Ham Radio Operator - M0YKS

click to enlarge image of Delta Loop I have been so pleased with the 20M Delta loop I decided to scrap the dipole and have a go at home brewing an 80m Delta loop instead. The result was well worth it as I found that the new loop antenna receives and transmits very well on 80M (resonant band), it also tunes up very easily on 160M & 40M, giving impressive results with very low noise levels. The Delta loop is installed as seen in the above image with all of the dimensions included. I shall be posting more once I have had chance to test it further, I am really pleased so far and excited as usual, I'm looking forward to telling you more!

I have been using my home made Delta Loop vertically polarized for the past couple of years with very good results. The Delta loop was made by myself with the intention of using it on 20M, I originally blogged about it here and since then, It has moved from the horizontal to like I said already a vertical configuration. The horizontal testing of the loop brought slight noise levels where as the vertical triangle or pyramid configuration, is very quiet for noise and excellent on performance both RX and TX. The only issue I have had with the Delta loop was with my original calculations which proved to be slightly long, making it resonant on 13MHz instead of the desired 14.200 frequency. I cut the loop around two years ago and unfortunately made it too short as it was now resonant at 14.800 which was slightly higher than the intended frequency. Subsequently I have been managing fine with the help of the ATU, but the burning feeling inside has been growing and niggling away as I have want

The first Twitter Net was a lot of fun despite the 80M band being a little difficult for into G at the times that we have been running the net. However the Thursday Net still had plenty of us trying to get our signals back to each other with some nice QSOing had by all that made it in. Unfortunately my first NET QSO was shorter than I anticipated as at the time there was around 3FT of snow covering my dipole ladder line, which after around 5Mins of TXing shorted out the feeder and caused a very high SWR reading back in the shack. I was forced to continue monitoring the Twitter Net in SWL mode but could still pass reports as “Tweets” to the #TWNET that were monitoring Twitter at the same time. Before the Snow shorted the feeder, Tomas OK4BX Tweeted that he could hear me in Czech Republic along side the other Stations that were also operating on the Twitter Net. Tomas OK4BX kindly interfaced his Icom powered Shack with his web cam and streamed his side of the Net live over the internet w

Lots of interest has been shown so far on Twitter regarding the 1st ever 80m Twitter Ham Net, which will be held tomorrow (Wednesday 13th January) at 20.00 UTC. Since the idea was suggested there has been a lot of Hams tweeting messages and leaving comments confirming that they will be by their Ham Radio Stations and at the same time be on Twitter tomorrow night. I can’t believe how well you have all responded from as far as The USA, to Czech Republic and the UK alike, there is a lot of enthusiastic Tweeting Hams out there! The easiest way to join in is by getting on Twitter, create an account and either follow somebody or just search for other Hams to follow such as myself, example @2E0HTS. Once you find us all, you will easily see what were up to and which Hams are operating as well as any SWLs. All are welcome. :-) Useful info for Twitter Ham Net Ops - All updates can easily be searched for by using the trending topic #TWNET - Tomorrow Nights NET - 80M. Actual Frequency will be post

Over the last few months I have been slowly building up my list of interesting Twitter users to follow and be followed by. This has helped to take the mind off the WX (which of course is still snowing) by enjoying some Tweeting over the internet. Most of the Twitter Folks I follow are Either HAMs, SWLs or people involved in radio and they are all full of interesting Tweets which I have enjoyed a lot. Since new friendships are beginning to form via Twitter, We have all decided to try out, a planned radio sched on 80M this coming Wednesday evening at 20.00 UTC. We will use twitter to relay the frequency on the night at 20.00 UTC as well as any reports from SWLs and anyone struggling to get back to NET. So far there has been 7 Stations that have confirmed that they will be on the Air at 20.00 UTC (Wednesday 13th) and as we only decided two hours ago we are off to a fine start. There will be regular updates on Twitter regarding which Stations will be active and on the night as well as disp

The New Year is proving to be a challenging one so far for many of us across the Globe. Here at Baildon Moor, Yorkshire we have been suffering now for almost 3 weeks with no sign of improvement. At present the temperature has dropped down to -2.5°C which isn't helping much regarding the frozen pipework that is preventing the use of the kitchen sink and shower. We have been visiting the Family on a regular basis where hot food and the use of the shower is available, but to be honest it has been really hard going. The upside was a chance to play on my new Yaesu FT-817 at a different location using the Miracle Whip and 5 Humble Watts. It wasn't long before I got my first long distant QRP contact on 20m, which was Andy - EW6GF from Belarus. The QRP rig worked very well for me and back at the QTH, I decided to try the little FT-817 with the Hustler 6BTV. The mighty Hustler Vertical and 5Watts began to impress me as I continued having QRP fun working as far as The US thanks to K3C,

I was very lucky this year as far as receiving presents. Louise (M3TLL) my lovely YL got me something that she new would be well received and appreciated more than most things, which was of course some Ham Radio equipment. Thanks Lou! Louise managed to get a good deal from our local Ham Buddy – Adam 2E0LXA, who had a great little Yaesu FT-817, QRP multi banded/mode portable transceiver that he was selling. The little rig came with a “Miracle Antenna” and a “Wonder Wand” tunable counterpoise which I have already tried successfully on 5Watts making QSO into Estonia as well as across the Atlantic into the US. I must admit I was surprised with the performance of the Miracle Antenna and I am looking forward to getting out with the portable QRP station and finding out what the possibilities are with a simple QRP set up, as well as using the rig outside on the Satellite’s. I have already been trying the standard rubber Whip (YHA-63) connected to the BNC located on the front panel, I worked m