A3BQ (VK3BQ) a Very Historic callsign.

The national library of Australia has a 45min interview with Max , you can listen to the interview on the NLA website using this link http://nla.gov.au/nla.oh-vn2239852 This week marks a very important milestone in global communications for Australia. No prizes for guessing that it was a major achievement of radio amateurs. The first direct two-way radio…

Shack Sloth Trophy

A couple of weeks ago, I was successful in achieving 1000 sota chaser points and became a Shack Sloth. The SOTA organisation in the UK makes available trophy for those who qualify, and I sent off and received this Shack Sloth Glass trophy in the mail yesterday! Now to get to more summits and get…

Sota Activation – Mt Alexander VK3/VN-016

The other day, I had to head to Bendigo for work, so packed the SOTA gear in the car for a quick late afternoon activation on the way home. Mt Alexander VK3/VN-016 sits just south of Bendigo and has the local TV and FM transmitters sites on the top of it, also a tower form…

Sota Activation – Mt Buninyong VK3/VC-018

Sunday 19th was the Ballarat Ham radio clubs annual Hamfest!. I had walked past an item at the event last year and regretted it, so packed up the car and grabbed my big child Nathan, and we went for a daddy/son day out – road trip – Hamfest – Sota Activation!. Nathan had a busy…

Strange link dipole shenanigans?

Help!!!.. In the true spirit of this page, i installed a poorly built antenna on the weekend, and I don’t know why? I got the courage to cut my unicorn blood DX wire, and began the process of making a link dipole. Followed the guides form all the normal places, VK3ZPF and VK3PF and the Sotabeams Calculator among many. I built…

Icom IC-706Mk2G Remote Head Latch Repair

I was cleaning up the other day and found my old Icom IC-706Mk2G radio. It had been in a box since semi retirement a while ago when I upgraded the radio in the car! It still gets used from time to time, camping and portable (non sota) and for vhf/uhf field days and contests, but…