Ham Radio Operator - M0YKS

 A couple of weeks ago I had a go at cleaning the dust off of the dual fans located at the rear of my Yaesu FT-100. The fans had become very loud and the clean up worked out and I ended up with a quieter sound from the fans. Today I went the whole hog and opened up the case to properly dust out the cobwebs. I was shocked to see just how much fluff had been sucked inside the radio, almost had myself a new pillow there was so much. I used a small brush and hand pump to blow away the dust and fluff making sure I kept my fingers well away from anything. The result is satisfying and the FT-100 is back in service.

I recieved notification on a new award from QRZ.com. "Master of Communications" Sounds awsome! LoL. Anyway I am happy to receive this cool sounding award. Best 73 catch you again soon.

Great to finally meet up with M0OGY Dave. After 10 years..... Looking good in my shack Dave!

The Raw scores are in, I ended up with a reasonable score of 105,536. My rank has moved up a few places compared to last year's result. Who knows what next time will bring. Im happy with the score, it was very enjoyable, 73 catch you again soon.

The home made wire dipole that I recently installed was showing an SWR reading of 1:1 at 3.600 MHz. Higher up the band at around 3.795 MHz I was getting a reading of 2:5 which meant I needed my ATU. After the third time of lowering each end and cutting off 6inch lengths from both sides I got a much more useful range of SWR readings. The last Adjustments now read 1:1 at 3.700 MHz and 1:3 SWR on 3.799 MHz which is pretty much spot on. The original dipole legs were cut on the generous side in the first place which meant cutting/shortening each side equally. I did it this way to gain optimal performance on the frequencies I most want to operate on without the requirement of an ATU. It can be tricky measuring the exact length of wire needed as lots of factors can alter the SWR such as antenna height, angle, length of feedline. Location and objects near by etc. By making your dipole oversize it's easy to adjust each end to get the perfect SWR and also a good excuse to mess about

Beaming 135 degrees across Africa I worked into Comoros Island - D68CCC up on 15m mid morning from my shack. It is a new country for me and also a rare one taking it to up to 139 DXCC. The location looks wonderful, I am sure the MDXC Dxpedition have enjoyed there time operating from such a beautiful place. Its half term at college and I am on holiday all week, so you can expect to hear more from me throughout the week as I catch the tail end of the world wide DXpeditioners that are still operating here and there. Best 73 happy Ham ing!