Sundays weather took a turn for a worse, the best part of the day was used to enjoy some time out the shack and with my XYL. We headed off to the New Forest then to Milford on Sea. In the Bongo I have the Kenwood TM-D710GE which I use for APRS on 2M and scan the other bands, GB3IW used to be on 2M, with amazing coverage, being able to reach as far east as Shoreham/Worthing, it was a good way to make /M and /P contacts (as you’ll see in other posts on the blog). I tried out to reach IW from Milford-on-Sea, but no luck, where ever the repeater is now, its a former shadow of its once great coverage, which probably led to its demise thanks to abuse.
We headed back home and whilst there was spatters of rain, there was a time to get out before the sun went down to make some small progress on the satellite antennas.
I removed the previous horizontal beam and replaced it with the one supplied in the kit. I was careful enough, as the vertical holders are only fibreglass, and it would be unwise to knock them and suffer any undue damage! As I had already had a full day, and the next step would be to start erecting the antenna and horizontal fetelling, decided to call it a day, happy at least that the anteannas are in there temmporary mount.
I’m hoping for some good weather today to at least make sure I can locate the coax and get things in place. My son is due to visit this week, so I will put the antenna vertical with him the first time at least, then I will have a better idea of the effort and how easy it is to get up.
I finished the day with a nice meal of roast lamb, which on a cold, wet and rather miserable evening, was a welcome break.
GB3SU + M0DQO 70cm contact
Further to my lack of 70cm contacts via GB3IW, I had a scan thru the bands at the QTH on the IC9700 today (Monday 13/11/23), I was glad to find GB3SU in Southampton. I monitored for a while and was pleased to hear a call out from M0DQO, who was operating portable on his way to work. It was a good QSO and learned about Chris’s setup, which worked really well being /M via Bluetooth controlled PTT Headset. It was a good start to the day and will put the repeater in the D710 to listen to when I’m out and about in the New Forest or en-route to Guildford.
Having an IC-9700 offers the benefits of full fuplex communication on the 2m/70cm bands used by satellites. I previously used two yagis and a rotator with some sucsses in contacting satelltites. The IC9700 with HRD performs excellently in doing the ‘doppler’ tracking, but still found that manually rotating the antennas a distraction when attempting to have QSO’s as the ‘birds’ flew over.
With that early this year I ordered the M2 Satellite Package but due to work and study commitments its been sat in my hallway for several months, waiting to be setup. Well today was that day, with fine weather forecast in the shortening winter months, it was now time to take this on, taking a nice break from my academic and technological pursits also got me outside, albeit just to the front garden !
removing the yagis
My first tasks was to remove the Yagis from the existing beam (I was later to learn this wasnt strictly necessary), so I took the 70cm and 2m yagis and put them in them in storage. They can probably be well used on the bike stand for /P operation in the future, although I do have the handheld arrrow antenna for that as well.
70cm loop eyelets70cm copper in placea study loop antenna
I unpacked the antennas, which had been done very well by M2 in the US, you’ll see more of that on the video once I edit it all together ! I started on the 70cm antenna as it was smaller and easier to handle, and would give me some experience ready for the larger 2m antenna.
I found that getting the copper into the loop configurations was easy enough, by feeding thru gently into the eyelets and placing into the holders at the base, the small screws were manageable even with my large fingers. I had tightened and then finished with the allen key.
radial bolt holdersthey are small
I then started on the base of the radial holder, whilst the antennas can be used without these, for satellitle communicaton they proivde a reflective plan providing gain at the horizon and a null directly overhead, this is exactly what is needed as the time a ‘bird’ is spent overhead is very short, with the tracking previously done via the TV rotator taking the time to get across the sky.
radials attachedattention requireda solid fit
For the 70cm radials one hand holding the radial and another screwing in the bolt was not an issue due to the size of/lightness of the radials. These went in really well thanks to the precision engineering.
mountin on the provided beama sturdy antenna
Having completed the main 70cm antenna, it was time to attach it to the supplied beam. I always seem to struggle with getting these U-Clamps on, and it was still no exception in this case, still after a bit of fettling, I had the 70cm nicely installed on the beam, ready for the 2M antenna to go on next. I had a break and a nice cup of tea first tho.
2m antenna completedbefore tidying up
Having had a nice cup of tea and a bit of a break, i then went on to the 2m antenna. This is much larger in size than the 70cm antenna and features a extender bolt. All of the components looked good quality and should provide years of good serivce. I had no problem with the copper wire to form the egg beater. Having taken my knowledge from the 70cm construction, i put the small radial trap-bolts in 90% of the way, then locked in the radials one a time, this really made sure that I wouldnt lose the bolts and the radials had a good girp.
