Having day release (thanks wifey) to attend the Ballarat hamfest saw me spend some time activating two more local mountains. Both Mt Warrenheip VK3/VC-019 and Mt Bunninyong VK3/VC-018 are ~10km form Ballarat and are the remains of old volcanoes. This was my second summit for the day, having worked Mt Bunninyong earlier in the afternoon. After my previous hill…
Having day release (thanks wifey) to attend the ballarat hamfest saw me spend some time activating two more local mountains. Both Mt Warrenheip VK3/VC-019 and Mt Bunninyong VK3/VC-018 are ~10km form Ballarat and are the remains of old volcanoes. I left the hamfest around 11am and made my way to the mountain top, Ive been up this…
Standardisation of power supply connectors is something I have recently been undertaking throughout the shack, car and my camper trailer. There is nothing worse than not having the right connector, having to make up some form of connector instead of just having that box work, and with the camper trailer, dealing with fiddly and flakey…
An easy way to program and manage this new 817nd is with some simple computer control software (and with the intention of having it work with VKCL logging into the future if need be, I lashed out and spent $11 on ebay and purchased a USB to CT-62 yaesu CAT control interface cable. The cable…
Now that I have my SOTA radio and portable antenna setup working. Portable power options were the next item on my list. The 817nd has internal rechargable batteries, and can use AA batteries also, i have 2 battery trays for AA rechargeable batteries and the internal Ni-Mh pack, but for extended 5w operation portable, an…
I managed to grab a couple of hours yesterday afternoon for a drive to Mt Dandenong VC-025 and then a simple activation. My first summit activation. (Thanks wifey) I met Andy VK1NAM who had just packed up and was about to head home, Andy has been in Melbourne for the last week and has activated many…
I took my kids down to the local park this afternoon as an excuse to have a play with my new FT817nd and squid pole as a portable station. I acquired a transport case for the radio and bits (a bit bigger than needed, but this is the camping/holiday setup). And this holds everything (and…
I have always been interested in SOTA (summits of the air) and have been contemplating activating some mountains and becoming active with this “part” of ham radio, now that I have a portable radio and antenna setup that will allow sota to happen, i was keen for more info. Being a mac / iOS…
I have just acquired a second hand Yaesu FT817ND for portable operation, microwave radio driving and camping holidays and I also plan to start to participate in SOTA activations. More posts to come as I explore this nifty little radio and the Z-match ATU i acquired in the bundle, as well as some useful SOTA…
When I lived in sydney, i was a member of the Manly Warringah Radio Society (VK2MB), this is a very active ham club on Sydney’s northern Beach’s, they have weekly meetings at the clubs shack/rooms in Terrey Hills. The club has recently obtained a stack of portable / quick erect flagpole antenna poles, and have…