Ham Radio Operator - M0YKS

Christmas Eve and all is well. Hope you have a lovely Christmas Everyone !

Its been quite a while since I operated my satellite set up which comprises of a 15 element 435 Mhz X beam and 5 Element 145 Mhz Yagi mounted on a GS-5500 elevation rotation controller into a YAESU FT-847. Tonight I managed to get into a new one for me EO-88 as well as a couple of other SSB satellites. I enjoyed the tests as I familiarized myself with the operating technique and equipment and I will be trying my luck over the next few evenings on the amateur satellite bands as HF on an evening after work is not very reliable at the moment due to poor conditions. Listen out for M0YKS via the ''birds'' as well as from the mobile on 20m most mornings. Best 73.

Some of the 2017 CQ World Wide SSB Contest caught on video at my radio shack.

After a great weekend of CQ World Wide contesting I ended up with 103 countries and 21 zones with almost 400 qso's in my log. Conditions were reasonable and I had lots of fun whilst operating on and off throughout the 48hrs. A video will follow shortly. Best 73.

I just spent a couple of hours checking out my radio equipment making sure everything is nipped up tight, I also gave the radios and accessories a wipe down and dust off. I re-positioned the layout which ended up with a more user friendly line up which lines up better with my comfy chair! The CQ WW Contest is on for 48 hours this weekend and starts this evening at midnight local time, I wont be operating for 48 hours but I do plan on getting a good lengthy duration of contest fun. I wouldn't say I was much of a contest operator as compared to others but I do enjoy the CQ WW contest as it is the best one in my opinion to catch some new distant countries in the log, and for that reason I will be once again participating over the weekend aiming to smash my record of 22 out of 40 zones. Last year was lots of fun but poor band propagation with only a few long distant stations and the 10 meter band never opened up at all at my end. Hopefully this years conditions will be slightly impro

I recently wrote an article that was published in one of West Mountain Radio quarterly ham radio news letters - The Beacon. I have been enjoying testing out the PWR Check device over the past couple of months and was very pleased to see my story appear in their news letter - The Beacon  Five Reasons Why I Love Ham Radio So Much Many Thanks to everyone at West Mountain Radio. Best 73.