand or at my side. 73 enjoy your weekend.

AO-73 Loud & Clear Into IO93CU

I have just made my first FUNcube QSO at 11.05 utc using my FT-847 and Satellite array. I thought I would see how well I could receive the very recently launched Cubesat and to my pleasent surprise I could hear lots of activity via the SSB/CW transponder of FUNcube AO-73. I found it very easy to get into the tiny orbiting funcube at around 15° and had a good first contact with Walt - ON5NY who is a regular for me via all of the satellites I work. Walt was a nice strong 5/9. 

As I made my first QSO via FUNcube (AO-73) the satellites pass peaked up to 20° elevation and as I lost the pass I heard CW signals down to around 5° elevation at around 330° azimuth, then I lost reception. Not bad for my first go!

FUNcube (AO-73) Operating Frequencies.

 145.935 MHz BPSK Telemetry 300 mW or 30 mW when the transponder has been activated
 Inverting SSB/CW transponder 300 mW PEP
 435.150 – 435.130 MHz Uplink LSB
 145.950 – 145.970 MHz Downlink USB

HF Mobile Is The Best Way To Travel

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I parked my motorcycle up a couple of weeks back due to the wet and slippery dark mornings and nights during my daily commute to the works QTH. This is the time to enjoy the comforts of four wheels and the added bonus of my mobile HF station the Yaesu FT-857 mobile transceiver, Maldol and Hustler mono band antenna's.

Over the past few weeks I have made lots of great QSOs /M and heard plenty of VKs, ZLs as well as many other DX stations on the morning run in to work with signals often over the 5/9 mark. The return evening journey has not been quite as good but I still hear activity and  have made a few nice contacts usually in and around Europe.
For the best results I have been operating mobile mainly on two of the HF bands - 15m and 20m. Its been great fun as usual playing radio /mobile with my little FT-857 and with a quick change over I can experiment with my various mobile HF mono band antenna's.
40m is also very good for mobile operation and I have worked some fantastic DX from my earlier HF mobile stations.
I still get the same buzz if not a bigger one hearing the signals flood in to my latest mobile set up. It sure is surprising how well you can get out from a simple mobile setup with a good instal and 50 watts, if you are thinking about it you should do it. Its the best way to travel and hear the rare DX.

73 have a good weekend.

Solar Max - Good DX Opportunities?

As we reach the midpoint of Cycle 24 we may experience disturbed or "wide open" band conditions when operating our Ham radio stations. This is due to the effect on the Earth's ionospheric layers being battered by lots of flowing electrons more commonly known as solar flares. The sun's magnetic field has been reversing over the last few months and will shortly experience a complete flip of polarity. This event now known as "solar max" happens every 11 years and like our treasured DX delivering solar cycles is subject to random peaks of activity (solar super storms). The last super storm happened back in 1989 resulting in a massive geomagnetic storm caused by a coronal mass ejection during solar max.
Solar max is a term used by scientists to describe the sun's 11-year cycle. During "Solar max" our sun's magnetic field reverses polarity, typically spawning sunspots, flares, auroras and geomagnetic storms. When Solar max takes place, fields are produced which are large enough to disrupt satellites, effect the HF bands and fry power grids on Earth.

 I found the video below very interesting lets hope we experience some great DX conditions over the next few months! 73..

 

Latest eQSL Gallery Update

According to my Doctor I have been suffering from an "acute respiratory infection" for the last 10 days which will clear up once I have completed all of the prescribed meds. Unfortunately I have not been working or playing and today is the first day that I managed a quick QSO in my shack since I first started feeling ill. I made a very short QSO as I worked HZ1BL in Saudi Arabia up on 12 meters at around 10:40 utc using my FT1000 MKV mp and Cobweb antenna. I have worked HZ1BL previously on 40m, 20m and of course 12m.

After that I thought I would check my eQSL account to see how many cards I had waiting. I found around 50 eQSL's which I added to my Online eQSL Gallery

Here are a couple of my favorites from my latest batch. Thank You if yours is amongst the many eQSL cards that are on display which can be found by following the link above.

LAMCO Repair Service

After laying a new floor I accidently dropped my YAESU G-5500 elevation - azimuth dual controller box which resulted in fault on the azimuth meter needle. The needle pinged to the right when I powered the unit up which was a pain in the back side after doing such a careful job up until that point.

I had a look for the obvious but could not see anything suspicious on inspection so I decided to seek expert help. At first I found myself struggling to think of who and where I would be able to get a quality repair as amateur radio equipment is not the typical run of the mill tv or pc hardware. 

The region that I live in is not the best for finding amateur specialists but fortunately there was a radio shop in South Yorkshire, about 35 miles away. I looked up the number and gave LAMCO a quick call, they told me the good news that they had a radio equipment repair service. So off we went down the M1 and came across a helpful friendly fellow amateur Dave - M0XIT who made us very welcome at LAMCO's.

Dave - M0XIT

The shop is packed with lots of goodies,  I spent a good 45 minutes looking at all the equipment (with my tongue hanging out).

The stock level was excellent there were transceivers, antennas and various kit to equip any amateur operator or SWL. The latest ICOM 7100 was there on demo for all to see. I know where I will be going when I want some more equipment in the future!

