Ham Radio Operator - M0YKS

  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

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 g

  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 b