Posts

Active and Well

Image
Hope you're all well and safe during our World changing pandemic. On a positive I have been keeping my students from college engaged in online studies and experimenting with online streaming as well as using video to assist my learners. I haven't done much if any live streaming previously so as you can imagine it's been quite good fun trying it out. Before I was a licensed ham I played music on a local broadcast station for 20 years and I have all my music as well as some new stuff. So I hit the decks and tried some live streaming on Facebook to a few friends. I must admit I have enjoyed it a bit too much lol. For information I play reggae. I used the DJ setup to familiarise myself with Facebook live and see how I could get a clear and quality sounding audio with a view to trying it all in the shack. This turned out fairly cool and I have since live streamed my station on air working DX. The next thing that I thought I would have a look at was a group page to put th

20m Is Back - Late Night DX

Image
The past few evenings have been awesome up on 20 meters and also 17 meters has been good with reliable openings into the USA, Caribbean and South America. I also heard VK3MO two nights running and tonight I squeezed a quick QSO in with Ian before he had to do some work over there down under. My log shows some great DX over the past week all of which have taken place late in the evening. VK3MO 2020-05-04 20m SSB QF22fr Australia FG4SO 2020-05-04 20m SSB FK96GH68 Guadeloupe VE3CRG 2020-05-03 20m SSB FN15wc Canada K1JB 2020-05-03 20m SSB FN43up United States K1TIG/M 2020-05-03 20m SSB United States FG4SO 2020-05-03 20m SSB FK96GH68 Guadeloupe AK1W 2020-05-03 20m SSB FN42eb United States NP4ET 2020-05-03 20m SSB FK68ol Puerto Rico 8P5AA 2020-05-03 20m SSB GK03fd Barbados 8P6NW 2020-05-03 20m SSB GK03ed Barbados 8P6NW 2020-05-01 17m SSB GK03ed Barbados 8P5AA 2020-05-01 17m SSB GK03fd Barbados PJ4DX 2020-05-01 17m SSB FK52ud Bonaire CO8LY 2020-05-01 17m SSB FL20ca Cuba

Antenna adjustments - Day 37 In Lock-down

Image
Its been a while since my last post which is quite strange as I have had plenty of time to blog but not really been in the blogging mood, probably because of the world pandemic which we are all suffering. As it is for most the way of life has changed considerably at the moment but thankfully we are all holding out well and keeping healthy. The radio however has been in use and I have been busy making DX on 80, 40, 20, 15 and even 10 meters. My new fan dipole pictured below is performing spot on with great reports into the US on 40 and 80 meters. I thought a close up of the centre might help you see how easy it is to construct this amazing performing 80/40m antenna. My Fan Dipole is 1:1 to 1:3 across both 80 and 40m without any ATU required I definitely should have built one years ago! With such a good result regarding the 40/80M Fan Dipole I was back playing around with the Hustler 6BTV. This excellent 6 band trap vertical has been subjected to many storms over the last 15

40/80 FAN Dipole Test

Image
I have been wanting to try something new for 40m and today I decided to add two elements cut for 40 meters to my 80 meter mono band dipole making it a FAN Dipole. The end result for today was, the 40/80m Fan dipole is resonant without an ATU on both bands and works very well on my first test. I put a video together operating on 80m using 50 watts during a RSGB 80m contest. I wanted to be sure that the extra elements would not have any detrimental effects on the performance on 80m. I found that the low power did not matter the dipole is still working really well on 80m. I checked it on 40m and I heard signals slightly stronger with the new Fan dipole over the vertical. Japan was coming in very well and later I made a nice QSO using the Fan dipole on 40m with VE9FI - Russ over in Canada. A good result so far! Sizes of each leg is 80m - 2 x 67 ft lengths and 40m - 2 X 33 ft lengths. Here is the video which will help you to pass 20 minutes, Stay Safe! Stay In! Save Lives!

Working from home

Image
Its been quite a busy week so far as I am able to work from home using my chromebook and currently have been in communications online with a lot of our welding students. Every morning I have been on video conferences with my work colleagues. Its been very interesting and quite surprisingly good fun at times as we all keep up to date with a little humour to help keep a bit of sanity at the same time. One of the biggest positives I have noticed during this pandemic, is that we all have improved our use of apps and general IT skills, especially video calling on platforms like Whats App and Hangouts. These trendy apps and latest technology are actually quite useful at times of need and so far our infrastructures in the UK seem to be holding up well. As for personnel well being, my family are all doing well and keeping me busy and fully engaged in fatherhood, which I am happy to say is also extremely nice to get in all the special family time which would not normally be possible. I hav

Keeping The Mind Stimulated with Ham Radio

Image
I am sure we are all feeling anxious and maybe even a little scared as we all take to hiding out in our safe havens. The World is suffering and people are becoming cut off and lonely as they try their hardest to keep away from harm. The bands are in pretty good shape at the moment and have been for the past couple of months. Now is the time to get on the amateur bands and make contact with others and help to keep high spirits and well being by just making a few radio contacts and engaging in conversation with another Ham in the same situation either located down the road or even around the world. Pull out your old radio equipment and get back on the air, it will help take your mind off of the current situation and fill in some time. If your already set up get yourself out in the garden or in your roof space or maybe a balcony and make either: a long wire for HF, delta loop or a 10m dipole just for fun and then make a QSO on it. Maybe its not for you but perhaps a QSO or even a regul

