Almost that time of year again and it sure feels like it too. Very cold here in Yorkshire England at the moment and I am looking forward to the holidays which are approaching fast. This year I get to enjoy two weeks away from the workplace which means there will be plenty of time to fire up the FTDX101MP and make some merry DX.
Talking of DX..... This evening was decent on HF as I worked some nice DX up on 10m - KP4PR and LU5FC and then down on 20m I was able to work TO9W, K9NEM and ZF2OO with some lovely signal reports exchanged. All SSB voice, using 200w barefoot from the 101MP hooked up to my trusty Cushcraft MA5B multi band yagi antenna.
I will catch up with you again soon and hopefully catch you on the Air over the holiday period. I may try a couple of live streams in and among the festive fun. In the meantime SEASONS GREETINGS and Have fun!
What a great contest it was! The bands opened up and the DX came through a treat. I worked plenty of stations and although I have done better in the past I did manage to work 18 Zones and 74 Countries over the weekend. My young apprentice M7ELC did an absolute fantastic job and bagged herself 14 Zones and got into China as well as many other exciting DX Countries World wide. The new radio in the shack performed flawlessly and the reception was second to none. My only problem was getting Elsie M7ELC to shift over and let me have a go lol.
This years highlights if you have not seen it already.
CQ WW SSB 2022
Thanks to all involved, our logs have been uploaded and we both had a blast. See everyone in the next DX Contest and also next years CQ WW. 73 Good DX M0YKS and M7ELC
We all enjoy Ham radio for many reasons, after all there is so much to try out with our great hobby. One of my interests is working DX and I have always enjoyed the hunt for new places that I have never made contact with. When I say made contact I am referring to operating with a microphone, radio and antenna. I not particularly interested in digital modes which made me decide to class my successful DXCC entries as voice QSO only. I started off shouting on a President Grant back in the 80s and now manage to shout a little less on my Ham radio equipment. So why change 🤣, anyhow my DXCC total using my Yorkshire sounding phonetics has got me 150 confirmed DXCC since I started the log back in 2004. I'm almost half way there 🤣 and only 22 years so far, hopefully I'll be there sometime, but hey I like to talk. To celebrate the halfway mark I treated the shack to an official QRZ DX World Award. I don't usually bother but thought I might as well have a little reminder to help to motivate me catch some more new DXCC
The past few weeks of superb band conditions has meant that I could see just how good this radio is. I have spent most evenings up on 10 and 15m working DX and it's been absolutely buzzing with activity. The FTDX101MP is totally awsome on all of the HF bands with an exceptional quality receive capability. I still love my FT-1000mp but the noise does not disappear the same as it does on the 101mp. Infact the 101mp is incredibly good at pretty much everything including putting out a very nice sounding audio. I still haven't tried the Heil GM5 microphone on it as the M70 YAESU desk mic seems to be very good the reports coming in are pleasing. The M70 came free with the radio as an incentive to buy. It is a nice microphone and I'll be continuing with it for now. I set the eq up with it and thanks to Jay W4ZXT I seem to have configured it to suit my voice. I followed Jay's YouTube video audio/eq settings (thanks bro).
So with a few weeks of playing I have soon got to grips with the layout of the 101mp, it's very user friendly and well designed for chasing DX quickly up and down the bands. I've not used the amplifier recently and my signal has been solid into VK, JA, South Africa, South America and USA. Its definitely a good time to get into the higher HF bands with excellent DX openings daily. The higher bands have provided lots of new stations that I normally don't catch so you can imagine the amount of rag chew qso I have been making. That's another good thing about the higher HF bands you get interesting conversations thst last for as long as you want without too much QRM. Hope to hear you guys and girls on your radios operating 15, 12 and 10m soon.
A little after midnight just before I headed off to bed, I thought to myself "just one more go". Wow what perfect timing as I had a lengthy chat with NA1SS International Space Station Commander Kjell.
I was using my Yaesu FT-847 Earth station with the 30 element 435-437 Oscar Sat antenna and 10 Element LFA Cross Yagi for 145 MHz, driven by my Yaesu G-5500 Control/rotator.
The amazing part for me is that I called out CQ once and was answered by ISS Commander Kjell using the call NA1SS. Nobody else in Europe was about so after an initial QSO and signal exchange of a real 5/9+ we had a decent rag chew lasting 5-8 mins as the ISS soared by overhead. Commander Kjell told me he has never been as active and is really enjoying working stations back on Earth from the ISS Columbus Module. I went to bed like an excited child awaiting Christmas and I am still buzzing about it now the next morning. Keep a listen out during the late passes as you may get a pleasant surprise!
