AmateurRadio.com

It’s a rainy lunchtime in London and I just popped over to the City branch of Maplin to pick up a few connectors for something I want to do at the weekend. Whilst I was in there I had a look around.

To my surprise, under the communication section was a 144MHz handheld for about £90. It’s badged Moonraker, but I’m guessing it is one of the many radios finding their way to our market from China. Doubtless the quality isn’t going to be quite as good as one as one that you’d pay two or three times the price for, but at that price it would be worth trying.

What excites me about seeing equipment available so readily and as cheaply is that it has the potential to tempt people to take their first steps in amateur radio – or even to return to the hobby.

I’ve worked quite a number of people who had dropped out of the hobby over the years, but had seen the budget priced transceivers and been tempted to pick one up and try it out.

If you’ve got a ham licence, but no transceiver – why not give one a go! Amateur radio is much more than an HT – but every journey has to start somewhere!

I posted a few weeks ago that I’d got a V2000 antenna up for 50/144/432MHz. When I’ve not been using it on 50MHz, I have had an FM mobile rig scanning about 35 channels. Some of those channels have repeaters close by and others are generally quiet, but liven up if there is a hint of improved propagation.The variation in propagation on a daily basis is fascinating, particularly in the morning and evenings.Last Sunday was a particularly interesting day though. I was working in the shack off and on and left the rig monitoring 145.500 and tried to answer when anyone came up. There were a couple of local QSOs and a couple of not so local ones. I was pleased to work Roger, G4OCO/M near Ely in Cambridgeshire which seemed a decent distance from me. It seemed that conditions were perhaps slightly improved to the east and north east.Later on in the afternoon I worked ON8DM on 144MHz SSB. Just afterwards I noticed a signal on 145.675, weaker than GB3RD that I normally hear on that channel but stronger than the other signals I normally hear there. I wondered what it was and stopped the scan to listen. Over the next few minutes a conversation started up in a language I didn’t immediately recognise. In fact, I suspected it was perhaps an ON repeater, as I’d just worked Belgium on SSB. Signals came up a bit more and then I heard the repeater send a CW ID – LA9MR! LA9MR is located in southern Norway in JO38 around 920km from Longworth.There was absolutely no hint that the band was open in that direction – no beacons on SSB – I listened! It must have been a very localised opening. The signals from LA9MR were audible for about 45 minutes before fading back into the noise.Really fascinating!

Things have been busy here so not much chance to update the blog, but just a few moments now, so….It’s good to hear that some people are having a go at using D-STAR for simplex contacts rather than just repeater/network based work. Des, G0RBD in Chippenham has just got started on the mode and has been making some interesting simplex QSOs.What I hadn’t realised was that 144.6125 appears to be being used for simplex contacts on 144MHz. So if you’re out and about mobile or portable with D-STAR kit, it could well be worth a call on there!

I was delighted to read that John, VE3EJ had been ‘inducted’ into the CQ Contest Hall of Hame this weekend at the Dayton Hamvention.

Here’s what the citation had to say:

“The 2011 inductee to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame is John Sluymer, VE3EJ. Sluymer has been an active contester and DXer since 1973 and is a founding member and current President of Contest Club Ontario, which has grown from 16 to 250 members in less than a decade. He also holds numerous Canadian domestic and DX contest records, was named the 2006 Radio Amateur of the Year by the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC). A frequent host for single- and multi-op contest operations from his station, Sluymer is a longtime member of the CQ WW Contest Committee and a frequent speaker at hamfest forums and club meetings”

Congratulations, John! I had the genuine pleasure of getting to know John when I worked in Toronto, Canada during the late 1990s. John is everything it says there, but lots more too. He’s a genuinely warm and great guy. He and his wife, Hazel have welcomed me to their house on many occasions – radio related and non radio-related! Though I’ve not seen John in a few years now, we run across each other on the bands from time to time and it’s always great to hear from him.

Well done John !

