HERE
I’m back home now but me and the dog managed a little radio earlier.
I have also just been reunited with my Icom ID-52. It’s been far too long. I sent it off to be repaired as the screen was steaming up. After a week and a bit I called to ask where it was and they told me it had been delivered. I was pretty sure it hadn’t. I checked in all the usual places someone might leave a parcel. And none of the neighbours had it.
I was pretty annoyed but figured it would turn up in the back of a van or at a depot. So I remained calm and courteous. After all, it’s not the fault of Icom. It’s a hiccup somewhere in the delivery. Anyway, after another nudge asking Icom where it was I discovered it really had been delivered after all. Well, that’s if ‘delivery’ means thrown over a fence into an inaccessible part of my garden. While feeding a hosepipe past an annoying holy bush I spotted a small brown box in a pile of leaves.
I was more happy than annoyed. As much as I’m enjoying the full APRS goodness of the FT5D the battery doesn’t last me half a day and I was getting Icom withdrawal.
Despite being lost in a bush through rain and snow it looks like all is well. So far anyway.
THERE
I took a trip to Wirral earlier in the week. I was there on a video assignment but managed to hit a few repeaters .
On the 28th I chatted with David G5VHF on GB3CR. It was one of those overs you wish could last longer but I really needed to get to where I was going and had to cut it short. After that I made contact with Kev G7ILP through GB3PT (Hubnet).
Other than that I was mostly mostly listening to the local chit chat. Most of it seemed to be digital. I got nothing via the Liverpool repeater. Quite surprised by that.
Heading back on the 29th I had an enjoyable chat with G0YLM Linda via GB7SJ. If you wanted to connect with these folk and more from that neck of the woods then check out the North West Fusion Group run by Linda and her partner Ian (G0VGS). Plus if you are into narrow boating they also have a slow-TV YouTube channel called Gone Goozling.
I miss my boat.
Finally before getting home I dropped onto GB3XX to chat with G8GVV (also known as G5XX) and Chris G0WTZ of Moonraker fame. Finally when in range of GB3OV I caught up with Rich M0OFF, Dale G5DKT and Andy G6OHM.
Although I sometimes miss listening to podcasts and music in the car, nothing beats a decent rag chew with a local who is only too pleased to let you know more about where you are.
GEAR
A painfully long video but great little tape measure EFHW antenna project.
£135 for a 1TB MicroSDCX card? It’s not the cheapest on Amazon but it might be the cheapest that actually works.
Aimed at users of handheld gaming consoles it might be a while till you can drop one of these in your radio. I think the upper limit of some makes is 32GB. Should a radio manufacturer enable cards this size you might never need to delete anything again.
But don’t hold your breath. With some radios (Yaesu i’m looking at you) still unable to be charged via USB it might be a long time coming.
Looking for more radio stuff?
This is a nice looking radio. ;-)
As is this…
I don’t think they need much explanation.
ONAIR
Today I found I suddenly had a few hours spare. So I threw a few things into a bag and took the dog for a walk.
I packed the Icom IC-705, the Yaesu FT5D, a 6m mast, a portable EFHW, an inflatable 2/70 antenna, a 7200mAh portable power pack, logbook, lunch, coffee, plus water and snacks for the dog.
Total pack weight = 8kg
If you want to know where I was the W3W is detective.bars.depend. I could give you lots of non proprietary open source location data but that would make it too easy for you to find my bench.
Once there I thought I had packed few antennas but I only had the 2/70 and the QRP 49-1 EFHW from Moonraker.
It took five minutes for me to set up and another five for me to realise the bands were not in good shape.
Signals were so few and far between that the moment something interesting popped up there was a pileup and little old me with my maximum of 10w was going to struggle from the off. There was enough to listen to though and you could hear the signals wavering and fading in and out. Perhaps the recent sunspot activity is still playing havoc.
The sun shone and I listened with interest while me and the dog had lunch.
I was chatting on the local repeaters while munching a liver pate and gherkin bagel when I noticed the dog had finished her snack and was now munching on a strange looking stick.
Strange because it wasn’t all stick and on closer inspection she had inadvertently found a geocache.
I rescued it from her jaws, took out the geocaching app to find out where she had found it and replaced it in it’s hiding place.
A few moments later a dark cloud loomed and after throwing a handful of grass in the air I decided it might be best to pack up.
The moment I packed the last thing away it started to hale. Not for long. Sue is the British spring. :-)
A brief but fun outing. And I hope the first of many more this year.
ELSEWHERE
Congratulations to Doug KO4NFA (fellow member of C.R.O.W.S) for passing his General Class Licence. All he needs now is a HF rig. Oh and a 1500W amp :-)
A new handheld radio from Icom
The vacuum tube’s forgotten rival
If you thought giant solar flares were impressive, check out cannibal solar flares
Krasukha-4 signal jammer could reveal the secrets of Russian electronic warfare
Amateur radio news in the New Indian Express
Great thread on a Morse code themed video game. Click the Tweet to read it all
FINALS
Thanks for reading and I hope subscribing.
Next week is a school holiday in the UK and i’ll no doubt have my hands full.
If their is anyone you think might like a weekly dose of radio stuff in an email please let them know about this. Feel free to forward it.
Over
73 de Christian G5DOC
_._