After serous consideration and a few sleepless nights I decided to part with some hard earned cash and upgrade my HF Transceiver. I am totally satisfied with the new purchase and have been playing all week on an evening after work. The YAESU FTDX101MP is a fabulous bit of kit words can not describe the buzz I have felt and experienced so far. I already worked plenty of DX - Brazil, Falkland Islands, and Indonesia as well plenty of short skip contacts. All made barefoot without the amplifier, the radio puts out 200w so I will be getting rid of both GI7BT amplifiers. The reception is absolutely incredible, I reallly can see the technology improvements which have superseeded my trusty FT-1000mp field. Its like chalk and cheese or day and night.
Hope to catch you on the air soon using my new setup. As you can see I have a much tidier setup with a few old school components now taking a well deserved rest. My FT-1000 is now on standby.
As we all now are getting used to being spoiled with regular band openings I have been making the most of my daily commute to work. Most mornings I make at least one QSO whilst mobile on the 20m band. Today was very good as I managed three QSO along the way. The band was very busy with DX and short skip signals coming up and down to the trusty YAESU FT-857. The past months morning mobiling has brought me some good surprises as I keep hearing the west coast of The USA. I managed to bust a pileup into Oregon which I was very pleased with as I ran about 80 watts into the mono band MALDOL HFC 20 antenna which is still effective after over 15 years of daily mobile use.
Solar cycle 25 is definitely interesting so far, especially early morning mobile, by lunch I have noticed a lull with just a couple of signals and then its back wide open again at my finish time.
My home-based shack is slightly down on action as the pleasant WX on an evening has caught my attention just lately but it will be business as usual once the cold creeps back again. For now it's good to be operating my Ham station out and about enjoying both good propagation and good long days with occasional sunshine. I hope you are also having a nice mix of what life has to offer. Listen out for M0YKS/mobile at approximately 7.15 utc on the 20m band. 73 good DX
Today started well with the awesome news that M7ELC managed a truly great first Contest result. Elsie M7ELC created a new England Record operating on all bands running low power in the Youth category and hit the podium position as Number 1 in England! Go Girl! We are all proud of her great start to her amateur radio participation and lets hope her future experiences on Ham radio continue to develop. Well done Elsie M7ELC England's No 1 Youth on Low Power!
As for myself (Elsie's Dad) I did quite well as usual and came 5th in England as a High Power All Band Classic operator. I did better than usual with the Zones but there is still plenty of room for improvement. Have a fun on the bands! Thanks for passing by. 73.
What a difference a few weeks have made, cycle 25 has definitely woken up! A slightly delayed start due to an overlap of cycle 24 causing disturbance to the new born cycle 25 and keeping the flames quenched. But now the its out with the old in with the new as we experience some fantastic DX openings on all of the HF bands. Enjoy! My Fellow DX Friends!
I have been racking up lots of DX as I operate some late night DX, my station has been hitting all over the globe and the bands have stayed wide open until late and often all night long. It has been really addictive and I have found myself active every day from my radio shack in the search of DX stations that are currently booming through. Morning activity /Mobile from the van has also popped up some nice surprises with JA, VK and ZL signals and a QSO into Brazil whilst on the move with 80 watts. On my return journey I have heard YB and HS 5/9+ whilst driving and listening on the 20m HF band.
A lot of you will be also experiencing the amazing band conditions and loving it I suspect, but for anyone that hasn't yet had the opportunity to get on the air recently now is the time to dust off the equipment and get the wires, beams, verticals or whatever you fancy trying out back up because things are alive and kicking once again on the HF bands. I have kept up with the video streams and uploads and you can catch the band wide open right here as I make some noise across the pond.
The new solar cycle should now continue to propagate the HF bands and we can expect improvement into the next couple of years taking us up to the peak and then dropping back off on the decline. The full cycle is usually around 7 years of peak conditions and 12 years to complete. Below is an image from the space weather prediction center outlining the current position in the cycle and predicted level of sunspot activity which is just what us DX chasers need plenty of.
Well that is my update from the shack of M0YKS, hope to catch some of you on the next live stream on my YouTube channel. I recently added a BHI DSP Noise eliminating extension speaker to my HF station and its absolutely the bees knees! The quality of received audio/signal out of the BHI DSP is incredible and I am very pleased with it. Again my latest videos on my channel have the speaker inline so you can take a listen for yourself. In the meantime get on the radio and call CQ DX, I have worked tons of operators that run 100 Watts with big signals. I hopefully will catch you soon on the HF bands!
Until next the post, Thanks for visiting! Stay healthy! Have FUN! 73 Happy hunting, Good DX, de Simon M0YKS
Well I don't know about you but here in Bradford the band conditions on an evening have been absolutely terrible with high QRN levels and little activity.
I have made the odd DX contact on 40m but overall the shack has had a lot of noisy AF and very little RF generated I'm looking forward to getting on during the daytime over the weekend, so let's hope that the solar cycle starts peddling again and gets a bit of speed up offering some decent band conditions.
