Sota Activation – VK3/VC-031 Arthurs Seat 2015

Australia Day offers the opportunity to use a special callsign, Australian hams are allowed to use the prefix AX instead of VK on a handful of days throughout the year. I had to be in and around Melbourne this Australia day weekend with work commitments but had tentatively talked the family into a trip to…

The Best way to improve the FT817ND performance?

So. What do people think the best bang for buck 817 upgrade is?? With the dollar heading north again (if you believe the financial review 🙂 it might be time to order some bits from OS again. My current thinking is a Collins Mechanical filter of some Type/Style/Manufacturer. On my Sota activations. The most common…

FT5ZM. Easy :)

FT5ZM are on Amsterdam Island at the moment. A Dxpedition to an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. I worked them easily the other morning on 40m SSB! That’s all I need for DXCC! Another country in the bag!

LOTW DXCC

I haven’t ever really played serious DX HF, Ive used it to chat around Australia while exploring the country and for the occasional chat overseas while driving, but thats not a serious effort. In recent weeks (and with the CQ WWDX Contest) it spurred some interest in me, that my small bit of random wire…

CQWW SSB QRP park portable.

The kids were going crazy at home. So I volunteered to take them to the local park for a play. And packed the FT817ND along for the ride. This weekend is the CQWW SSB contest so I hoped active bands would nab me some portable contacts. I set up the squid pole and radio. And gave…

WSPR Test 432Mhz

Tonight Leigh vk2krr and vk3smc and myself played WSPR on 432mhz. 330km path. Not bad for a verticle in my backyard. 🙂