Last week an electrolytic Capacitor had failed in a 70’s measuring instrument (HP 8445B preselector). The capacitor in question is a smoothing capacitor in the power supply assembly. It stopped smoothing, but shorted the whole supply out. Poof, fuse blown. Thank goodness for that! Not much time that moment, so something for the next day…. Continue reading »
Similar to the recent retraction of the permits in New Zealand, the ACMA decision not to support amateur use of the 60 m band in Australia is a slap in the face. Invalid arguments and even secrecy were brought forward to support the decision. Why is 15 kHz of spectrum with only 15 Watts radiated… Continue reading »
Today, I received very sad news about expiry of the 60 m trial licenses in New Zealand. On October 24th, the 60 metres band in New Zealand will become silent. I very well remember the first contacts back in January 2018 and at the time, I did not know about the very good propagation between… Continue reading »
Not too long ago, a pre-owned Icom IC-7100 was acquired, as a replacement for the IC-706 mk II. Although the 706 is a small, versatile and a “value for money” little devil, it has its habits. On 2 metres, the frequency drift is very annoying and way too excessive for narrowband digital modes. Even in… 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 »
During last winter, I have been very busy with the process of buying a second home in France. For several years, this was in the making and last November, the decision was made to acquire an old farm in the department Haute-Marne, about midway between Nancy and Dijon (grid square JN27). From my home in… Continue reading »