M0JCQ's Ham Blog ← Adventures in Ham Radio ← Page 3

Becoming a Half SOTA Goat – The First 500 Activator Points

May

19

2017

Reaching 500 activator points was my target for 2017 and I’ve peaked early! The tipping point was an unexpected trip to Snowdonia in Wales in April, where I activated 11 summits for 75 points. This took me beyond 500 points but officially marked me reaching the half way point to becoming a full mountain goat (1000 ...

SOTA Activation of Pen Y Garn (during Storm Desmond)

May

8

2017

This was the second day of my Storm Desmond SOTA activations in Mid-Wales (see Plynlimon and Drosgol activation reports) back in December 2015. Unfortunately the weather was looking even worse than the day before from the B&B! After a full English (or should that be Welsh?) breakfast I set off towards the summit of Pen Y Garn (GW/MW-004) ...

2m SOTA Summit to Summit Pileup Video 3

May

5

2017

Filmed during a 2m VHF SOTA activation of Elidir Fawr (GW/NW-005) in the Snowdonia National Park. A flurry of Summit to summit (S2S) calls were received from fellow activators out on other SOTA summits. Captured using a head cam to give you a birdseye view of a SOTA activation. Time Call Band Mode Notes 12:02z ...

VHF SOTA Expedition in the Snowdonia National Park 6

Apr

28

2017

In April I finally finished a big project at work and had some time off to relax – the perfect break would be some walking in the Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. Of course the first thing that usually happens when I start to relax is that I get a cold, annoyingly this happened ...

Download The VHF/UHF DX Book for free 13

Mar

10

2017

It’s not often an Amateur Radio book from the mid-90’s is still so highly respected and sought after. The VHF/UHF DX Book is one of these books if you’re into VHF/UHF DXing. Ever since getting licensed I have heard this book mentioned in hushed reverence as the definitive guide to DXing on the VHF/UHF bands. ...

CW Contesting… with no CW Skills 11

Jan

11

2017

Each year my local club (Chesham & District Amateur Radio Society) takes part in the RSGB AFS contest series. We like this series because it’s great for getting members involved in a wide range of bands and is quite a technical test to take part in each one. There’s contests for 160m, 80m, 40m, 6m, ...

Top 10 Amateur Radio Uses for the Raspberry Pi 19

Oct

12

2016

The Raspberry Pi has proved to be a phenomenal hit with hobbyists around the world. Originally conceived to get children into computer programming, it was quickly adopted by hobbyists due to its cheap price and GPIO output pins. Indeed, initial demand was unprecedented and supplies were limited for some time after launch and this still ...

Rebooting Amateur Radio 3

Oct

7

2016

Amateur Radio? A hobby for old men? Maybe, but it can be inclusive! Ryan M0RYS/N0RYS gave a very interesting talk at the Electromagnetic Field festival entitled “Rebooting a Hobby – How Modern Digital Comms are Reviving Amateur Radio”. The festival is interesting and pretty unique: Electromagnetic Field is a non-profit UK camping festival for those ...

How to Undertake a SOTA Activation – Step by Step Guide 1

Sep

17

2016

Recently I’ve been shooting a number of videos for YouTube outlining the kit I use for SOTA and now I’ve done one showing how I go about activating a SOTA summit. It’s a step by step guide to carrying out a SOTA activation in the great outdoors. It covers the set-up, spotting, operating procedure ...

QRPp Experiments on the 60m Band Using the Elecraft KX3

Sep

15

2016

On Sunday I went out portable with my Elecraft KX3 to see if I could make some inter-G contacts on the 60m band. 40m wasn’t supporting NVIS and the Worked All Europe (WAE) contest was dominating 20m, so my QRP station was struggling to be heard with only Cyprus and Asiatic Russia worked on 10w, ...