Rack The Shack

I completed the welding and fabrication work on my new rack for my radio shack and spent the afternoon re wiring and installing my radio equipment into the purpose built steel rack.The new rack is now in use in my main shack and is built to my own personal requirements.

The equipment is set up well and the rack is nice and strong made with 30 mm steel tube uprights, 15 mm braced cross members and covered with 2 mm sheet steel. The new rack has been designed to create some space for more equipment as well as providing better air circulation which will help keep the station cooler once I get around to treating myself to a bit more power and add a linear amp to my set up. That will be my next addition in the hopefully not to distant future once I have saved up some hard earned cash. I have been looking at amplifiers that use valves rather than solid state as I think the reliability and operating lifespan is more likely to be higher with a plate and load set up for the amount of money I will have to spend. The last time I tried to up my power it did not go so well as I ended up with some secondhand repaired junk from Moonraker UK, which if you remember was exchanged as a new item when after a month the first one went faulty, the replacement also lasted as long as an Ice cream takes to melt. On inspection I found a repair sticker inside with a date that preceded the date that I had purchased it supposedly new? This left me cautious and of course has put me off solid state amplifiers (especially ones from Moonraker and RM) even though I obviously got a cheaper range than some of the higher priced solid state amps that hopefully are a bit better made. Over the next few weeks I will be looking out for a second hand HF valve amplifier, probably something that will produce 600 to 800 watts which will tick over nicely at my legal limit of 400 watts and should be more reliable with plenty of future service. For now I am going to enjoy my nicely dusted off ham shack. 73!

40 meters Mobile

After fitting the new board in my YAESU FT-857 mobile I got the urge to change over antennas from 20 meters to the 40 meter band. I have plenty of good mobile antennas from MALDOL and HUSTLER to play around with so I swapped the
MALDOL HFC 20 for the HFC 40 which is resonant from 7.100 - 7.190 MHz.

Listen out from 7.30 utc on 40 meters week days as I try my luck from my Mobile ham radio station. 73

YAESU FT-857 Front Panel Repair

Over the past 12 months the display on my Yaesu FT-857 has developed the "zebra stripes" problem which after looking in to it, this has probably happened because of high temperature from the sunlight entering into my vehicle. The best way to resolve the fault is to install a new board into the front panel which I carried out last night with successful results.

I began by contacting YAESU UK who came straight back with the cost and part numbers which was very reasonable as the total cost for a complete brand new panel and new AF/SQ VR control was under £140. The panel has a screen and selector control so I thought I would renew the AF/SQ control at the same time.
The staff at YAESU UK are extremely knowledgeable and very helpful indeed, I gained a few tips from one of the gentleman at YAESU UK regarding the task I was about to undergo.  The AF/SQ VR required careful soldering as the terminals are very tiny but apart from that the job was not too difficult and I managed to get it done in around about 2 hrs in total.


Image below shows my old panel about to be stripped out

Image below shows the new panel and VR from YAESU UK

After completing the changeover I was pleased to see the problem has now been resolved and the FT-857 is good to go again. So, back in the mobile DX machine working as well as ever! All that remains is......A BIG THANK YOU to all at YAESU UK Sales and Service team.

Rack mounted

I decided that I would like to make a purpose made steel racking system for my shack. I wanted something that would house more equipment as my existing rack is just a tad too small.

I have made the frame out of tube and box section. I just need to put in some shelves and then get some paint.

U.K HAMS Exempt Radio Amateur aerials from requiring planning permission

"Exempt Radio Amateur aerials from requiring planning permission"

Current planning regulations severely restrict the ability of licensed Radio Amateurs to erect experimental aerial systems. We the undersigned require the government to amend the law to exempt all licensed Radio Amateurs (and C.B. radio users) from requiring planning permission for their aerials.

Please follow this link to sign the petition 

Sun Sea & Ham Radio

Port William Scotland

It's been a brilliant summer break and I managed to get in lots of radio time during our summer tour of Scotland and Wales.

FT-857 mobile Maldol antenna

The MK7 Transit performed well as we enjoyed many nights under the stars and I got the opportunity to operate mobile using MW0YKS/M as well as MM0YKS/M. I also made some good VHF contacts from my holiday cabin during my visits and my home shack was on the air when I was home.

