Bad modulation reports

 So I was out once more with the FT-847 and made a contact with EW1MM but his report was bad. 54, if I remember correctly and he mentioned that there's something wrong with my modulation. I spent the next three days testing with the help of my wife in freezing cold and got nothing. At least on 2M and 6M all AM, FM and SSB works fine. I need to test the HF side but that will have to wait until she gets her own license so that we can successfully transmit both sides and compare. 

I have no idea how to debug this at home since the radios interfere way too much in SSB/AM.

SWLing again...

Well that was fun. We were out on Christmas eve & the boxing day, and then I was out on the bank holiday Monday.

I mentioned the activities on the Christmas Eve earlier.

On the boxing day we were out for a walk, and then did some radio stuff. We could hear a pile up from Europe to Bolivia, and the chap was coming out 59 very loud! On our little single-band 20m vertical! Incredible signal. Unfortunately no one heard us transmitting 2W, including our sheep's attempts.

On the Monday bank holiday I grabbed the equipment and headed out once more. I tried some 50MHz SSB and FM calling, no luck. I also did this half the time with the microphone gain down all the way. You moron... Finally I finished at 14MHz once more, hearing loads of VK and very strong EU signals. No responses to my CQs. The radio was allegedly putting out 100W but I could see a lot less on the SWR meter so I wonder if the radio's power is down somehow. I hope I didn't break this radio. 

Also it was freezing cold. 1.8C outside (started with below zero) and inside the car was less than 5C. 

I was wrapped up warmly in two polar jumpers and a hat, but I felt quite cold in the end and headed back home for tea.

Still no contact but yet another long path day

Well, that was fun.

It's a freezing cold morning so I had to go out before the sunrise. First I did some shopping and then drove to the nature reserve on top of the Chiltern hills. As the sun was rising off the horizon, I was ready with the radio setup, this time the MJ-945E, a single-band 20m antenna and the FT-818.

CQ baaa ! CQ baaaa! CQ baaaa!

Yet once more the Australia was wide open! Plenty of VK stations were on air, Tasmania stations were also coming loud and clear! It was almost impossible to find a clear frequency, the whole band was glowing. The Russians and Italians were out en-force, Spain was coming out loud and clear too. I could even hear local(ish) G and M stations via ground wave. 

In the end I spent over an hour basically listening and that was fun. I didn't have the power cable for the FT-818 so I couldn't transmit over a couple of watts, so no one responded back. QRP SSB is really a struggle. I must bring out the laptop for FT-8 work.

Around 10 I packed up and went back home, I needed some hot drinks by then. 

Listening to pile-ups but still no contacts

 Took the radio out today, about lunchtime.

The Sheep says 

"I'm way better operator than half of these Italians"

It was... Interesting. Both of the antennas tuned up nicely on 14MHz first, then I listened to some and tried to respond - no takers. Tried some CQs but got no answers either. I could hear into the US very clearly a couple of mid-west and South Florida stations, and lots of Italians, Slovaks and some Serbs. Also some Arabic stations were very clear but didn't catch their call signs. Some operators are really lousy. Rubbish NATO code usage (Kilowatt is not a part of your call sign morons!), operated on top of others, and didn't play nice during pile-ups. 

Then I wondered around to see if I can get some contacts elsewhere, and found that there was a massive pile-up on a Tasmanian station!

VK7RG was coming out load and clear at 14.213MHz, and a lot of European stations were piling up on him. Especially a TA7 station was being extremely obnoxious, transmitting on top of other stations QSOs, not waiting for the VK7RG to call back. Oh well. 

I did responds a couple of times when he was picking up the next contact, but it'd be definitely impossible for me.

In the end I did put out about 75W SSB, anything higher the radio would get upset. The antennas somehow lost their tuning (I think there's something wrong with the cables) but  they were still around 1.5SWR max. I did try some 144.300MHz SSB calling too but as usual didn't hear anyone.

