New Baby!

In the early hours of Wednesday morning we were blessed by the arrival of our new baby daughter - Martha Rose, who weighed in at 8lb, 10oz. Martha Rose is doing just great as is Mum Louise (M3TLL) and Elsie who is now graduated to big sister! 73 and listen out for some new qrm when I am active h.i

New HAM Radio Video

Over the weekend I managed to get some radio play time in on the HF Bands which were quite lively to say the least. I decided to catch some of my radio fun on video, I caught some DX up on 12m with the homebrew Delta Loop antenna and Yaesu FT-890 xmtr. The video also shows my Delta Loop and also includes further shack activity with my Yaesu FT-1000 MKV and Cobweb antenna system. I hope you enjoy it, I certainly had fun making it, its a bit raw and amateur as my video editing software has gone silent key. 73 happy Dx! Simon..

Mobile On The Long Path Into VK6 Perth

VK6WC SHACK 

Once again on my work bound journey I was trawling the 20m band when I heard John - VK6WC  from Perth in Western Australia. I gave just one call to John and was heard by VK6WC in Perth loud and clear  with a 5/6 signal from my mobile. VK6WC - John was a solid 5/9 to my FT-857 as I drove my Toyota over the moors at around 7.20 utc. John was running 400w from a FT-2000 into a Stepper IR antenna which was beaming long path. 

Another great qso from the mobile, with a DX distance of 15773 miles! Yep for me, Ham radio is definitely still very cool when you can do things like this. 73.

Update: I was back in the mobile an hour later when I worked VK6ANC operated by fellow Yorkshireman Barry, from nearby Huddersfield. VK6ANC was a big signal to my mobile peaking at 5/9+ at times and sounding nice. I was once again putting a 5/6 signal into VK6 and had a good long rag chew with Barry who was enjoying operating from the Northern Corridor Radio Group shack pictured below.

VK6ANC Shack

Early Morning Mobiling Into EU7

Monday mornings come around a bit too fast! This morning I was mobiling on my way to work when I heard quite a few strong signals coming in on 20m. One of those signals was Larisa - EU7LA coming in 5/9 solid to my little Yaesu FT-857 and Maldol mono band antenna. I made a quick qso with Larisa before arriving at work which was a great way to start the working week! When I looked Larisa up on QRZ I found some excellent paintings by EU7LA that are well worth checking out, I added one below.

73 happy "Ham"ing.

Latest Site Updates - ISS & Satellite

I just finished updating information regarding operating frequencies for amateur satellite and ISS operation. I also added some useful links and videos as well as live video feed from the ISS. Check out the satellite tracking section of my Ham Radio Site To view the latest updates. 73

Late Nights In The Shack

Right now, I am listening to some DX on 17m and thought I would share the view from my armchair! 73 Happy DX. BTW I just worked W1AW/P1 on 18.143Mz with a 5/9 report both ways.

50W Into India With A Homebrew Delta Loop

Earlier today I checked over my home brew Delta Loop and ended up re tightening the guy ropes. After that I was playing around with the recently self repaired Yaesu FT-890 which is hooked up to the loop and came across VU2SWS - Sarla who was working a "pile up" on the 17m band. After a few attempts I made it into India and received a 5/3 report from Sarla - VU2SWS pictured below.

A great contact as well as a good result for the FT-890 and Delta Loop setup! 73 & thanks goes to Sarla for pulling my signal in through the pile up!

Yaesu FT-890 Frequency Drift

FT-890 & Recent Delta Loop Experiment:

I have owned my Yaesu FT-890 since 2002 and have enjoyed years of reliable service. A couple of months ago you may recall that I recently reinstated the FT-890 as a second set up allowing operation from our dining room as well as my regular shack. I have since worked a good page and a half of paper logged QSO's into places like the Middle East, The US and EU as well as across Russia. I have been using the homemade 20m Delta Loop that I recently made and installed which is performing very well on 20m. The delta loop works well on 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m with the help of an old Nevada TM1000 manual antenna tuning unit.This week I managed to get into a couple of US repeaters up on 29Mhz using the FT-890 and Delta Loop which is pretty cool.