M0YKS Shack

Operating from the Cabin FT-2600m

Enjoying the view to Ireland and The Isle of man from the Mull of Galloway Scotland

Campsite crew

I made a few ham radio videos which are available via my YouTube channel which were from my shack and mobile.  I saw some amazing nature and countryside and had fun working the FT-857 mobile whilst clocking up some miles. The bands were poor but the beaches of Anglsey Wales and Galloway Scotland made up for that.

Mull of Galloway Light House

So once again it's back to work after a fun time had by all 73.

Special Discount - Eltima Products For Radio Amateurs

Just a quick update regarding my last post about Eltima software.

Any radio amateurs and short wave listeners wishing to use Eltima products can get special discount and support. This has kindly been arranged by Helga from Eltima software solutions. If this is something for you just mention you're a Ham or SWL and that you have visited my blog.

Contact

helga@eltima.com  

I hope that some of you fellow hams benefit from this and thanks again to all at Eltima Software Solutions. 

If any other amateur radio related techs, developers or sales would like there products reviewing, testing, rating as well as good play around with in my shack. Please feel free to contact myself Simon M0YKS as I am always up for a good blog post to share with the World Wide Ham Community. 

Virtual Serial Port Pro From Eltima - Control Your Transceiver From Multiple Apps Simultaneously

I was recently contacted by Helga from Eltima Software who design software and apps which can be used in the field of amateur radio. Helga offered me the chance to take a look at a couple of software solutions of interest which are Virtual Serial Pro and Serial to Ethernet Connector.
Helga has been involved in the research of what can be achieved using the Eltima Virtual Serial Pro com port application in regard to Amateur Radio and has written an interesting article called How to Control Ham Radio Transceiver from Several Apps at a Time.

1. Virtual Serial Port Driver: creates pairs of virtual COM ports.
2. Serial Port Splitter (Virtual Serial Port Driver Pro): helps to create bundles of virtual serial ports and set custom port parameters, allows managing real and virtual COM ports.
3. Serial Port Monitor: displays, logs, and analyzes RS232/422/485 COM port activity.
4. Serial to Ethernet Connector: allows sharing serial ports over Ethernet, LAN, and the Internet.

I believe that this could be of interest to Hams who have multiple transceivers, satellite antenna controllers, regular antenna rotators and run data modes and packages like Ham radio deluxe, TRX Manager, WX to IMG etc. This of course would be only useful if you like everything on at the same time in your shack all functioning simultaneously or if your PC has limited or only one serial port. For myself I have been playing around trying to configure a couple of apps that run my YAESU FT-847 and West Mountain RIGblaster plus.

I will be taking a look at the Serial to Ethernet software next which could be a winner for Hams that operate remote stations which is something that I fancy having a look at once I have found a suitable app or program to run/connect to my station via the Eltima serial to ethernet connector.

If any of you are running a remote station and using an android app to control your station I would be interested in hearing what your results are and any recommendations you may have.

I shall continue to play around with the software packages kindly sent through from Eltima Software solutions and I would like to thank Helga for getting in touch and offering the Ham radio station of M0YKS a chance to look at something that could be beneficial to a lot of radio amateurs.Follow the links for detailed info if this is something that interests you.

Best 73 catch you all again soon and thanks once again for visiting Ham Radio dot Blogspot dot com.

VHF ON

The holidays are going well, after a trip to the Welsh island of Anglesey I'm now enjoying the good wx and occasional VHF openings as well as some short skip HF qso's into G land from the cabin on the Yorkshire moor tops.

Holiday Operating - Ham Radio

Its almost the end of another busy academic year at College where I have been busier than ever getting all our learners through their welding and fabrication programs.

The good news is as from this weekend I will be free to operate my ham radio equipment without too many distractions as I begin my annual summer leave and spend time enjoying life with the family.

I plan to be active from the shack at home, the holiday cabin as well as the DX machine whilst camped up somewhere cool. I hope to catch some of you guys on the bands and maybe I will continue to enjoy more 10m band propagation which has been worth tying over the past few weeks giving some good DX as well as into EU openings.