I had a laptop with me to try some digital modes, but then in the end I gave up and rushed back home around 2PM. It's now past 4PM, so I'll go and check my telescope out instead. The weather really sucks but it's a good time to calibrate the scope and oil the joints and the gears.

Still, not a bad day so far. I'd be happy if I can catch a couple of stations when I'm down in the garage, but the local 2M/70cm situation is dire.

In other news, VX7-R is still AWOL.

Today wasn't that bad

 

I didn't have my usual assistant so the little sheep helped instead.

Not a bad evening. After moping most of the day finally (yesterday depressed me to no ends) I got out just before 4PM and drove to the usual location and put up the antennas on top of the car. Then I got the FT-847 out - this time microphone included - and hollered a couple of CQs. Once more the US was very strong, heard lots of people from MN and Ohio, even all they way to Nebraska. I was putting out about 25-50W and once more, no one heard me or responded. I start to wonder if FT-818 was a bad idea with its QRP levels! I still love it to be honest, and FT-847 is also a fantastic radio. Later I gave up on 20, tried 40 and 80 but I couldn't get the multi-band tuned up. Then I went onto 145.500 and with the dipole on top of the bonnet (visible behind the sheep) tried a couple of CQs and a G4 from Cirencester responded so we had a nice QSO. 

Then I packed up the radios, drove a short distance and tried some night time photographies of the skies. It wasn't extremely successful, I had a hard time focusing the camera, but I managed to get a couple of almost in focus shots. Finally came back home around 6:30. Not a bad evening considering all things.

The micro VNA

Very nice piece of kit. I was wondering why it wasn't charging, but then I found out that it had no battery! No problem, I have a couple of Poundland power banks which has more than enough juice to run it. I love it. Yesterday I analyzed every single antenna in the house which included a couple of unknown pieces of metal. It's already paid for itself.

Truly a disastrous evening

I packed the stuff, also picked up the FT-847, got into the car and drove to the hill nearby. Setting everything up in near darkness took 20 mins. Then I found that I left the mic for the FT-847 at home. Then the power cables acted. Then the morse key's cable snapped. Then the FT-818 wouldn't power itself from the car's battery. Then I got very very frustrated and depressed. Listened to 20m on FT-818 for a couple of minutes and packed everything up, drove back home.

I am trying to be prepared, but every single time something goes wrong. Why the fuck is this happening every single time. I am truly saddened with today's experience. How am I going to get back to the hobby if I feel frustrated about it.

Also it rained all the time.

Not that I had a good start in the morning.
This is 8:41AM

Antenna analyzer - ordered

 I've got too many antennas lying around, I can no longer remember what they were for. 50MHz? 144MHz, 430MHz? Dual band? Single band? Not a clue.

I've ordered a £30 NanoVNA (vector network analyzer) off Amazon, arriving tomorrow with Prime. It looks like one of the many cheap VNAs on Ebay/Amazon but reviews are very good. This will do up to 900MHz but even that's way too high for my current hobby (which is more concentrated on the HF side), and that is spectacular price / performance point.

I cannot believe these things exist, about 15-20y ago a Vector Network Analyzer cost big bucks and was a lab bench equipment only companies and insane amateurs could afford - this thing is slightly larger than a credit card and only 30 quids! Simply my mind is blown.

I've watched a couple of videos and I'm quite sure this will be enough for my own purposes. I don't have any GHz equipment and don't care about that right now. It will be perfect for managing & testing antennas and feed lines. Just perfect.

Portable attempts - failed

 I put everything I'd need in a backpack and took it for a walk. 

FT-818, tripod, tripod adapter, multi-band HF antenna, wires for radials, RG58 cable, adapters, a keyer, ATU.

4h walk around Birling Gap, Seven sisters & Beachy Head. Lovely scenery, but very windy.

So after all that took it back to the car. Had tea & cake. As we were packing to leave, I went "ok, let's try the radio first". Assembled the lot, put the antenna on top of the car, put the 2nd antenna (14MHz monoband vertical mobile). Perfect matching, incredibly loud reception from the US stations.

No one could hear us. Oh well. We tried.

