Ham Radio Operator - M0YKS

This week I haven't been on air much during the evenings, I had a quick listen around but the bands have been a bit quieter on an evening. My activity this week has been mainly from my mobile station which comprises of a Yaesu FT-100, 2 Maldol HF antennas mounted on the rear (one for 14MHz and one for 7MHz) through a 2-way switch. Also, on the rear wheel there is a 7/8 wave 145/433MHz this is fixed to a home-brew stainless bracket. My activity was mainly on listening mode travelling to workbut I did manage to contact Russia, Estonia and the Ukraine with solid 5 and 9 signals both ways. Receiving wise I have heard ZL (New Zealand) and VKs (Australian stations) quite loud all on 14MHz. This has been happening at 7.15 UTC. On my return journey USA, Saudi Arabia and most of Europe have been giving excellent signals to the mobile which is disguised as a porcupine but is actually a humble Toyota Rav4.

QSL (confirmation) This is a QSL card from a station I spoke to from my home setup. He was located at the Russian Space Centre Energia. His callsign was R3K. I have many other QSL cards from all around the world. These cards confirm a QSO (voice contact) with stations using similar equipment all around the world. Weather Satellites This is also another part of the hobby I am interested in. This is an image of the UK, Europe and Africa transmitted from a weather satellite orbiting the Earth and received by my humble station. The radio I used was the Yaesu FT-857 hard-wired to my PC using Bonito Radcom software to decode weather images.

I started off this week listening to higher portions of HF around 14 - 14.350MHz and I was very pleased to have stumbled across some rare DX stations giving me a solid signal 5 and 9 was 8P6GU who was Haschel from Barbados. After chatting to him I went on to speak to stations in Honduras, Puerto Rico, Peru and the USA. The best performing antenna seemed to be the Cobwebb which consists of the formation of a large spiders web laying horizontally. I also use a Hustler vertical which often works well into South America and a G5RV which is a 102ft long dipole fed with 300 Ohm ribbon feeder. The reason all my antenns work so well is probably due to my location which is right on the top of a small hill 1000ft tall hanging off the edge of a very steep drop. Radio paradise! Finally I worked M0RHQ , an RAF station ( RAF Linton-On-Ouse ) this afternoon which was an arranged QSO. I managed to speak to some of the personnel and a small networked formed from stations around the UK. This was on

Here is a picture of my station. I use this to contact different countries, my latest contacts include Barbados, Honduras, Brazil and the USA. So far I have 94 logged countries out of 334 so I have a long way to go!

Hi this site is is aimed at anyone who might be interested in amateur radio. Amateur radio ''ham radio'' is a world wide hobby which uses radio equipment to communicate with other ''hams'' local and world wide. To do this you need to obtain a radio licence which allows you to transmit radio signals on many different frequencies and modes. Frequencies are measured in megahertz and a mode is the type of transmission such as am, fm, ssb, cw, data, rtty, packet and many others. You can talk or use Morse code or if you have a p.c connected to your radio you can transmit data or images even tv. To get licenced you can join a local radio club and sit a fairly simple exam and obtain a foundation licence, in the UK there are three licences foundation, intermediate and advanced. I currently hold an intermediate licence and have done for just over three years. If you would like to find your nearest club have a look at the radio society of Great Britain website at