70cm 4el yagi on website

Last evening I had to use my homebrew 4el 70cm yagi in the activity contest. This was mounted on a PVC "mast" in the shack and turned by hand.

Even with this "Heath-Robinson" antenna and 10W, I was able to make over 100km QSOs on SSB.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/70cm-4el-yagi .

Garden in Early Summer - NOT amateur radio

This is a photo of our garden in early summer. 

Sadly the frost has killed the pear blossom and I doubt we will see many this year. 

OFCOM updates

As usually happens early in the month, OFCOM has updated its Communications Monthly with the latest information it has. See the OFCOM website for more information. 

6m FT8 RX (Wednesday)

Since mid morning I have been on 6m FT8 RX with the V2000 vertical with the poor SWR. At 1225z 35 stations spotted on RX so far. 

UPDATE 1555z:   75 stations spotted..

UPDATE 1639z:  121 stations spotted.

UPDATE 1941z:  201 stations spotted so far on 6m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 2147z:  QRT. 

Orchids yesterday - NOT amateur radio

 Seen on our walk yesterday. 

V2000 issues

Yesterday and this morning G3TFX tried to fix my very old V2000 triband vertical antenna. Sadly, we could not remove the bottom collar despite trying everything. It may be possible, but not in situ. Possibly in a vice if the coax is cut this may be possible. I may have to get a new antenna. They are quite expensive.

Meadow walk - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday, we did a nice walk through a nature reserve. We saw several orchids and heard 2 cuckoos. I am not sure why, but we have heard more cuckoos this year than for several years. The photo shows me next to some flag iris flowers.

Sunspots - Wednesday June 9th 2021

 Solar flux is 80 and the SSN 34. A=5 and K=2. 

Painting time - NOT amateur radio

Our windmill next door is 200 years old. It was fully restored in 2013. 

At the moment, it is being repainted by volunteers.  I guess you have to have a head for heights! 

If you look at the photo, you can see someone painting the sails.

V2000 faulty

A local friend Richard G3TFX kindly tried to mend my faulty V2000 vertical. This covers 6m, 2m and 70cm. I must have had it for almost 20 years. Recently it developed a high SWR. When Richard investigated it looked like water had got in and there was some corrosion. He came back today to see if he could loosen the collar at the bottom which he could not release due to corrosion. At the time of writing, this is stuck fast.

At the moment it is about 75cm off the ground without radials and horizontal. Despite this, I have still spotted 172 station on 6m FT8 RX with the best DX spotted A92GE (5036km) in Bahrain!!