Monday 17th May, 1982.

In those days the examination was run by City And Guilds and consisted of two papers, the first one was Licensing conditions and Transmitter Interference and the second was Operating Practises, Procedures and Theory and one had to get at least PASS grade in both so that the Radio Amateur’s Certificate could be issued.  It was only on issue of that certificate that a licence would be given.

I was only 15 years old when I sat my RAE after nearly a years worth of evening classes at the East Herts College, Turnford.  I remember my dad used to drive me over and then go and see his brother in Enfield while I did the classes and then we’d go home and I’d have a late night before school the next day.  I tried to persuade my school to get a grant to pay for the classes and the exam but with no luck.

My RAE Exam Timetable for 17th May 1982

I really don’t remember too much about the exam itself, what I really remember is the nearly three months of waiting for the results – It was very different to how it is now with the exam paper being marked straight afterwards and the results being known straight away.  I’d love to get hold of a copy of the exam paper from May 1982 to have another look through it after all this time.  There are a load of old written papers available for download here but none since it switched to multiple choice.

I hadn’t realised it was thirty years ago until a couple of weeks back, I was looking through an old folder I keep all my important radio related stuff in and found the exam timetable which I’ve posted above (click for a larger version).  It doesn’t seem that long ago, it makes me feel quite old!

On Friday evening I unpackaged everything and finished off the assembly of the centre section along with putting all the spreaders together so that the time taken to get it all up on Saturday would be minimised.

I met with Colin, M1EAK and Chris, M6GSD at a local café on Saturday morning where we had an ‘aerial riggers breakfast’, effectively a fry-up washed down with mugs of coffee.

To start with, we lowered my Alimast and removed the MA-5B along with the existing stub mast.  The Hexbeam requires a scaffold pole sized mast and the stub I was using was a 2″ steel pole so therefore unsuitable.

Colin starting to remove the MA-5B from my mast

We then stood the centre piece of the Hexbeam in a ground anchor (that I’ve previously used to fix a portable mast) and started building it.  All the spreaders were slotted in place and then fixed using the support cords.

The centre of the Hexbeam with all the spreaders in place

Spreaders fixed in place and ready for the elements

Elements all in place and the balun and coax tail fitted

Chris fixing the Broadband Hexbeam to the stubmast

With the Broadband Hexbeam fitted to the replacement stubmast all we had to do was raise it up into the sky.  Here’s how it looked against the overcast sky.

The newly erected Broadband Hexbeam

Fortunately the weather has cleared a bit since and I’ve been able to take a picture of it looking much nicer from the front of the house.

Broadband Hexbeam from the front of the house

The total procedure of taking down the MA-5B and replacing it with the Hexbeam took less than two hours and I was all ready in time for the start of the VOLTA RTTY DX contest.  The Hexbeam also has much lower visual impact than the Cushcraft did, despite the fact that the Hex is physically larger.

One of the reasons for changing aerials was so I could benefit from the wider bandwidth on 20m so the first thing I did was to run the analyser over the new beam, here are the results.

G3TXQ Broadband Hexbeam VSWR on 20m

G3TXQ Broadband Hexbeam VSWR on 17m

G3TXQ Broadband Hexbeam VSWR on 15m

G3TXQ Broadband Hexbeam VSWR on 12m

G3TXQ Broadband Hexbeam VSWR on 10m

G3TXQ Broadband Hexbeam VSWR on 6m

Exactly what I wanted!  I can operate over the whole of all the six bands it covers without having to use an ATU and if I wish, I can also use the amplifier.  It’ll be interesting to have an external aerial for 6m for the first time.

HF conditions this weekend haven’t been great so I’ve not been able to check the aerial fully but everything appears to be working well.  Not including the couple of hundred QSOs I had in the aforementioned RTTY contest I’ve also worked Brazil, Somalia, Uruguay, Svalbard, Saudi Arabia, Greenland, Ecuador, Cuba, Mexico and Palestine.  Oh and I got my final slot with 7O6T, 10m CW!