Frequency Drift: 

Whilst enjoying my old rig I discovered that it had developed an error and occasionally would drift up and down frequency both RXing and TXing. The drifting in frequency seemed to come and go and seem less frequent once it had warmed up after the radio had been left on a while. I did a quick google search and discovered the problem was fairly common with the FT-890 and FT-840. More important it could be rectified by cleaning or replacing a trimmer cap (TC 1002) which is located in series to the reference-frequency-oscillator. The terminology sounded tricky and off putting but fortunately I continued to surf the net and came across a really well explained write up regarding the step by step approach to carrying out the task. The details included pictures and simple instructions which I easily followed. Last night I completed the repair successfully and the FT-890 is once again back to its excellent self, ready for another 12 years of action h.i.

 A HUGE Thanks goes to Fabian Kurz, DJ1YFK who posted the the superb guide put together here:
  FT - 890 Frequency Drift 

 My FT-890 is back and tonight (22.00 utc) I worked Mexico up on 20m (5/8) on the freshly repaired YAESU rig and Delta Loop, I am feeling pretty pleased with myself for doing the repair. Below is a snap of the LOCAL UNIT which contains the reference oscillator,  the XTAL, a few resistors and capacitors as well as the trimmer in question - TC1002. I sorted it out by giving a couple of closely monitored turns to the trimmer before putting it back to the correct alignment. 

Lots of Happy DX  & 73

10 Year Anniversary

It is exactly 10 years since I sat the exam and first obtained my amateur radio licence. Two days after becoming a radio ham I made contact with my loyal buddy and YouTube video co-presenter,  Dudley the DX hound. 10 years on, we are both wearing well and have managed to put together a very nice family which will be increasing in size yet again this coming April. I am proud to be able to inform you all that we are having another baby girl! 73 Happy DX.

Antennas Hold Up Through Storm Conditions

WX Warning of severe storms!


The UK continues to get battered with gale force winds, snow and lots of heavy rain storms. Here in Baildon, West Yorkshire my Ham radio antennas are holding up well  despite the bad WX conditions. Earlier I had to recover my daughters play house which had been dismantled and blown away, fortunately it will be ok and should easily be reassembled. Our dustbins have also wandered off somewhere down the garden spitting rubbish out along the way, which will be not so fun to collect in the morning.
All things said and done I can't complain too much as I am well used to bad weather due to living at altitude up on the windy Yorkshire Pennine mountains.
Hopefully the storms will ease up in the early hours of tomorrow as predicted and the antennas will remain undamaged.





Recent Radioactivity

I have been enjoying some good openings on 20m whilst mobile especially in the mornings and during the past three weeks I have made qso's into the US, Tasmania, Australia, Lebanon, Algeria and lots of Europe. My FT-857 & Maldol antenna is performing well for me as a mobile station and I have had some great radio reports.

I have also been pleasantly surprised with the recent homebrew 20m delta loop that I installed and my dining room operation on my old FT-890. I have worked a number of stations using this second setup here at my qth with great results both DX and short skip. The delta loop tunes up well with an old Nevada TM1000 tuner, I have been able to make qso's on other bands that I would not of expected too, again with good results. I have been using a paper log to record my progress with the dining room setup which I may share more details in a later post. Surprisingly,  I can tune the vertically polarised delta loop on 40m, 17m, 15m 12m & 10m as well as its resonant band 20m. I have been enjoying using it so much I must confess to neglecting my main shack set up and antennas.  I am sure that I will soon get back to my FT-1000/847 and comfy armchair just as soon as the novelty of the loop and FT-890 wear off h.i.

 Hope to hear some of you somewhere on the bands soon providing my antennas hold up, next week I am on holiday from work and should be active on HF and the Satellite bands. 73!

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