My Ameritron amplifier with its GI7BT valves has helped me have some fun thankfully. The current band conditions certainly favour QRO operation but even with 400w it's been quite tough to fill my log the way I like to Not to worry I am sure it will not be long before I am back up on 20m Late night DXing. In the meantime I'm battling it out QRV on 80m and 40m with a terrible high noise level. Boo 👎
Catch you again soon. Keep a watch for Aurora and vhf band openings as this week's forecast looks interesting. The information is supplied from William Hepburn's DX Info centre.
Greetings to one and all! I hope you had a good Christmas and you are having a great new year so far.
We are enjoying one or two decent DX openings when they occur but overall the bands have been average to poor at my end.
However I have had a few good DX contacts on HF and worked down on the lower end of HF operating on the 40m and 80m bands.
My mobile activity has been slightly better than from the shack, mainly due to the time I get on air at home. When mobile I'm hitting the long path DX to VK and ZL on my morning work run. The other day New Zealand was booming into the van as I pulled up into the college car park. Today I worked into Brazil, Iceland and Italy using 80- 100w from the FT-857 and Maldol HFC 20m antenna. As you already know that combo has been an excellent mobile station for me and is still effective 18 years later. Lol, the durability and robust build of both antenna and transceiver has definitely been outstanding. I have made thousands of DX /M using the same setup in many vehicles and still hammering it out in 2022. Happy DX folks let's hope this latest solar cycle starts to play nice and provides a bit more propagation real soon.
Just thought I would drop by and have a quick catch up with you all. We are all back at work and school after a couple of weeks of having covid and other than been very tired on an evening nothing too bad to report, other than its a slow comeback.
As for the radio activity I have recently spent a considerable amount of shack time working the satellite bands. Since I carried out the antenna work on the satellite array over the summer I can say my satellite operation has been awesome. The signals are much improved both on TX and RX and I have made many excellent QSO on SO-50, AO-91, ISS, RS-44, XW-2 Sats. I definitely cannot wait to be back on the satellites over the Christmas holidays as the passes are now more frequent in the day time when I am usually working. The good news is there are only two days to go and the holiday period at college starts! Yay hay!
I have checked the 40m band out most evenings and although I have been tired and not feeling like calling CQ I have worked a couple of decent DX and heard a few JA signals as well as YB and VK along with North Africa so things are stating to pick up at my end. Quite often I am hearing plenty of Europe and they seem to be working lots of DX on 40m but here in North England the signals are not quite reaching my antenna the same. I have tried both vertical and horizontal and have found that for 40m the Hustler Vertical with radials is the better performer by far. With the Ameritron AL-811 and its two GI7BT ceramic valve upgrade I can power up the vertical nicely and get out quite well, I just need to time things right and catch a decent opening on the band.
So folks I will continue checking the band conditions this evening and tomorrow as I run up to the weekend and once again then the late night DX can happen lol. 73 good DX have a great Christmas holiday and hope to work you soon. Stay well!
As we say goodbye to another weird year of disruption caused by the ongoing pandemic, ironically everyone has caught Covid In my household including myself. The good thing is we seem to be not too ill just temperatures, aching and fatigue so far. As for ham radio it has been a good year for sure. I have enjoyed the next solar cycle starting up and have had plenty of good DX on HF. My activities via Space has been good with great results into the Satellites and ISS as well as improving the reception by moving the antenna array. I would say my /M operation has been less than I would have hoped for which of course is down to the fuel prices being unreasonable here in the UK. Our Government is determined to limit our travel one way or another. I will be glad when this year is finished with for sure, let's hope 2022 heads us all in a much more desirable direction. The best thing for me of 2021 is M7ELC Elsie my daughter getting on the air and not much else can beat that happy feeling. Have a good Christmas holiday all and a much better New year!
M7ELC - Elsie Operating In Her First CQWW Contest.
This years CQWW managed to get the attention of YL Elsie M7ELC and I had doubts as to if I would be active myself as she took over the shack. Of course I was totally happy that Elsie wanted to make plenty of DX and it was a proud moment watching her in action.
As you can see she did amazing for her first ever contest.
My efforts were also quite good once M7ELC moved over and I got in the hot seat.
I managed 22 zones this year which is my previous high score from a few years ago. I have yet to beat 22 out of 40 zones but I thought conditions were pretty good with plenty of nice signals and lots of DX.
As usual I had an assistant taking care of tracking the Zones, this year it was my youngest daughter Martha. She probably will be going for a licence herself once she is ready to learn the less fun stuff. In the meantime a great job with the tracking and art work with her CQ WW Zone chart below.
Catch you all again on the next post or better still on the air.... For now stay healthy and have fun best 73 from us all!
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