Month: July 2011

40m delta loop – Cloud warmer?

It has been suggested that my 40m horizontal delta loop could be described as a ‘cloud warmer’ and to be fair that’s reasonable as it was designed and built for NVIS propagation. Last night I was very pleased to work two Brazilians on 40m during the IOTA contest, PR2P and PP5XX at 8551 km (5313 […]

BT have finally fixed my phone line

After the lightning strike just over a month ago, BT Openreach came to my house and performed a ‘temporary’ repair to get my phone line working again.  This consisted of bypassing a broken pair of conductors and using another pair within the same cable.  The technician told me he wasn’t able to change the wire […]

Days 206, 207 and 208 – I’ve got data modes again

I’ve still got a lot of things happening at home and work.  We’re ramping up towards a major event at work happening in a couple of weeks so there’s a lot of preparation going on.  That’s not stopping me from keeping this project going though. On day #206 I worked two stations on 40m, SE6Y, […]

Days 203, 204 and 205 – A quiet few days

Weekends are normally busy on the wireless for me but this weekend was quite different.  We all left home mid morning on the Saturday and returned home late evening on Sunday so I had no real time to play radio.  I also had to strip everything out of my shack at the weekend in preparation […]

Days 200, 201 and 202 – Finding more damaged stuff

Not much to report for these three days, on day #200 I worked DL4FL, Henry on 40m followed by 9H4JX, Jason on 17m. On day #201 I spoke to DL9AKA on 40m and I had two QSOs on day #202, working S57S, Alex on 17m and then 9A3WL, Milan on 6m. Things are starting to […]

My insurance has paid out in full

I’m very pleased to be able to post this quick update to say that my insurance has paid out for everything I claimed.  There was a very minor adjustment to one price I submitted where they’d found an item slightly cheaper but apart from that I’ve now had a full and complete settlement. It’s been […]

Days 197, 198 and 199 – The RSGB Convention

I started off on day #197 by working a few stations in some contest or other, I worked EC7DND, RM3Q, 4O3A, EA5GS and RY7Y on 20m followed by DQ60SAAR and DG1EA on 40m. After that I spoke to UT7Y, S53EO, RN3F and ER3CT back on 20m. Later in the day I had a nice chat […]

New best DX on 6m

There were some nice conditions on 6m yesterday evening and while tuning around I heard SV9GPV on Crete working a long string of stations. I joined in the throng but in half an hour of calling I didn’t manage to get through the pileup. In the end he QSYd to 4m so I tuned further […]

Days 194, 195 and 196 – I’ve got a new wireless!

As you can see from the above, I’m now the proud owner of a Kenwood TS-590S. I spoke to the insurance company on Thursday morning and we went through the details of my claim. Only one item was questioned as they’d managed to find the same model laser printer I’d listed at £40 cheaper than […]

Days 190-193, the insurance claim is nearing completion

I was expecting to be at work on days #190 and #191 but that didn’t happen and so for the first time in nearly two weeks I had some real free time to play radio. I started on day #190 by working DL0YLA, Annette on 40m and then having a very quick QSO with E77WM […]