7O6T DXpedition to Socotra Island, Yemen

I did some more research and it seems that the last activation of Yemen was back in 2002 and the last time Socotra was activated was by John, G3UCQ in 1964/65.  You can read about his activation by clicking here.

This was clearly going to be a popular DXpedition and once I studied the map I quickly realised that it wasn’t going to be easy to work them.  There’s a huge wall of Europeans and specifically Italians between the UK and Yemen and breaking through that would be difficult.  This demonstrates what I mean…

Direct path between the UK and Socotra Island

It seems this trip was kept very quiet because news of it only appeared a day or so before they went live.

So come the first day of operation and the bands exploded!  I spent an hour calling on 15m CW with no luck and then tried 17m SSB but the operator was working really slowly and by numbers.  I gave up and went to bed instead.   The following evening I tried for a while and finally managed to work them on 20m CW.  Surprisingly I didn’t tweet about it but my post on a forum simply said “Worked about 45 minutes ago on 20m CW. I’d like some more slots but even if I don’t manage any, I’m happy with the one.”

Working new ones is exciting though.  A couple of evenings later I worked them again on 15m CW and the next day on 15m SSB.  Here’s a recording:

This was becoming addictive, later the same day I managed a QSO on 12m CW then 17m SSB and 20m SSB!   The next day I worked them on 12m SSB and then 10m SSB.

(I’m using a Heil Pro-Set Plus headset with the ‘DX’ element, it really removes all the bass in my voice)

Finally I finished up working them on 17m CW and that makes a total of nine slots, five on SSB and four on CW.  The online log courtesy of ClubLog shows all those QSOs confirmed.

Confirmed QSOs between G6NHU and 7O6T

Those who know me will be well aware that I’m not particularly good at CW.  I can just about manage a contest QSO so it’ll be quite a surprise to see that I’ve had four Morse contacts with 7O6T.  Here’s how I did it.  This is my QSO on 17m.

G6NHU working 7O6T on 17m CW

I largely treat CW as a data mode, especially at those speeds.  The operators on Socotra are regularly transmitting at over 40 wpm and without computer assistance, I’d have absolutely no chance of working them.  I use CwGet and CwType from DX soft.

What I’ve written above makes it sound easy but it really wasn’t.  Each QSO took significant time and lots of calling running a beam and 400 watts.  Things may get less difficult now that we’re into the second (final) week of operations but I’m sure it will never be easy to work 7O6T.

I’m not planing on trying any more QSOs with the operators on Socotra Island, I’ve got my fill and don’t want to take up any of the time they could be using to work other stations, I’m very happy with what I’ve got.

To find out more about Socotra Island and the 7O6T DXpedition, click the logo below.

Addendum – 14th May 2012

I wasn’t planning on trying for any more slots but the uneven chart of worked bands and modes was offending me so I had a bash and managed to work the extra one on 10m CW to give me a total of ten confirmed slots.

Ten slots of confirmed QSOs between G6NHU and 7O6T

However it’s been a good month apart from that.  I’ve worked a nice number of new DXCC entities including Spratly, South Korea, Cambodia, Mount Athos, the Falkland Islands and Iraq.  In the last couple of days I picked up Bolivia and the British Virgin Islands as well, these two being on 20m using CW.

My DXCC confirmed count on LoTW has also shot up because the application I put in some weeks ago for 10m DXCC has been accepted and approved so the QSL cards I submitted have been added to my online total.  I’m nearly done with 15m DXCC as well and will be submitting that when the last couple of countries are confirmed.

QSOs made: 502
DXCC entities worked: 81
New DXCC entities worked: 13

Total DXCC worked: 184
Total DXCC confirmed using LoTW: 151
Total DXCC confirmed using LoTW/QSL cards: 158

Everything worked well and I was happy with the installation except for one thing.  When the wind blew, it creaked and it creaked badly.  It was lessened slightly by guying everything firmly in place but it still creaked when the winds came up.

