Ham Radio Operator - M0YKS

I'm pleased enough with 3rd place low PWR England. I'll try harder this year!

Last March I was 50 so my YL bought me a RM KL405 from Moonraker (UK). The amp lasted about two weeks despite running low power, I was offered a replacement from Moonraker and was told that I would not be able to return the so called new replacement should it go faulty. With this in mind I made sure I took the greatest of care to minimise any possible risk of over powering the amplifier and have only run 5 to 10 w on SSB with a maximum output of 180w out. After using the amp for a couple of weeks the pre amp became stuck on which was annoying but it seemed to be working ok. Last week I was in my shack and heard an interesting station so I gave a shout out. I noticed straight away that the output was down thanks to my West Mountain Radio PWR Check. So I decided that I will have a look to see if anything was obvious in the way of a fault. The first thing I saw was the sticker and hand written note which seemed a bit strange for a so called new replacement. Then I noticed a resistor w

It's been a while since I posted which has been mainly because of the poor propagation on the HF bands. I have made a few decent DX contacts on 15m and 17m which have been good on occasion. Otherwise nothing to spectacular has been happening here at the home of M0YKS. As usual during the winter months I enjoy listening lower down the HF bands especially on 80m and 40m. To do this I use a HUSTLER 6BTV vertical and also CAROLINA WINDOM antennas. I have had both in use for 8 years and the outcome is that the vertical is excellent and the WINDOM is good on transmit but far too noisy on receive to continue using it. With this in mind I altered the off centre antenna of 131 feet to a balanced equal legged 80m dipole by shortening one leg to 65 feet and adding 15 feet to the other leg to make a doublet of 130 feet which I soldered and clamped together. I didn't require another Multi banded wire as I have my Cushcraft MA5B, HUSTLER 6BTV and 20m Delta LOOP, I had decided to try a

I would like to wish everyone a very happy & healthy new year for 2018. 

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.

My windom antenna has been in an inverted vee configuration for the last twelve months, I have carried out a few experiments with the antenna supported by the off center fed balun but have found the vee configuration far too noisy on reception.So today I managed to get the windom back to horizontal and in a straight line. I also increased the antenna height above the ground from 20 feet to around about 30 feet sloping slightly at both ends to around about 20 feet at each end. To make life easy I got out my 30 ft telescopic pole and attached a homemade hook into the top of the pole for easy hanging. The fiberglass pole is the quickest way for me to get a hook up high without too much trouble and with a steady hand its simple enough to extend with the antenna attached. The neighbors probably think I am going fishing, maybe flying fish? Anyhow up she goes, where it stops no one knows! The face of concentration as I 'hook a duck' at 30 feet, I am aiming the pole

As I hit the sack I had a last look out at my antennas as they dance about in ex hurricane Ophelia's footprint. So far so good, I'll try to sleep but it's a bit on the noisy side so tomorrow morning could be slightly more grumpy than usual. On that note I'll say 73 and fingers crossed that the antennas don't suffer to badly.

It's been a good weekend regarding band conditions as I have been busy working world wide on the 17 and 15 metre band. There has been some nice signals coming through which have provided lots of quality qso's as I played ham radio. My two daughters are growing up quickly and are always eager to get involved in anything that dad does, so I decided to treat them to a day out with some super heroes and other cool characters. We payed a visit to our local football club Bradford city where the Comicon was on. A fun time had by all. Best 73 happy DX