"CQ CQ CQ!"

Thames walk and radios

 We went for a walk carrying all of the portable kit. In the end I didn't make any contacts, listened to some and tested the two UHF/VHF antennas I was carrying for reception. 

There was reasonable activity around 145MHz until 12:00, then it got a lot quiet. On the way back we didn't hear anyone at all.

I'm not happy with Baofeng, its transmit button is trigger happy and the lock button doesn't lockout TX, meaning I can't happily bang it into my jacket's pocket, I'm constantly worried that it triggers by touching something and creating unnecessary QRM.

I'm happy with the backpack we've got, I just need to optimise what I am carrying and make it easier and quicker to unpack and re-pack. It's still a struggle.

Data cable

My data cable for the Yaesus has arrived! Ordered from Ebay, manufactured by another amateur in the UK (I literally have zero free time at the moment apart from the weekends and that's usually used mending my mental status and a bit of exercise & shopping.

I have no idea who this person is, but the kit looks really good. The seller is called XGGCOOMS.

Here is his Ebay shop --> https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/XGGCOMMS

The cable has USB interface for /dev/tty and also a solidly done audio connections. I have ordered a separate two-to-one cable adapter as well so that I can use it on all of my laptops w/o hindrance. I'm still waiting for that cable to arrive to be operational but this is quite a good start.

Status report and Current and Past Equipments.

Courtesy of RigReference.com   

 In around 1999 I was licensed in Turkey as a C class amateur radio operator, with a TA2 callsign.

Then I moved to England permanently, and obtained a reciprocal license. Eventually this license gave me full license access as an M1 callsign.

Meanwhile Ofcom brought in M3 licenses so I decided to have a proper UK license as well, so I got my M3 license. Now I had three licenses. 

Now I'm working upgrading that M3 to an Intermediate license level, then eventually pass the full exam and be a full license key once more. Then I will have had five callsigns. I do this to keep myself involved and interested in the hobby, and prove to myself that I can get a full UK license directly, w/o going through reciprocal routes. Why? Why not...

I haven't been operating much, I'm more of a SWL guy to be honest, but I kept a number of radios around.

My first ever radio was an FT-23R. Fantastic piece of kit. A taxi ran over it and it only experienced a small crack on the battery case. This eventually died and sold for pieces. It was something like this on the left.

Stole from
RigReference.com again

So, once I landed in England I started looking for an "upgrade" and went for another Yaesu, an FT-11R. This wasn't as solid as the 23R. It worked well for a number of years, but finally it couldn't cope with the antennas I was putting on and off it and the BNC connector failed. I soldered it back on a couple of times but after repeated issues, I parted with this too as spares.

On the way I obtained a Storno mobile. I think it was a Stornophone CQM-6000. This worked well apart from continually turning itself off... I used it for a number of years as a mobile radio, and then parted with it.

Meanwhile I had some unexpected inheritance. So I decided to spend it all for fun. I ended up with a lovely, brand new FT-847 I still own. FT-847 has been a fantastic radio. Easy to use, endless possibilities, satellite operations. Everything is ready to be used. I used it a lot when I was living in Cambridge and St. Ives, but when I moved to Wycombe in Jan 2008, I suddenly found that my operational status wasn't optimal. The place I'm living in since then is at the bottom of a valley meaning there's only very local VHF/UHF comms, and probably due to the construction of the place, the HF is extremely attenuated, and rubbish in reception.

My wife is trying out the FT-847 as she's getting ready to her own foundation license.

For a period I ran WSPR on this and collected excellent contacts across the globe, I had heard people from Brazil to Hong Kong. It was fantastic for a while. 

I also had an FT-101B I had picked up for £120 from a radio rally in Kings Lyn. 

My Radio Sheep is not impressed with the SNR

FT-101B is an incredibly lovely piece of antique kit. I gave it away like an idiot. I truly loved that radio. I don't think it could do more than 10W output anymore, but the audio quality, feel of the buttons and simply the weight of it was just fantastic. I miss it dearly..