I’d checked everything multiple times to ensure it was all tight but the creaking persisted.  I put it down to the vastly increased weight on the mast, the bigger rotator, the longer stubmast, the Barenco bracket for the rotator and I just lived with it.

Following the lightning strike last year, I took the whole VHF aerial system down and moved the 10m vertical from the back of the house to the front but once the weather turned, I noticed that it was still creaking.  I didn’t really think much about this until today when the weather got worse and the wind kicked up and the creaking returned.

I called Tony, G0MBA to discuss getting a couple of new T&K brackets and moving the mast to try and resolve this but he mentioned something which made me think.  When we upgraded my VHF aerial system back in 2009 we positioned the pole so that it was sitting in a protective metal cup directly on the flat roof on the side of the house – Like this:

9 ele 2m beam in foreground, mast resting on flat roof

You can see my old 9 ele Vargarda in the foreground with the mast sitting on the flat roof – In the background is my old 10m 5/8 which has now been replaced by a Sirio Gain Master.

The mast was touching the flat roof to take some of the vertical strain off the brackets, as you can see, there’s a lot of weight up that mast and it’s only supported by the three kevlar guys (which are rubbish by the way, they kept snapping).

Tony suggested popping onto the roof and just lifting the mast a couple of inches so that it’s away from the flat roof.  I did that today although I only raised it about half an inch from the roof and it instantly cured all the creaking problems.  The pole only has the Sirio Gain Master on it now so there’s hardly any weight there.

It seems really strange to be sitting in the shack now and hear the wind blowing strongly outside but not to hear a single creak coming from the mast.  It’s lovely!

Personally, I’ve had no problems with any of the MFJ equipment I’ve owned or used.  My voice keyer worked perfectly and the ATU I was loaned for the QSO365 project performed flawlessly and was a very useful addition to my station when I most needed it.

I was a little concerned when I contacted Cushcraft (MFJ) about the problem with my MA-5B but their response was speedy and they told me they’d send me a replacement MT1 trap.  I had no idea how long this was likely to take but around a week after our exchange of emails, this package turned up.

Package-from-Cushcraft-containing-replacement-MT-1-trap-for-my-MA-5B

This is what was inside.

Replacement MT1 trap for Cushcraft MA-5B

It’s now all fitted and my aerial is back to how it should be.  It’s a shame it melted in the first place but that’s great customer service by Cushcraft/MFJ.

ACOM1500 is developed on the base of the well known ACOM1000. The tube GU74B has been replaced by 4CX1000A and the power supply is beefed accordingly. The RF power is  up to 1500 W. PEP output on 160 trough 6m Bands. Another improvement is the internal antenna switch with three antenna outputs. The LCD display has been replaced by VFD type. The size is unchanged, only few kgs has been added to the weight.

Acom 1500 front

Acom 1500 back

Acom 1500 right side

Acom 1500 left side

Apart from the higher power which is irrelevant in the UK, the main difference is the three antenna outputs.  I run with my Array Solutions Power Master II meter connected all the time so I wouldn’t see any advantage anyway.  I use an external Alpha Delta-4 antenna switch.

For those looking for a 1.5kW amplifier though, the Acom comes from a company with a good reputation and I’m sure it will be a popular addition to their product range.

I contacted Mike, VP8NO who is a fellow member of the Chiltern DX Club by email to see if it was possible to arrange a sked and he was very happy to do so.  We agreed to start on 15m at 18:00z and see how we went from there.  I was keen to try and work him on 10m, 15m and 20m but feared that it might be difficult due to the problems with the melted trap in my Cushcraft MA-5B.

