Ham Radio
Experiments & Fun With Simon M0YKS
Yorkshire UK
Saturday, January 22, 2011
New Shack is on the AIR
We have been in our new house for a month now and at last I am starting to get through some of the decorating and DIY that is required when moving in. With less than 5 weeks to go before "baby HTS" will be with us you can imagine the QTH is undergoing a serious facelift with the smell of paint becoming the normal everyday occurrence.
Over the last couple of weeks I have managed to temporally install 3 antennas allowing me to operate on HF and also hear local activity on VHF. The 3 antennas that I have erected for now, are a 135ft dipole with ladder feeder for 80m, a Hustler 6BTV (6 band trapped vertical) 80-10m and a tri-band vertical covering 50MHz, 145MHz and 433MHz.
As of yet the satellite antennas and new GS5500 azimuth/ele rotator set-up, is still collecting dust as a nice long ladder or scaffold tower will be required to go ahead with the satellite install. For now working the Sats will have to be when I am at my Portable shack on the Moor. As you can see in the background of the image below which shows the 6BTV, the Moor is less than a mile away as the new QTH is situated on the edge of the lovely moorland. The Hustler 6BTV HF Vertical antenna is ground mounted in the same way as my other 6BTV at the now portable shack. Here at the new garden The SWR is 1.1 without the ATU from 40m right through to 10M. The vertical tunes 80m up well with the ATU in line and has a very low noise level on receive. So far I have worked across the pond to the US on it with ease, I also heard some nice VK and ZL signals coming very well, as well as hearing signals out of HS land. The tri-band antenna works reasonable in its very temporary position but I am sure it will be greatly improved once it is up high on the top of the house. Louise will also be a bit happier hi hi. I dont know what she means when she says "it looks stupid there" Lou knows it wont be there for long!
The main problem I can foresee is how to evict her from my favorite seat in the house? As you can see she is not in a hurry to give up the shack seat just yet. If I do some more decorating maybe than she will move over and let me get to my lovely radios h.i For those of you that were wondering about Dudley the DX Hound, here Dudley can be seen getting himself acquainted with the living room carpet which lets face it looks like a great spot to catch some Zs if your a four legged type. The HTS family is settling in very well indeed, however if the decorating gets a bit much a quick drive up the road takes us back to the Moor Top Holiday Shack where my other Hustler Vertical, CW160, Delta loop, IO-10 Sat beam and Rigs are awaiting me.
73 hope to catch you from the new QTH or portable Shack on the hill.
Next months (February) RadCom magazine arrived earlier this week courtesy of the RSGB.
Inside the radio magazine I found myself appearing in the IOTA 2010 article which was a very nice surprise indeed. The picture inside RadCom shows myself in action during the IOTA 2010 contest which I enjoyed very much.
The picture was taken at my Moor Top shack which is now my portable location as I have recently set up a second shack at our new family home.
You can see my new table which is housing the FT1000mp and FT847 on the image above. The image below shows the page in Radcom where you can find 2E0HTS - IOTA Contest Station on page 26. The editor of the RadCom magazine has commented on my home made microphone mini tower which reads "Even the microphone is on a tower, but does it rotate?" The answer of course is yes! As long as you don't mind turning the mic by hand only, as of yet I haven't fit a motor h.i But you never know what I might get up to in my workshop next time I'm tinkering around!
CQD was the international distress code that predated SOS. It celebrates its 107th birthday today as on January the 7th 1904 it was established by the Marconi Company as the first international radio distress signal. CQD is transmitted in Morse Code as — · — · — — · — — · · and although it is widely believed to be an acronym for ‘Come Quick Danger’ that is not the case. It is a general CQ call followed by D meaning distress. Before CQD was established ships would just go missing at sea, when radios were introduced onto ships they initially used CQ as a general call, however the introduction of a distress signal was widely accepted to be a good idea. Sadly CQD was short-lived as it was replaced by “SOS” at the Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference of 1906 as three dots, three dashes and three dots could not be misinterpreted by anyone hearing it unlike CQD . Still, happy birthday to CQD a ground-breaking use of Morse Code and radio, the introduction of which no doubt saved lives.
