G7LFC's world of…

As an instructor of Amateur Radio foundation courses I drill in to my students that they should establish contacts on the calling frequency of a band and then move to an available working frequency to hold their chat. This is considered to be so important that it is specifically mentioned in the course syllabus – [...]

This is the first opportunity that I’ve had to get out the portable PSK-31 Amateur Radio station and it does work, though I suspect a better antenna is called for. In the picture you can see the Yaesu FT-817 portable HF/VHF/UHF transceiver, LDG Electronics Z11 automatic antenna tuner (atu), CG Antenna SB-2000 USB radio interface [...]

I’ve resurected my FT-817 since it hasn’t seen the light of day much since I stopped walking up summits a couple of years ago. It’s now being pressed in to service as a portable PSK31 transceiver alongside my new Acer Aspire One netbook.
HackingEthics

SOS Radio Week, a nine day long event during which Amateur Radio operators raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), starts on January 23rd, 2010, and ends on January 31st. During that time I will be operating during all my spare time to raise money for this most worthy charity.
On Saturday/Sunday 23rd/24th january [...]

You see lots of complaints these days that mobile phone and Intent coverage is poor, even in built-up residential areas where you can reasonably expect good signals due to the proliferation of mobile phone masts. However, have you considered that it may be your house that is to blame and not the mobile phone companies?
HackingEthics

My faithful old Skoda blew it’s head gasket a few weeks ago and with it came a potential bill for about £400 worth of cylinder head skim. Coupled to the fact that it needed a new pair of front disks and front tyres (though in fairness these were routine maintenance issues) and a new tax [...]