Recent Activities So I have not posted for some time, family life has been busy and work has also been keeping me away from being able to play. So what have I been up to? Since my last post on the new kit I have been enjoying using the Flex 6600M, its a great radio…
Continue readingNew addition to the shack…
I had been considering the new Flex 6600 for some time. I liked the GUI because it had and easier to navigate structure and the old PowerSDR front end was getting a bit tired. Another feature that I found myself missing more was the knobs.. I was using the Hercules DJ console more and more…
Continue readingGR0MGM – Special call for Royal Wedding
Due to the Royal Wedding station in the UK have been able to register for a special callsign to operate from the 19th May until the 21st May 2018, I decided to get one to see what I could do. I managed to get a couple of hours free this afternoon and thought I would…
Continue reading1st SOTA, at last!
For the past two years or so I have been very keen to try doing some SOTA activities. I have been building up the equipment I need to do so and I have been building antennas. The biggest hurdle was learning CW. I passed my Class A RAE license back on 1989 with included 12wpm…
Continue readingPortable 3 Band EFHW antenna
So finally the UK has been granted some nice weather, so I took the opportunity to try to finish making and tune the 3 Band EFHW that I have made to go with the MTR5B cw only Trx. I got the idea from reading Michael G0POT’s blog and attending his SOTA presentation at last years…
Continue readingSotabeams Pico Traps
So since getting the little MTR 5B, I was thinking what antenna to use with it. I have the Sotabeam 40-30-20m linked dipole which works very well, but takes a nit longer to put up. I have been using a PackTenna Mini which is a 29ft end fed with my Kx2 and its easy and…
Continue readingNew Treat – LNR MTR 5B
I am enjoying CW so much and I am spending most of my operating time on this great mode. I am still learning and one of my goal has been to get out and do some SOTA activations. I have started some chasing and that ii good fun when I get the chance. So I…
Continue readingCW – Improvement continues using Morse Runner
Morse Runner is one of the tools I have been using during my CW Academy courses and still use it now. I am finding it to be rather addictive and the best thing is that it is helping me improve my copying. During todays lunch break at work I took my usual 20mins to have…
Continue readingFirst /P outing of the year
You can tell its getting to spring when you can go out and play some /p radio. This week happened to be the CW Ops Slow CWT for the recent CWA graduates. I wanted to see how I could do whilst running my Kx2 and my PakTenna. I set up during my lunch hour…
Continue readingCW Improving
My friend Andrew, G0RVM, and I have been trying for some time to get a regular Sked going on HF. He lives in Bristol and I live near London and on most bands it has always been a bit difficult to do as we are either too close for skip of to far for groundwave….
Continue reading