SotaBeams Dipole Traps

A couple of months ago, the SOTABeams Facebook page Posted a link to a new item they had just finished making. A simple pair of lightweight dipole traps for portable use to help with running multiple bands and the band changing efforts. I had built a link dipole last year and this works well, but if the…

Anderson PowerPole Boots

One of my local Ham radio club members sent me a link to these nifty PowerPole PVC Boots. Why? Because I can, they do make the power pole a bit neater. 50 boots for $15.99 delivered on eBay, i got mine in around a week from HERE. But I’m sure if you search Anderson PowerPole…

IC9100 Firmware Update E3 2015

Icom has Released a new firmware update for the IC9100 radio.  IC-9100 Firmware Rev. E3 is now downloadable form the Icom Japan website. It is a stand alone .exe file that will install the E3 firmware update. IC9100 E3 Firmware link The new firmware corrects one item on the radio The firmware update modifies the IC-9100’s…

Avalon Airshow 2015

Its not all radios here at VK3BQ.com the other week in Melbourne, the Avalon Airshow 2015 was held. I took my Big child Nathan and my father along for a day watching the planes. Some photos I took on the day (i prefer the modern/fast jets, thus what I mostly photographed) The rest at https://www.flickr.com/photos/asphotos/sets/72157650682556437

Sota Activation – VK3/VT-060 Mt Oberon 2015

Last weekend, we took our annual family short holiday pilgrimage to Tidal River camp ground in Wilsons Promontory. Each year, we head to this lovely spot for a couple of days away to celebrate Nathan’s birthday. This year he was 7..   I always con the family into a quick Sota activation as part of…

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…

Sota Activation – VK3/VE-204 The Paps

Work took me into country north eastern Victoria. A long day of tasks and driving, a 700km loop! I packed my sota backpack into the car just in case i had time to drop past a summit and undertake an activation. I actually ended up on two summits. I had to visit an air services…

Broken 3D Printer FT817 Stand :(

The nifty 3D printed FT817 Stand I had made up at Glen Eira library last year was fantastic! it worked really well, i was even using it on sota summits to lift the radio up a little! Until I had it on a summit in the sun for too long, it got hot and soft…

Sota Activations – New Years 2015.

Sota rules allow one summit activation (for the activator points) per calendar year, and the program runs to UTC time. In Australia we are lucky that we are 10(11)hrs in front of the UTC date line, our new years eve change over is 11am normal people time! SO.. I lined up the family for the…