Evening DXing will also be on the cards over the next few weeks as we move into the mid summer nights so listen out for M0YKS, M0YKS/M, and maybe MM0YKS/P or MW0YKS/P.

73 thanks for the visit. catch you on the air - Simon M0YKS

Ham Radio Poems - M3TLL

Over the years I have received many emails and comments regarding Ham radio poems that Louise M3TLL wrote a few years ago. They have been very popular so here it is brand new for all who love poetry.

An Ode To The Antenna Tower
Written by Louise M3TLL.

Your shining steel standing proud

I hear your signals coming in loud

Many countries, every nation

Booming in to my humble station

Shining brightly in the sun

You help me enjoy hours of fun

Hearing signals coming through

Spending time calling cq

Radiating across the land

How great it is to see you stand

So tall and proud in my backyard

I hold you in such high regard

While others prefer a tree or flower

I have my antenna tower

CQ WW DX SSB 2017 Results/scores Are Out

I'm pleased enough with 3rd place low PWR England. I'll try harder this year!

So called new replacement from Moonraker?

Last March I was 50 so my YL bought me a RM KL405 from Moonraker (UK). The amp lasted about two weeks despite running low power, I was offered a replacement from Moonraker and was told that I would not be able to return the so called new replacement should it go faulty. With this in mind I made sure I took the greatest of care to minimise any possible risk of over powering the amplifier and have only run 5 to 10 w on SSB with a maximum output of 180w out. After using the amp for a couple of weeks the pre amp became stuck on which was annoying but it seemed to be working ok. Last week I was in my shack and heard an interesting station so I gave a shout out. I noticed straight away that the output was down thanks to my West Mountain Radio PWR Check. So I decided that I will have a look to see if anything was obvious in the way of a fault.

The first thing I saw was the sticker and hand written note which seemed a bit strange for a so called new replacement. Then I noticed a resistor was completely blown off of the board and solder was splattered everywhere. On closer examination and a bit of solder spatter removed I repaired the preamp switch which had been in short circuit due to the spatter. Unfortunately the damage to the output is beyond my electronic ability so I decided to pack the amp away until I decide to either throw it away or donate to Someone who can use any components.

The solder can be seen below stuck to the front panel and spread around over various components.

As for the lesson learned. I won't be buying any more RM equipment from Moonraker and I won't be believing that their customer service is as good as they make it out to be. And finally if you work in the repair service at Moonraker do you recognise the handwriting on the repairs sticker of the so called new replacement.
I am also unsure as to how the date on the sticker is one year before I purchased the amp if it was a new replacement which arrived in April 2017.

80m dipole

It's been a while since I posted which has been mainly because of the poor propagation on the HF bands. I have made a few decent DX contacts on 15m and 17m which have been good on occasion. Otherwise nothing to spectacular has been happening here at the home of M0YKS.

As usual during the winter months I enjoy listening lower down the HF bands especially on 80m and 40m. To do this I use a HUSTLER 6BTV vertical and also CAROLINA WINDOM antennas. I have had both in use for 8 years and the outcome is that the vertical is excellent and the WINDOM is good on transmit but far too noisy on receive to continue using it. With this in mind I altered the off centre antenna of 131 feet to a balanced equal legged 80m dipole by shortening one leg to 65 feet and adding 15 feet to the other leg to make a doublet of 130 feet which I soldered and clamped together. I didn't require another Multi banded wire as I have my Cushcraft MA5B, HUSTLER 6BTV and 20m Delta LOOP, I had decided to try a more resonant mono band 80m dipole in the hope that I might pick out the DX on 80m a bit better. I will let you know my findings over the next few weeks. So far the dipole is showing 2.5 swr and seems to receive less noise and has cleaner sounding signals. Catch you in my next post or on the bands soon. Best 73 de M0YKS Simon



Update first couple of hours
After a couple of adjustments I managed to get the swr down to 1:2 - 1:3 across the 80m band. The reception is very nice with a significantly reduced noise level on the new dipole compared to the WINDOM. I am very optimistic about the dipole so far. Best 73

Happy New Year To All !

I would like to wish everyone a very happy & healthy new year for 2018.