Days 17, 18 and 19

Week days are always going to be a little hectic and this week so far has been no different.  I wasn’t at work on Monday but I had loads of things to get done so around mid morning I took a break and put the radio on.  I was expecting the bands to be busier but they were fairly quiet so I found myself calling CQ on 40m, hoping to work a G station and perhaps have a nice natter.   This was a good choice and so my QSO for day #17 was with Geoff, G4AAO in Camberley.

On day #18 I had a quick QSO with Johannes, DF2DJ on 80m shortly after I got home from work.  This week has been terrible on the roads and so I’ve wanted to get indoors and just relax after the day out and so it was nice to speak to Johannes soon after I got in and so the pressure was off for finding a contact.

On day #19 I decided to try something different.  I’d call CQ in the evening and see what happened.  I called on 40m for around fifteen minutes with no reply so I switched to 80m and did the same but still there was no answer.  I moved up to 2m and called CQ just twice on 144.300MHz before received a reply from Phil, G6PHH in Marsh Gibbon, near Bicester in Oxfordshire. Who said VHF is dead?  We had a very nice QSO for around fifteen minutes before I noticed that when I turned my beam to peak his signal that the rotator was doing strange things and seemed to have a bit of a mind of it’s own.  A friend had been around earlier in the day and fixed a broken guy line for me and I was concerned that something was catching so I signed with Phil and went to check.  All seemed OK and the beam turned freely.

3 Comments

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  1. Hi what Frequency’s do you use please , i’d love to have a ragchew with you . Am in cornwall UK . Great idea btw hope you suceed 🙂

    73

    Ted (M3XOA)

  2. Hi Ted,

    I don’t use any specific frequencies although I’m favouring 40m and 80m in the evenings (but the last two days have been rubbish on HF). I’m sure we should be able to work on 80m in the evening so perhaps that’s worth a try sometime.

    The last couple of days I’ve had QSOs on 2m (as you’ll see when I post an entry for day #20) as I’ve called CQ on HF with no replies. Essex to Cornwall on VHF isn’t the easiest of paths but we should manage it on 80m without any problems.

    73
    Keith.

  3. Hi Keith , thanks for the prompt reply . 80m sounds like a plan will listen out for you .

    And your 100% correct about the hf , the last few days have been dire ! all i heard here today has been Italy and they were calling for VK .

    73

    Ted

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