Latest RSGB UK Band Plan

The RSGB has published new band plans for the UK amateur radio spectrum which covers frequencies from 136kHz to 250GHz.  Copies of the band plan is freely available to all (including non members) via the Operating section of the RSGB website. You can also view the latest band plan here  which I have added to my Amateur Radio Portal archives. 73!

A Nice Way To Start The Day

On my workbound journey this morning I got lucky when I made QSO into ZL land from my mobile Ham radio station. As usual I was listening around the 20m band on my FT-857 searching for interesting stations when I came across Al, ZL1BD. At approximately 08.15 utc I gave a call back to ZL1BD's CQ call from my mobile and was heard at Al's station in Hamilton, New Zealand. My signal report was 5/6 and Al was coming in at 5/8-9 to my mobile as I drove my car. Al mentioned it had been two years since our last QSO which I still remember well. It surprised me just how quickly the time had passed.  I was very pleased to make the contact again this morning especially as my Yaesu FT-857 recent install seems to work well. Finally I can feel confident that it is as good as my beloved FT-100 which is having a well deserved rest (for now h.i). It sure is great fun operating mobile and never ceases to amaze me how well you can get a signal to radiate. Who knows what tomorrow mornings mobile operation will bring. With a bit of luck and propagation maybe i'll be back into ZL. 73 happy DX!

Latest Batch Of Shack & Mobile eQSLs

I just finished clearing out my eQSL archive and have uploaded my latest QSL cards to view at my Online gallery. 

Fresh Off The Keyboard For 2014

Happy New Year To All From 2E0HTS & Family

I wanted to kick the new year off with the official launch of my latest online project which is a Ham Radio Site containing lots of useful content such as live satellite tracking, downloads and lots more. I shall leave the rest for you to explore yourself at:  2E0HTS HAM RADIO SITE

Don't worry friends and followers, I shall still be active blogging right here as usual, but for those of you wishing to access a lot more regarding Ham radio in general as well as my station I shall be continuously providing quality updated ham radio content at the all new 2014 2e0hts ham radio hub. 73 Have a great 2014!

20M Corner Fed Vertical Delta Loop

I hope you all are having a wonderful festive time, among the festivities I got an hours fresh air outside earlier when I fixed myself up with a very nice additional antenna.



Its coming up to about a month since I installed my old YAESU FT-890 neatly in the corner of our dinning/craft hobby room. I had strung up a 20 meter dipole at first and made a few qso's into Europe but noticed I was picking up some noise which spoiled the reception quality.  I changed antenna's from the dipole to a delta loop to compare and as expected the delta loop was much better with hardly any noise. I tested the loop for about a week until the YL noticed a corner tied off to the washing line pole which resulted in the "look" which translates to "move it now". So today I got my weights and rope along with the delta loop and began throwing a weighted rope up into a big tree which is part of a wooded area at the bottom of my garden. The land after my wall is a steep banking that slopes away into the woodland and is perfect for wire antennas and loops providing them with a nicely elevated take off.
I am pleased with the configuration that I managed which is a vertically mounted corner fed, inverted triangle - Delta Loop. The wire is hard drawn copper which was left over from an earlier project, the dimensions are indicated in the illustration  pictured above. I created the Delta Loop Instal illustration using google draw.
I have fed my new delta loop with around about 100ft of 50 ohm heavy coax terminating  into a homemade 1:1 balun at the delta loops feed point and back inside to my nevada tm1000 tuner.
My home made Delta loop is mounted using insulators and nylon guy strings that connect to the tree and CobWeb antenna mast as seen in the above illustration.The SWR is at 2.0 on 20M as I made it slightly longer to allow final adjustments which I shall do later, my tuner is good for now.
All thats left to do is enjoy the rest of the holiday season and have a quick play in between times. 73

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