Hi All, I trust you are all having a great start to the New Year so far!
For myself this has been a very busy time. We have moved into our new QTH that I mentioned a few posts back.
So far the progress with the decorating is going well and I have temporarily installed a Hustler 6BTV and 135 foot Dipole allowing me to monitor HF in between the brush strokes and paper hanging. Louise (M3TLL) has also been busy propagating the baby which will be arriving in around 8 weeks time.
I will be shortly posting pictures of my new QTH/Shack, but for now this is a quick update and opportunity to say Happy New Year to you all and I shall be back online at the new QTH as soon as the new internet connection is switched back on.
73 watch this space for more info on the latest escapades.
Living with a radio ham means you instantly have ideas for Christmas gift buying. If you want to buy your radio amateur a hobby themed gift here are a few ideas you might want to consider.
Ideas for Stocking Fillers
* Anything with his callsign on it I can't begin to describe the joy on 2E0HTS's face when he received through the post from an Slovenian ham friend (S57CW/S57ORG) a miniature Slovenian registration plate with his callsign on it. I can only assume the same would apply for any merchandise with his callsign written on it. A mug, a tshirt, a woolly hat for his DXpeditions. The possibilities are pretty much endless.
* Earphones If, like me, occasionally you want some peace and quiet from the endless CQ calls and other amateurs tuning up then why not invest in a good pair of earphones. He'll think you care, you'll be able to watch telly in peace! Happy Christmas!
* Stationery A radio ham always needs something to scrawl on and with. I learnt early on not to leave any important documents within a 10 metre radius of the ham shack as they're likely to come back with random callsigns, names and signal reports written on. Why not buy him some nice writing equipment of his very own to show him you care this festive season?
Big presents
If you're wanting to spend a bit more on the ham in your life then the list is simple: radio, antenna, atu, power supply, microphone. Last year 2E0HTS was lucky enough to get an FT-817 from Santa. If you are going to buy something like this make sure you either buy new from a supplier like Waters and Stanton. Or, if you are wanting to go second hand ask another (trustworthy) radio ham to help you choose something. Some second hand equipment can be used and abused and the last thing you want on Christmas day is a radio ham with a present that doesn't work.
These are just a few ideas you might want to consider. Maybe some readers have other ideas? If so pop them in the comments below (I still don't know what to get 2E0HTS this year!!)
Base, Mobile & Portable Station eQSL Confirmed QSOs
Whilst sending out some recent eQSL cards I got curious and decided to check how many Countries I had actually worked/logged with eQSL. I was interested to see just how well I was doing from my mobile whilst out and about away from the shack. The eQSL /M cards can be few and far between as I have to depend on the other stations that I work whilst mobile to send their eQSL as I stick to driving rather than logging. So with this in mind you can imagine that plenty of nice QSOs/DX doesn’t always get confirmed by eQSL.
Thanks to all you guys that are keen eQSLers, I still managed to compile a good start to a hopeful longer list to come of Countries worked and confirmed. I also added Countries I have worked whilst mobile in Scotland and Wales.
I use a different eQSL card when operating from the mobile, the shack or any portable stations which can be seen heading each section.
Please don't worry radio amateurs from Wales, I will try much harder to make more QSO next time I visit ;-)
Mobile in England Operating as 2E0HTS/M
BALEARIC ISL.
BELGIUM
BRAZIL
CROATIA
CYPRUS
CYPRUS UK SOV. AREA
CZECH REP.
ENGLAND
FAROE ISL.
FRANCE
GERMANY
GREECE
HUNGARY
ISRAEL
ITALY
KAZAKHSTAN
KUWAIT
LATVIA
LITHUANIA
LUXEMBOURG
MADEIRA ISL.
MALTA
NETHERLANDS
POLAND
ROMANIA
RUSSIA (ASIATIC)
RUSSIA (EUROPEAN)
SCOTLAND
SLOVAK REP.
