𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 @M5JFS 📡🛰️🔭🌌

Sorry it turned out to be a bit 💩

and to top it off, I've only just sat down to eat.

Good luck out there Gareth!

It's peeing with rain, I've got a ton of work to do and I don't fancy a late night to catch up on the work after the contest. So sadly, I'm gonna give it a miss tonight. Shame because I was looking forward to using the FT847 on 70cm for the first time. ☹️

looks like a DX Commander antenna?

Results are in for last weekend's UKEI SSB contest. Not many in my category, but happy to get a solid 2nd with only about 5 hours of operating time. If I try harder and do a full 12 next time, maybe I could be shooting for 1st?

You're almost 3X my elevation. I work from Portsdown Hill at about 100m. Butser Hill isn't far away and 270m but if I want to operate from the car, I'm limited to about 250m and certain bearings could be compromised due to blocking from the summit. Might be worth a try before next year starts though

I should be on next Tuesday unless something unexpected happens to scupper my plans. I'll have 10W at my disposal now instead of 5W. Wooo! Having said that, on 5W, I have worked everything I could hear so I think I need (a) a pre-amp and (b) a higher location to be able to work more.

most of my AliExpress purchases come in a week or thereabouts

I just need to find a cheap TV antenna rotator

So did I 😆

Brave man!

I'll be out next week for the 70cm contest. Hoping for some drier weather than this evening. I can't think of anything worse than having to jump out of the car to rotate the beam every so often while on top of a hill in driving rain.

First thing I did was configure the start bar so the windows icon was in the bottom left corner!

When I was in infant and junior school, we all had plastic drawstring PE bags like these. Most popular was the orange football design. I had a red swimming one. (Photos pinched from Facebook)

ISS SSTV Event so far. 11/12 images, not all perfect or complete. Still need all of 6 and half more for 5. 1 and 8 need better versions.

A great little publication for a small membership fee.

Visualisation of the Aurora was a top-mentioned item, so it now has it.

So, wet and windy then ?

you'll thank me for making the mistake so you don't have to 😆

I use the coax shield and then have a 1:1 choke before the radio. Wanna swap so I don't make the same mistake again? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Note to self:

When using an end fed half wave wire antenna, be sure to connect it to the hot terminal on the 49:1 transformer and not the counterpoise terminal 🤦.

It makes for much better SWR reading and you can actually be heard by other stations 😁.

#StupidFool

Prepping for the RSGB high-altitude balloon (HAB) competition on September 20th. I think I've reduced my feeder losses as much as I can 😉

rsgb.org/main/blog/ne...

Pretty sure it made no sense to me either at the time 😁

I remember Watoo Watoo very clearly but I agree, 99% of the population probably don't remember it.

Well I worked up to the Peak District the previous time out and now well down onto France, so I'd say it's ideal 👍

It's a 15element Diamond. I originally bought it for working through the now defunct Greencube (IO-117) satellite. Being in MEO, it had a huge footprin; I worked China through it.

Doing the 432 contests puts it to good use once more.

Hi Gareth, cheers! I thought the callsign sounded familiar but I was logging on paper, so no IT support to aid my foggy memory 😁

I could use a small TV antenna rotator to save me having to get out of the car each time to turn it. Lost count how many times I did that last night.

Really quick and easy setup. 5 minutes drive to the hill, bungee the pool cleaning pole to a fence post, attach the antenna and feeder and push it up. 5 minute job. Take down was even quicker 😁

Good fun on tonight's RSGB 432MHz UKAC contest. My best yet for number of QSOs (35 ITL) and 14 grid squares worked. Shame I didn't manage to work very far up country but pleased to get a few outside the UK, one 🇧🇪 and three 🇫🇷 which included best DX at 274 miles. #70cms #SSB #QRP

wow, that took a serious lack of talent to pull off

Use of 430-440 MHz by AST SpaceMobile constellation AST & Science LLC (AST SpaceMobile) currently have five Bluebird commercial satellites that use the amateur radio 430-440 MHz band. They were launched into Low Earth Orbit on September 12, 2024…

If you are a satellite operator and have not filed an objection against AST SpaceMobile's request to use 70cm, it's time to get busy. There's still time.

Don't just sit waiting for other organisations to do it on your behalf.

amsat-uk.org/2025/06/26/u...