I also picked up an FT-200 during another radio rally. As you can see I am not good at NOT spending money at these events. Luckily COVID-19 put a stop to those.

At another radio rally, must have been the Huntingdon one in Godmanchester, I picked up a 2M all mode radio, IC-211E. This was once more a lovely piece of 80s engineering, and I still miss the way the dial button would release its clutch and spin faster as you'd turn it faster and faster. This one developed a minor fault and at that time I was trying to reduce the number of hardware I had so I donated it to a colleague who was also a full license. He fixed it and to my knowledge still uses it in his caravan for portable work.

I also collected another piece of kit I still own. This is yet another 2M all mode radio, but this time a mobile one. It's a Standard C-58000E. I had a love/hate relationship with this since it always had a dodgy TX button and if you trigger it twice it would transmit a tone which was awfully annoying since I never used it with repeaters ever. Also slowly it started to have faults, and these days it can hardly transmit over a couple of watts and SSB/CW is very very warbled. FM still works though so I am planning to recommission this radio somehow. Low power mode is a measly 1W, and high power is 25W and if you have an antenna with high SWR, then things don't work well.

I had purchased a 2nd hand Yaesu VX-7R 3-bander which worked quite well for listening to all sorts of things, I even chased satellites with it using an Arrow antenna. Last week somehow we lost this. I hope it will turn out from some stupid place. I suspect the bottom drawer of the vegetable tray in the fridge...

I also had purchased a Baofeng UV-3R for peanuts, and then gave it away. People rubbish Baofengs but they are actually extremely good. The problem is the copies - you can't spot one from Ebay but one thing for certain, cheap stuff will not be the real deal.

I also have a Baofeng UV-5R. This is actually quite a good piece of hardware. The only complaint I had for all these years is the trigger-happy TX button. Put the radio into your jacket pocket and start doing a hike, suddenly you'll realise you've been TX'ing at 145.500 for the last 20 minutes huffing and puffing. Not very nice.

Then I got married which meant that I no longer had the spacious work room (which got converted into a bedroom) and my little bedroom got converted into the study - now shared by two people. There was absolutely no space for the radios so they got packed up. This continued approx 4y like this. 

Now trying new things

 Finally I've decided to get back to the hobby and convinced my dear wife to join me as a foundation licensee. Also convinced her that "if I had a portable HF kit, then we could take it around and not have the problems with reception, noise and TX RFI problems.

So I splurged on a brand new Yaesu FT-818. Lovely thing. Took it out. Lovely, it works. Came back home. Got out of the car. Picked up the backpack. The radio came out flying, ending bouncing on the floor.

The radio is very well protected at the back, but not at the front, and the brunt of the bounce was taken by the dial button so now it's bent very nicely. I almost cried. After being depressed for a day, I tried it out, it was working fine, so I started to try a couple of things.

Now I'm going to concentrate on the rather easy task of getting the intermediate license. I've been using radios for more than 20 years now, even though I have had some quiet periods, I have forgotten a lot about some of the technical bits like baluns etc. I'm retraining myself, 

I've also ordered interface cables for the FT-818, programming cables for both the Baofeng and the VX-7R (it will turn up). I've dug up everything I need to connect FT-847 up. 

I even dug out my almost-20y old books! Things couldn't have changed much since 2002, right?

WRONG! Things have changed A LOT since 2002 matey.

So... What's happened during the last 4-5 years in the amateur world. Looks like brand new digital modes like FT-8 have taken over the world. There's also more similar things. Now I need to get a Linux laptop working with all of these.

One thing I'm NOT interested in is the digital modes in VHF/UHF. Anything that involves an internet repeater is also not interesting to me. If I want to talk over the internet there are dedicated apps for that, I really don't need to use over-the-wave other than WIFI to do that. There are interesting Raspberry Pi boards and software which can create a 10mW gateway... It is technically interesting, but I really don't need that. I'm more interested in getting the waves bouncing around the world.

Starting a new adventure...

 I have decided to be active in amateur radio once more so this is to track this.