YAESU FT-2980 80w Robust Transceiver

Image
This week I have been enjoying getting to grips with my latest edition to the shack. A brand new YAESU FT-2980, 2m fm mono band radio which I am now using with my mono band Diamond F23 high gain vertical antenna . I purchased the FT-2980 from Ham radio UK after my YL Louise M3TLL suggested I treated myself to a new radio which came without fan noise. I am really impressed with the new Transceiver it's very well constructed with a substantial heatsink and great all round feel when using the vfo, volume, squelch and menu features. I have made a couple of nice qso so far and like the sound I am receiving. A great bit of kit for a very nice price.

Surviving Storm Ciara and Dennis

Image
Pictured above, I received Storm Dennis as it approached early saturday morning via NOAA-19 weather sat using my Satellite array, FT-847 and WXtoIMG decoding software. Below is the kind of image we are getting used to seeing around this part of the World. Its been hard going over the past couple of weeks here in Stormy Yorkshire UK. Just about two weeks ago the storms started to batter our neighbourhood and they have been relentless ever since. We suffered some roof damage to our house during the first big storm - Ciara which resulted in urgent work needing to be carried out in the form of some replacement ridge tiles. This was sorted out quickly and the roof is sound again, my next repair was to my Diamond F23 VHF vertical up on the gable end of the house. The antenna had worked loose due to it whipping around in the gale force winds, I decided it would make sense to take it down and tighten up the u bolts and other fixings before storm Dennis arrived. I carried out the antenna m

80m DX W2RE - M0YKS Busting Through The QRM

Image
80 Meters was in great shape early this evening as I heard Ray - W2RE booming in and working a huge pile up. Ray W2RE operates his Ham radio station remotely and often has a live stream on facebook. I worked W2RE during the QRM that some joker was making which I am happy to see the QRM was not strong enough to block my home brew 80m dipole and 400 watts of RF from my humble hill top. Best 73 catch you again soon!

DX BY DAY AND DX BY NIGHT

Image
Another weekend flies by with plenty of fun with the family. I visited the science and media museum, hiked over the Moor and also got some DX in and there is still a bit more time this evening to check the bands. Learning about solar flares at the Science and media museum Out on our local Moor earlier, can you spot the heron flying off. In my radio shack in Baildon near Bradford City, Yorkshire UK IO93CU. I also got to try my new feedline on my 80 meter dipole over the weekend and made some stateside qso on 80m with a couple of nice DX openings in the evening with K3ZM, WU2X and also into the Azores with CU2CE. 80 Meters hasn't been very busy but one or two DX stations are being recieved at my end on an evening. The Dipole is working pretty good as is the HUSTLER 6btv (vertical antenna). I also made a video of a qso on 40 meters with R3XE and caught a strong US station working a pile up which I tried to no avail. The video shows a high noise level at my end which

DX Mobile Working Into Russia and USA

Image
Another lunch time operation from the MK7 transit mobile Ham station. I decided to head a couple of miles up the hill during my lunch break to a place called Rombalds Moor which is 1200 ft asl and great for DXing. It was very windy so I didn't bother to change over antenna as planned, the Maldol works well and the time available was short. 20 meters was very active with plenty of big signals coming in. I heard Indonesia again and tried to get the qso but decided to try some easier contacts. I got into Russia and the USA and ended up working RA6AA and KE5EE before heading back to work. More mobiling and base Ham radio to come, thanks for the visit  73.

DX Mobile - lunch break - Indonesia YB0AR

Image
My Ham mobile - YAESU FT-857, 80 - 100 watts into a Maldol HFC 20 mono band base loaded antenna fixed on the rear of the van roof.  Location Keighley College car park Keighley West Yorkshire UK.  Loc: IO93CD My lunch time at work was spent wisely in my Ford Transit MK7 DX Machine, as I ate my home made sandwiches I heard Indonesia 5/9 in the clear. I didn't have much time to try get in through the pileup as well as much power from the van, but the signal was good to hear from YB0AR and it was plenty fun enough trying. I will see what conditions are like tomorrow and maybe I will get out my full size Hustler mono band antennas for a bit more punch. Best 73, see you again soon.

New feedline for 80m dipole

Image
I have decided to stick with my home brewed dipole for 80m but fancied an upgrade for the feedline. With weight being an issue I went for light weight military spec RG58. The coax I purchased has a stainless flex core inner and the outer braid ia also stainless steel. The PVC insulation is also top grade. I re installed the dipole back in position and managed to gain an extra meter in height at the lowest end. The SWR remained the same all that is left to do is to get on the band and play. 73  have a good week.

80m Open For DX

Image
Conditions are continuing to offer decent DX opportunities on the 80meter band. I caught some activity last night just as the band opens up in the evening.

W2RE shack feed in Qso with M0YKS

Image
Live feed via Facebook at W2RE Ray's shack. I managed to break through the pile up and heard my signal coming back over the net. Pretty cool, I mixed a video of my Ham radio station to go with the audio recording. Best 73.