Early Morning Mobile into VK3TJK

A great start to the working week as I pulled into the college car park in QSO /m with VK3TJK 

Late Night Short Skip Into EU - 124 Ramsey Island

I had another look around the 20m band before bed and noticed that conditions were up for short skip and DX communication. I could hear MC0SHL quite well so I decided to give a call and worked into EU-124 Ramsey Island, located off the coast of Wales. Great Conditions at the moment, short and long skip signals are coming in very well!  Unfortunately time has run out and now it's bedtime. Good Night & 73.

Amateur Radio Kids Day

I had a fantastic father's day today with my two lovely daughters and YL louise. I also got to enjoy my oldest daughter Elsie make her first radio contact using my call during Amateur Radio Kids Day


The video shows my daughter getting on Ham Radio for the first time during Kids Day. Just after the video she worked into Kaliningradsk her first ever qso with ham operator Valentin - R2FAF 5/9 +. Well done Elsie!

Keeping Me On My Toes!

I have been slightly preoccupied over the last few weeks with the dangerous duo pictured above, I am guilty of having too much fun as my girls run circles around me and as a result of light summer nights haven't managed to do any blogging. As you can see both of my lovely girls are coming on well and I cannot wait to get home from work to be with my family and have fun playing in the garden.
As for radio I have been enjoying operating both my mobile and home station under my recently upgraded call M0YKS. Both setups have been performing well and I have had some very nice DX contacts from my FT-857 mobile & FT1000mp base station.
Back in march 6 weeks after my licence upgrade (my birthday) my YL Louise M3TLL bought me a rather cool present which was a large A3 World map where you scratch off the map's surface to reveal the Country beneath. This was just what I needed as I have restarted working all of the Countries (DXCC) all over again as M0YKS.

The idea of scratching off the gold surface of the Country that I just worked has proved a hit with my oldest daughter who is happy when her daddy is on his radio getting new Countries to locate on the map and reveal exciting information and colours. I would recommend getting one even if you haven't got young extremely interested in everything you're doing children, which of course is priceless. The map is hanging in my shack and will be up for quite some time before I make a qso into all of the exciting DXCC awaiting me and all of the gold has been rubbed away and gone.
The buzz of working somewhere new into my log and map has once again made the hobby of ham radio fun and challenging. As an old friend once said "patient man ride donkey". So, I will get there in the end and now it's back to listening out for DX for me and very best 73 to all. It has been great to have caught up with you again, thank you very much for passing by ham radio operator blogspot !

Local Industrial Museum - Home to Radio Pioneer

As a radio amateur I was delighted to find some interesting radio equipment down at my local museum in Bradford. The Industrial Museum is packed out with fully working steam powered machines as well as some early motorcycles, cars, trams and steam engines. Everything you see has been made locally and are all in pristine condition, it sure is a sight to be seen. Another interesting exhibition is the one which I am sharing with you today as it is one of my favorite interests which is radio and DXing. I managed to find out that my neighbourhood is where a local radio pioneer first discovered how to DX. I am sure some of you will have previously heard of a radio expert called Appleton. Edward Victor Appleton helped establish the UK as a leading force in ionospheric research and was a local radio pioneer.

Edward Victor Appleton discovered that the ionosphere had a much more complex structure and he was able to work out how radio waves were reflected by of a number of different layers known to us all as The D, E, F1 and F2 layers. He carried out tests by using radio equipment on various frequencies at different times of the day where he discovered the effects of ionised layers bending the signal back to earth, just like we radio amateurs still do today when we are DXing.
Edward Victor Appleton found that the F – Layer (Appleton Layer) could reflect much shorter wavelengths that penetrated the lower e layer which allowed radio communications to travel great distances. A local radio DXer Legend!

Pictures of Appletons vintage radio equipment

So I will be carrying on the experiments and tests of the ionosphere just as they were back in the early days as I energise my radio equipment into the Bradford skies, just like the Great Radio Pioneer Edward Victor Appleton used to. h.i 73!

Late Night DX - Sable Island

I just got lucky as I tuned around the HF bands before bed I heard a faint signal calling CQ DX. I was listening carefully on 14.160MHz SSB and realised it was VA1AXC operating from Sable Island under the call CY0/VA1AXC.

 At first CY0/VA1AXC was coming in with a 5/1 signal at my end and I did not think I would be heard, I gave my call sign an airing and woe and behold I was heard first call 5/5 in Sable Island. As we exchanged information  CY0/VA1AXC came up to a nice 5/5 signal, I was running my FT1000MP, 100W into the Cobweb. As I am posting this I am still listening to CY0/VA1AXC who has a nice pile up going on and has decided to now work split frequency. I was very lucky to have been the first station he worked whilst it was nice and quiet, some good timing and not been afraid to try my PTT paid off well as there is only 6 people on Sable Island and I just worked one of them!. 73 GN!

DX Machine Gets Antenna Upgrade

I recently mounted a second antenna on my DX Machine which allows operation on the VHF/UHF bands as well as the HF bands without having to change over antennas. My Yaesu FT-857 has been doing a great job whilst out and about on HF, it is very nice being able to check the VHF/UHF bands from time to time when I fancy a change. 73 happy DXing!

Very YL Antenna Crew

Out in the garden enjoying the Easter sunshine with my daughters we plan our next antenna installation together. The plan could involve a full wave 80 meter Delta loop..... More to follow. Happy Easter!

Delta Loop

Mobile DX Into VK1

I was pleased to hear the 20m band wide open this morning as I drove to work. I came across Matt - VK1MA calling CQ at around about 8.15 utc coming in loud and clear 5/9+  whilst driving over the moor tops. I put out a call back from my mobile FT-857 and was heard first shout by VK1MA who gave me a 5/6 - 5/8 signal report. I was pleased with the good report as I only run 70-80 watts into my mono band Maldol antenna from the Yaesu 857. I couple of months back I opened up the hidden menu in the FT-857 and backed off a few of the default audio settings, I also added a bit of top end to my modulation. The /M radio reports that I have been receiving since the adjustments regarding my signal and audio quality have been very positive and I have been working lots of Stations whilst /M, enjoying it very much indeed. 73 Hope to work you on the bands soon!  Keep HF Mobiling!

Update To Main Site - Live Satellite Tracking

ISS SSTV Page

I just added a new page to my main ham radio site which can be found on the Live Satellite Tracking page. The new page can be accessed via the ISS SSTV button as seen in the above screenshot and contains SSTV images received from the ISS at my qth. Its still work in progress and I would be very happy to add any of your own SSTV images from ISS that you have received in the past or present. 

Best Advert I have Seen Yet!

Video: Slow-scan Television (SSTV) From ISS - RS0ISS

As mentioned in my previous post, here is the video of my FT-847 Satellite set up receiving images from Russian Cosmonauts on board the International Space Station

SSTV From ISS - 3rd Pass Of The Day

I managed to catch a 3rd ISS pass and again collected another RS0ISS SSTV Image.

The ISS will continue sending SSTV images until tomorrow if you fancy having a go yourself. I will be QRT for the next pass as I watch Scooby D with my Daughters.

BTW I caught the last ISS pass on video which I shall be uploading later. Best 73!

Second SSTV Transmission From RS0ISS Received at My Ground Station

Another pass from the International Space Station allowed me to catch a second SSTV image as seen below.