SLOVENIA
SPAIN
SWEDEN
SWITZERLAND
TURKEY
UKRAINE
USA
Mobile In Scotland Operating as 2M0HTS/M
ENGLAND
GERMANY
ITALY
NETHERLANDS
SCOTLAND
SLOVAK REP.
UKRAINE
Mobile In Wales Operating as 2W0HTS/M
UKRAINE
Portable In The UK Operating as 2E0HTS/P
BELGIUM
ENGLAND
FRANCE
GERMANY
KAZAKHSTAN
RUSSIA (EUROPEAN)
SCOTLAND
SPAIN
SWEDEN
WALES
QTH/Base Station Operating as 2E0HTS
ALGERIA
ARGENTINA
AUSTRALIA
AUSTRIA
AZORES
BALEARIC ISL.
BELARUS
BELGIUM
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
BRAZIL
CANADA
CANARY ISL.
CAPE VERDE
CEUTA AND MELILLA
COLOMBIA
CRETE
CROATIA
CYPRUS
CZECH REP.
DENMARK
DOMINICA
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
ECUADOR
ENGLAND
ESTONIA
FALKLAND ISL.
FINLAND
FRANCE
GABON
GERMANY
GREECE
GUADELOUPE
GUERNSEY (BAILIWICK OF)
HONDURAS
HUNGARY
INDONESIA
IRELAND
ISLE OF MAN
ISRAEL
ITALY
JERSEY (CHANNEL ISL.)
KAZAKHSTAN
KUWAIT
LATVIA
LIBYA
LITHUANIA
LUXEMBOURG
MACEDONIA FORMER YUGOSLAV REP
MADEIRA ISL.
MARTINIQUE
MOLDOVA
MONTENEGRO
MOROCCO
NETHERLANDS
NORTHERN IRELAND
NORWAY
OMAN
PARAGUAY
POLAND
PORTUGAL
PUERTO RICO
QATAR
ROMANIA
RUSSIA (EUROPEAN)
SAN MARINO
SARDINIA
SAUDI ARABIA
SCOTLAND
SENEGAL
SERBIA
SLOVAK REP.
SLOVENIA
SOUTH AFRICA
SPAIN
ST. LUCIA
SWEDEN
SWITZERLAND
THAILAND
THE GAMBIA
UKRAINE
USA
VENEZUELA
WALES
I have worked a lot more countries and many great DX from the Mobile that unfortunately haven't yet been eQSL confirmed, but I am always hopeful h.i. In the meantime, I shall keep shouting from the mobile and the shack enjoying all QSOs on the way. 73
I spent most of this afternoon on my computer logged on to the eQSL website confirming and downloading the latest batch of eQSL cards, which I then upload to my other blog - 2E0HTS QSL Gallery . I have been uploading eQSL cards that I receive from both Hams and SWLs to the site for a couple of years now. There you can find eQSL cards displayed that I have received dating from early 2004 to present day. If you have worked or heard my station active and have sent me a eQSL, it will be there somewhere.
Follow the older posts link found at the bottom of the page to find earlier eQSL cards I uploaded.
For the latest upload to the 2E0HTS QSL Gallery, I decided to put the received eQSL cards into categorised headings which slightly helps to organise things when dealing with a lot of uploading. In this case I had a back log of 131 eQSL cards to get through.
The new simplified Headings that I will be using from now are as follows:
Video of QSO between S57ORG and myself at Marko - S57ORG portable location in Slovenia on Sunday 7th November
Thank You Very Much for this Video Marko, its great to hear myself sounding nice and loud in Slovenia. 73 Hope to catch you again on HF and the Satellite Bands.
I continued chasing the Satellites yesterday and managed to get into HO-68 before I called it a day. I caught the HO-68 pass on video which can be seen below. Enjoy!
During this pass HO-68 is operating in FM mode. Contact is made with SW6KRV, UT3NW & ES5QA whilst the Satellite is at a distance of around 750 miles from the Station of 2E0HTS.