My worries were unfounded.  I tuned to the frequency we’d agreed on a few minutes ahead of time and fired up the amplifier.  I heard someone sending TEST in CW so identified myself and there was Mike replying, a good solid 5-7 signal and he gave me a 5-9 in return.  His signal strengthened while we were talking to being above 5-9.

From 15m we moved up to 10m where the signal was a lot weaker but strong enough to exchange callsigns and signal reports so we shifted back to 15m where Yan, M0YNK joined us in order to get VP8 in his log as well.  After that we moved down to 20m where we worked easily but the signal was weaker than I’d expect. I put this purely down to the fact that my aerial isn’t working properly at the moment.

We moved back to 15m and Mike suggested we try the WARC bands so it was up to 12m first where we worked easily with good signal reports each way.  My aerial is just a rotary dipole on 12m and 17m so I’d expect the signal to be a bit weaker but it was remarkably good.  We dropped back to 15m and I picked a random frequency on 17m but when we got there, it was full of stations calling some exotic DX so we reverted back to 15m where I found somewhere a bit quieter on 17m.  Mike was strongest on 17m than he’d been on any band we’d worked so we spoke for a couple of minutes and then called it a day.

In the space of around fifteen minutes, I’d gone from not having worked the Falkland Islands to having worked them on five bands, I was buzzing!

The icing on the cake was when they were all confirmed on Logbook of The World (LoTW) within a few minutes.

Confirmation of five QSOs with VP8NO on LoTW

Thanks Mike!

Firstly I checked the SWR and the impedance between 1.8MHz and 29.7MHz, the normal amateur radio HF bands.

Dummy load tested between 1.8MHz and 29.7MHz

The SWR is 1.01:1 at 1.8MHz and 1.11:1 at 29.7MHz and the impedance measures 48.6 ohms at the lowest point and 50.3 ohms at the highest.  That’s very acceptable and it’s the best I could have hoped for considering the resistors I used.

On to the mid range bands.  I tested between 50MHz and 70.5MHz to include 6m and 4m.

Dummy load tested between 50MHz and 70.5MHz

A different story now – The SWR is still respectable at 1.27:1 at 50MHz raising to a not very good 1.41:1 at 70.5MHz but you can see that the impedance of the load varies quite a lot between 57.7 ohms and 65.9 ohms.  I’d still use the load on these bands but it’s right on the edge of usability at 4m.

I then tested the load on the 2m band from 144MHz to 146MHz.

Dummy load tested between 144MHz and 146MHz

The SWR is pretty constant at 2.25:1 and the impedance drops from 91.6 ohms at the bottom of the band to 85.5 ohms at the top.  I wouldn’t use this dummy load on VHF.

Finally, for a giggle I tested the load over the whole range of my analyser, from 100kHz to 200MHz.  Interpret it as you like, I think the curves are pretty

Dummy load tested between 100kHz and 200MHz

I’ve still not dared to use my amplifier into the dummy load yet – The resistors in air are rated at 90 watts and although that should be significantly higher when submerged in oil, I’ve not yet tried.  I said before that I’m going to build a higher rated load so I’ll leave that for the amplifier.

Two MA-5B traps, one melted, one not

The bottom section was taken from the ‘hot’ side of the feed, ie the centre core of the coax and the top one was taken from the braid side.  You can clearly see where the plastic coil former has got hot, melted and discoloured badly.  On a close inspection it looks as though some of the windings have shorted together which would explain the symptoms.  The plastic coil former really is beyond repair.

Clearly this shouldn’t happen, especially when running legal power but I’ve checked eHam and it seems to be quite a common problem.

Here’s a close up of the melted MA5B trap section.

Melted Cushcraft MA-5B trap

(both these pictures are clickable for [very] high resolution versions)

I’ve already contacted Cushcraft who have demonstrated superb customer service and are sending me a replacement trap.  Hopefully it won’t take long to arrive and I can be properly back on the air.  I am still going ahead with ordering a Hexbeam though to replace the MA5B but I’d like to get this aerial fixed as quickly as possible.