I was delighted to read that John, VE3EJ had been ‘inducted’ into the CQ Contest Hall of Hame this weekend at the Dayton Hamvention.Here’s what the citation had to say:”The 2011 inductee to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame is John Sluymer, VE3EJ. Sluymer has been an active contester and DXer since 1973 and is a founding member and current President of Contest Club Ontario, which has grown from 16 to 250 members in less than a decade. He also holds numerous Canadian domestic and DX contest records, was named the 2006 Radio Amateur of the Year by the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC). A frequent host for single- and multi-op contest operations from his station, Sluymer is a longtime member of the CQ WW Contest Committee and a frequent speaker at hamfest forums and club meetings”Congratulations, John! I had the genuine pleasure of getting to know John when I worked in Toronto, Canada during the late 1990s. John is everything it says there, but lots more too. He’s a genuinely warm and great guy. He and his wife, Hazel have welcomed me to their house on many occasions – radio related and non radio-related! Though I’ve not seen John in a few years now, we run across each other on the bands from time to time and it’s always great to hear from him.Well done John !

Over the last week, I’ve seen people reporting Es on 50MHz in particular, but by the time I’ve got home, I haven’t had the energy or time to go and have a look on the bands! But this weekend has been good.I’m particularly pleased to have had the opportunity to play as about 2 weeks ago, I got a Diamond V-2000 vertical for 50/144/433MHz up in the air. I’ll do a separate post about how it’s been working out on 144 and 433MHz and how I’ve been using it. However, this weekend was the first time I’ve used it in anger on 50MHz.Yesterday afternoon I noticed that 50MHz seemed to be open when I checked using the 70MHz vertical (which works on 50MHz too!). I swapped the V2000 over onto the FT-847. Over a period of a couple of hours I worked around 40 stations on 50MHz – exclusively on CW. Best DX was LZ1UQ in KN12 at around 2107km. Worked some new squares and some nice QSOs in general – and was pleased to note that the new vertical gave me a 2 or 3 S-point advantage over the old vertical (which has worked the US and Puerto Rico on 50MHz!).During the afternoon, I kept checking 70MHz and was very pleased to find LA6MV (JO59) calling CQ and even more pleased when he was able to hear me! I also heard LA4ANA (JO59) but didn’t work him. Heard the LA5VHF beacon from JO48 coming through as well. A little later, I also worked 9A2SB on 70MHz. This was using the 70MHz vertical.There was some Es around this morning (22nd May) as well, mostly the same stations that I worked yesterday on 50MHz, but made a couple of ‘new’ QSOs.The V2000 is noticeably quieter than the compromise antenna I’ve used before. It would be nice to have beams up for 50 and 70MHz, but given that my main interest is Es on those bands then the ‘vertical approach’ works out well. Incidentally, the picture makes the vertical look as if it’s very close to the power line… it’s not!

Over the last week, I’ve seen people reporting Es on 50MHz in particular, but by the time I’ve got home, I haven’t had the energy or time to go and have a look on the bands! But this weekend has been good.I’m particularly pleased to have had the opportunity to play as about 2 weeks ago, I got a Diamond V-2000 vertical for 50/144/433MHz up in the air. I’ll do a separate post about how it’s been working out on 144 and 433MHz and how I’ve been using it. However, this weekend was the first time I’ve used it in anger on 50MHz.Yesterday afternoon I noticed that 50MHz seemed to be open when I checked using the 70MHz vertical (which works on 50MHz too!). I swapped the V2000 over onto the FT-847. Over a period of a couple of hours I worked around 40 stations on 50MHz – exclusively on CW. Best DX was LZ1UQ in KN12 at around 2107km. Worked some new squares and some nice QSOs in general – and was pleased to note that the new vertical gave me a 2 or 3 S-point advantage over the old vertical (which has worked the US and Puerto Rico on 50MHz!).During the afternoon, I kept checking 70MHz and was very pleased to find LA6MV (JO59) calling CQ and even more pleased when he was able to hear me! I also heard LA4ANA (JO59) but didn’t work him. Heard the LA5VHF beacon from JO48 coming through as well. A little later, I also worked 9A2SB on 70MHz. This was using the 70MHz vertical.There was some Es around this morning (22nd May) as well, mostly the same stations that I worked yesterday on 50MHz, but made a couple of ‘new’ QSOs.The V2000 is noticeably quieter than the compromise antenna I’ve used before. It would be nice to have beams up for 50 and 70MHz, but given that my main interest is Es on those bands then the ‘vertical approach’ works out well. Incidentally, the picture makes the vertical look as if it’s very close to the power line… it’s not!