In between cleaning my motor cycles, I have spent today in and out of the shack as I have been closely monitoring the various Satellite passes over my QTH.
I started the day early making QSO via the AO-7 Satellite at 08.44 utc with three stations from Europe - 9A2EY, EA1BYC and ON5NY.
The next "Bird" I worked via was VO-52, where I made QSO with OZ2SAT & DL7UHF at around 10.32 utc.
I then tried my luck again at 16.11 utc where I got into AO-51 which is an FM Satellite which always proves a bit more difficult than the SSB Sats that I worked through earlier. Despite the European pile up and only one station working at a time via the FM transponder, I still managed to work S57ORG who was quickly followed by ES5QA. I heard many other European Ops calling through the bird during the pass, as usual it was chaotic but still lots of fun.
To work the Satellites, I am still using my reliable home brewed IO-10 dual band Sat yagi with its 30º fixed elevation (seen on my QRZ page & this blog).
I have big plans for next spring when I shall hopefully set up my recently acquired Oscar 435 30 Element X beam and 145 Yagi which will be controlled by a GS5500 Azi/Ele rotator (seen in the picture below). I will still be keeping my IO-10 El set up at this QTH as we are in the process of obtaining a second QTH. There I shall be installing some nice/big antennas for both Satellite and HF work. The Sat antenna pictured above is a sneak preview of some of the new equipment & antennas that I have been putting together recently for my new/second shack. Fortunately for me I have more HF antennas on standby waiting to be erected at the other QTH next spring. I am looking forward to posting more detail regarding this in the near future but for now you will have to imagine what I will be up to hi hi.(Besides changing nappies and being a Dad!)
Today's weather Satellite Image courtesy of NOAA-19, decoded by 2E0HTS using Radiocom 5.2 software.
The UK can be just about seen in the centre of the decoded image. Yorkshire (my QTH) can be seen quite clearly with little cloud cover especially at the coast. Spurn point in Humber Estuary can easily be seen when you zoom in on the image.
Once again the Bands have become a mass of squawks and rumbles as Radio amateurs around the World battle it out across the HF bands trying to work as many SSB phone contacts amongst the racket of zones and signal reports. This is of course the very popular annual CQ WW Contest.
The main objective of the CQ WW Contest is for radio amateurs around the world to contact other amateurs in as many zones and countries as possible within 48 hrs. The World is divided into a total of 40 Zones. The Bands used during the contest are all bands, from 1.8MHz through to 28MHz, except for WARC bands.
I enjoy this Contest very much as it coincides with the anniversary of when Louise (M3TLL) and I first dated, Louise lets me play radio every year during our special weekend, as long as I pamper to her every need in between which is easily achievable hi hi.
During this year’s CQ WW Contest, I don’t believe that radio conditions were as good as previous years. I did not hear the volume of regular DX stations that I am used to hearing. I also noticed the higher end of the HF bands closing down completely in the early evening.
Despite poor conditions I was able to work some nice DX such as, Canada, USA , Kazakstan, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Senegal, U.S. Virgin Is and lots of Europe. Despite my hard efforts which comprised of an FT1000mp MK-V and a CW160 & Hustler vertical antenna, I only managed 13 out of the 40 Zones before The Dog nearly left home. At this point, Louise was also considering chatting to the milk man. So with that in mind hi, I decided to call it a day a couple of hours shy of the finishing line which was 12 midnight local time.
Before I did, I managed to catch some Stations up and down the Bands on video (seen below) during the CQ WW Contest. Hope you enjoy watching the CQ WW video from my shack. 73
Todays NOAA 19 WX Satellite Image of N.Africa - Europe - Arctic Circle
Image received at 12.30 utc Below is a screen shot of my computer screen as signals are received from the NOAA -19 Satellite on 137.100 MHz(fm) To do this I use my IO-10 Satellite beam coupled to the Yaesu FT-847. The signal is fed to my P.C via a soundblaster sound card to be decoded into the image seen above.
