There were times that reports were collected by editors of newsletters. PA0BN edited the Dutch VHF bulletin for many years and my observations were sent to him to merge with those of other active amateurs. The newsletters were a joy to read. Nowadays, there are many blogs and fora, resulting in a lot but distributed… Continue reading »
There were times when there was only one type of amateur radio licence. One had to pass a technical exam and a Morse code test, because telegraphy was the standard operation mode. Later on, a separate licence became available without the Morse test and only gave access to VHF and up. My first exam was… Continue reading »
The last few days, conditions on 6 and 4 metres were quite good. Even with my modest station, some nice DX was worked on 6. Back in 1989, I became rather frustrated because I had ‘half a QSO’ in CW with CO2KK. He unfortunately took my call as PA2HJH instead of PA2HJS and I was… Continue reading »
FT8 has been around for some time now. It was adopted fast by the amateur radio community and it is clear that FT8 overtook JT65 quickly. But is it an improvement? It has to be said that Franke and Taylor (FT) have done a tremendous job with the development of various weak signal modes and… Continue reading »
A few days ago I worked PJ7/W9DR for a new entity on 6 metres. In the past, the entity was deleted because of the change in governmental structure. The contact with PJ7/W9DR was greatly appreciated! Looking W9DR up on QRZ.com led me to a nice video of his water cooled 6 metres amplifier, that runs… Continue reading »
After putting up the 5+5 element YU7EF 6/4 metre dual band antenna, I was curious how the new antenna performs. Although I realise that a real measurement requires quite a bit of effort, a simple comparison between the new antenna and an antenna with a more or less known performance at least gives a clue… Continue reading »
Last week, I put up a dual band antenna for 6 and 4 metres. It was difficult to decide what to build. Last year, I had separate antennas for both bands. Dual band antennas are attractive, because of lesser wind load and also because it leaves some room for other antennas. Another aspect was that… Continue reading »
In my humble opinion, Joe Taylor, K1JT, is a true innovator for the amateur service. As a scientist, Joe received several notable awards. The amateur community should be grateful for his efforts and resulting advancement. Many amateurs may forget that our use of frequency spectrum is justified by experiments, with possible spin-off that benefits everyone…. Continue reading »
Today, June 3, Peter JW7QIA, Svalbard Island was worked for a new one. Around 17:30 UTC, signals were coming in and not much later, I could add a new one. Here is a recording, just after I made the QSO. I forgot to switch on the recording… As you can hear, the signal was not… Continue reading »
I have been active on 50 MHz since 1978. It started with building a converter, because we were not allowed to transmit on 50 MHz in The Netherlands. At first, in the summer of 1978, only noise was observed. Television signals were the best I could get! But in the spring of 1979, I switched… Continue reading »