First HF Contact

Yay :) My first contact on HF today,working about 20w from Box Hill in Surrey, after 40 mins of calling CQ on 20 mtrs around 14.285/14.286, with no answer, I took down my 20mtr whip and put up a 40mtr antenna, I called for around 20 mins there7.106/7.062, no reply, I tuned a round and found a qso just finishing on 7.190. I called there and has my first ever QSO with G0USP, in York, thanks for the chat Sydney. 

Not Big DX but a milestone for me.

Eton G3

I Bought one of these from Martin Lynch In Chertsey    by visiting their shop 

First, I should say something about this firm and my experience of them.

I have only used them twice on the basis that they are the most local to me, this time, I feel they have lost my custom, This radio was bought direct from the shop and had a price label on it of £99.00, however I was charged £105.00 for it and no effort was made to sell it to me at the correct price, I have since found it at other shops for £89.99 including delivery.

So it cost me £20.00 more from them then it would from anywhere else, I have used them once before, and didn't have a good experience.

I bought a radio from them via their website a couple of years ago and a few days after they had taken the money I called them to ask what was happening to it,they told me they had sent me a letter.

The letter dully arrived and informed me that if I wanted to have the radio that I had paid for then I would have to send them two utility bills to confirm my identity.

I asked to cancel the purchase and they decided to send it to me, so my personal advice is to buy from another seller.

The radio itself seems ok, its not a brilliant radio and its not terrible either.

It has a kind of rubberised feel to it, so its not slippery and easy to grip, but takes while to get used to the feel of. So far the reception is not brilliant but might be better, if I had an external antenna,I cant honestly recommend this radio but, its OK for general listening and monitoring

Aurora reported

Aurora reported

More on space weather here

Trying out a new Radio

FT-857D

I've had this about a week so far and together with a couple of mobile whips and an LDG antenna tuner,  tried it out a couple of times on 20 Mtrs and 40Mtrs, also on 2Mtrs, so far, only one contact on 2mtrs, hopefully, in the next few days Ill be able to talk to some people not in the uk, which will be exciting

YT-100 Tuner

Fun cuble dongle review

Getting back in radio, is a tough prospect, so much has changed since I got my licence, (1981) so I have obtained a few books and a new radio or two.

I recently bought the Funcube dongle and to be honest, its hard to set up and hard to use, I cant tell if it even works, all I get is background noise, if people post messages on its yahoo groups, you get messages like, "you need filters", so its not really anything useful out of the box, and there are lots of things to do once you get one.

• Download the latest firmware ( If you can tell what that is)
• Download the interface ( Which one ?)
• Download some other software (so you can see what looks like a rolling road, scrolling down the screen.

This is supposed to be an educational project, so far the main thing I have learnt is that, I'm so far behind in this kind of tech, that I cant receive anything, that does not sound like white noise.
You may find it fun and useful, , I found this to be frustrating and a waste of money

Fun cube dongle