We left the YAESU G-5500 and picked it up two weeks later fully repaired with a verdict of a blown thyristor. I was very pleased to be heading back with a repaired piece of kit that is now back in service in my shack. The price for the repair was reasonable, I would recommend the LAMCO radio repair service to anyone in need of a radio equipment repair. 73

Summertime Play

The Latest 2E0HTS Mobile Station 

This years summer holiday started by changing our vehicle from the Toyota Rav 4 for the shiny blue Toyota Avensis as seen below.

This presented a new install for me to figure out, I soon came up with a plan and carried out my new installation.

In this picture you can see my Maldol HFC-20 HF antenna mounted at the rear.

I ran a short ground wire from the antenna base directly to the chassis and managed to get 1:1 - 1:3 right across 20 meters. 

As for the rig I decided to give my FT-100 are well deserved rest and try out my FT-857. The first thing I did was in my workshop where I folded up some sheet aluminium to cradle the FT-857 face panel. I wanted to be able to clip it to the ashtray avoiding any permanent fixings.

Once I fettled the bracket to fit and work as I required I ordered a separation cable from ebay which arrived a couple of days later. I wired up the FT-857, fitted the separation cable, clipped the ashtray bracket in and bingo! I was back on the air /mobile in my latest Toyota.

I spent a fair bit of time setting up the audio settings found within the menu of the FT-857 and I have been making lots of nice QSOs around the world over the holidays ever since.

Trip To The Yorkshire Air Museum & GB0YAM

This was an exciting day for all of us as we got to walk freely around some impressive aeroplanes from the past and the present. The Yorkshire Air Museum is about 50 miles from my QTH and has a large number of aircraft and air force treasures to see.

  

There was so much to see and the sun was blazing, The large hanger housed some real beauts I especially liked the Halifax seen below.

Elsie, Louise and I managed to get some cockpit action as we try to imagine what it must have been like to fly these old aeroplanes. 

There was even more to see so I had a go on a Harrier flight simulator which was ace and wandered off to the communication tower.

The station is now active under the amateur call GB0YAM and I could hear the sound of CW booming through from across the base.

The Yorkshire Air Museum certainly had lots to see, we had a brilliant time and will return soon. The NAFFI style canteen was also good! 

Holiday Shack On The Moor Tops

If you have been following my antics for a few years you will all ready know about the shack on the hill. If your just dropping in for the first time I used to live on top of the Yorkshire Moors in a 40 ft Static caravan which was DX heaven. Nowadays its our quiet retreat where I get too spend quality time with my family. As well as been a beautiful scenic location its the home of my second shack where I am well equipped to work the satellites and most of the HF bands.

I reconfigured my set-up and introduced the FT-100 and FT-817 allowing me to work the SSB satellites as well as the FM ones. For HF I am using my good old trusty FT-767GX. I have worked lots of Dx on 20, 17 & 15m using it over the holidays recently, into places like Argentina, NA, SA, Eu and Australia. My Delta Loop is still up as is my other Hustler 6BTV and thankfully are both still doing a good job for me along side the home brew satellite antenna the IO-10 EL that I made a few years back. I have had lots of fun over the past fortnight making many QSO via FO-29 using the IO-10 EL. FT-100 and FT-817 combination.It seems to be working great as I also made some good QSO on 2m SSB.

SO-50 Satellite - 5 Watt QRP Operation

As well as playing indoors at the holiday shack Ive been outside with my ARROW satellite antenna and handheld rigs. I have worked some old friends as well as a few new ones via the FM satellite SO-50. The portable 5 Watt set up is great fun to use and very effective from up on the moor tops. I managed to catch a short video of one of the many SO-50 passes that I was active on, it features a QSO with another Simon who's call sign is G6AHX. Hope you enjoy the video and have a good weekend! 73 thanks for passing by, hope to be back soon de 2E0HTS - Simon

Amateur Radio - Photo Collage

I like playing around with the many different apps freely available to Google chrome users and earlier this evening I tried a program/app called Photo Collage. I found it at the chrome web store and simply added it to my chrome web browser. After about ten minutes I created the picture seen above from some images that  I had previously saved to my pc drive. It was really quick and easy and I think the result is quite good, hope you like it!

73 have a great weekend.

End Of Term!

Once again another college year comes to an end after a lot of hard work. I have enjoyed teaching all of the students and as you can see by the image below its now time to celebrate success and wind down for the summer holidays. 

In case you are wondering? Yes, we were on board a space craft, however the unbelievable bit is that I am the one wearing the tie! To infinity and beyond!

Thankfully, I shall be back down to Earth soon and able to crack on with blogging and get some more radio play time too. 73.

Long Path Mobile DX to Tasmania

As I made my way to work this morning I came across a strong signal coming in on 20m via the long path from Tasmania. It was infact VK7AC - Norm with a 5/9 signal in the clear. I gave Norm a shout and was recieved back in Tasmania with signal report of 5/7. Not a bad way to start the working day!

 VK7AC - Norm's Shack 

Shack Happy CQ CQ!

I have been enjoying my radio equipment a lot since I settled on my preferred layout of my amateur radio station. The shack is working well as are my antennas, all that's left to do is to get busy making plenty of qso's. I am going to start making more of an effort to call CQ rather than my usual style of replying to someone else's CQ call. I guess I am a lazy operator, hopefully next time I post it will be about the stations that came back to my call as I aired my hard to catch call sign. 73!