After tidying up, I moved the antenna to where I will try it out first and know I have enough feed line to reach it, it should just about get the roof line of the bunglow in this part of the garden.
Forecast for weather tomorrow is not looking to bad, but not quite as nice as today, hopefully there is a few hours to at least get the feed line and the antenna up. I do have a mast head amplifier as well, but I’m taking it one stage at a time !
Not much happening on the amateur radio front I’m afraid. I did have some very good SSTV QSO’s the other day 80M – quite a few in fact ! With that I have been quite poorly with a cough and a cold, hence the COVONIA which has come to the rescue !
I’ve had a large amount of medicine and allot of sleep which seems to have restored me to at least being able to type up my blog. I was determined to get the BONGO going as well, as the fuel filter had arrived. It took a bit of labouring to get the fuel-filter to fit back on the chassis, but sure enough the bongo is now back in action !
Webtechnologies site updates
Other than doing hands-on radio I made some updates the webtechnologies website which captures all the WSPR transmission reception reports. Basically I’ve made it much simpler and requiring allot less maintenance, with better integration into Git with a fully functional CI/CD pipeline. I had this in place already, but it wasn’t quite perfect, so with a chance to sort it out, I’ve reduced the features (FAX pics and KIWI SDR) and kept it to just WSPR reports and Weather from the the local weather station here at the QTH. This will allow me to develop new features for the site as time allows..
Next POTA
With the Bongo back in operation, i’m hoping to get back out and do another POTA activation soon. I still have a pretty full February now but am determined to get out and on the air, hopefully this time with a UK Antennas 40m multiband end fed. I’m not sure I can squeeze POTA in this month due to commitments, but will see how things work out, rest assured, I will be looking to get back out and on the air thou !
Thats all for this week, please keep well and thanks for reading the blog.
Its been quite some time since I’ve had the Alexloop Hampack, and with my QRP, /M and /P work becoming more ‘regular’ (at least one per month) – thought it time to share my views of this antenna system.
Alexloop hampack
Its hard to imaging, but its been just shy (April 2021) that I have had this antenna in my collection. This has given me plenty of opportunity to use it out in the field and for experimentation at home.
I bought this antenna to pair with the Icom IC705, which is undoubtedly an excellent transceiver in its own right – with excellent selectivity and filtering, its a question of putting the right antenna onto it.
The Alexloop Hampack – the good
Lets start what is good about the Alexloop Hampack. All these observations are based on my own usage, so whilst not scientific, they are at least practical and proven.
Its easy to setup
The Alexloop HamPack is very easy to setup. I can arrive at my operating destination and be on the air in minutes. There is no setting up a mast and throwing a wire, there is no tuning a vertical and getting the SWR 1:1 – i can get this antenna out the bag, onto a stand and tuned into the frequency I want to use very quickly. The LED showing the output might look a gimmick, but I can assure you I use this as a visual reference and then checking the radio’s SWR every time I setup or need to retune the antenna.
Its very selective
Now for some this might be a negative, but so far for me its been a positive. When I’m working /M or /P, I am limited to 10W. What I don’t want is to pick up every other station just slightlyoff frequency, and for sure, the AlexLoop gives me that. I can match my IC705 filters to the AlexLoop and get excellent input.
Its designed for and good at portable use
The AlexLoop Hampack bag is very well thought out. It comes with a excellent way of storing the main loop and then the tuner and other parts of the transceiver. I also own ICOM’s LC-192, which is an exemplary piece of portable radio design, however, even thou when I operate /M, I want to reduce the amount of baggage that I take, therefore I stick to using the Alexloop Hampack bag on its own, and regretfully the LC-192 is left at home ! With that, you can be sure if you *dont* have an LC-192 and are considering getting the Alexloop Hampack, the bag will suffice. It is not as good as the LC-192, in terms of access ports, padding and having a full functional HF/VHF/UHF transceiver system on your back, but for HF bands, the Alexloop Hampack bag *will get you on the air*
The bad
The price tag
It almost goes without saying, the biggest ‘bad’ of the Alexloop Hampack is the price tag. When I bought mine in April of 2021 it was £505, now an Alexloop Hampack will cost you up of £600. That is allot of money for an antenna and it really needs to justify its cost.
Using in the field
As I’ve said above, I found using the antenna in the field for QRP /P and /M incredibly good. However, not everyone is running an IC705, there are many /P or /M operators that have good transceivers that can push out 100W. The Alexloop is not designed for, and should never be used for values above 20W on SSB and 10W on Digital modes. If you have perfectly good transceiver already capable of powers above these, then is the AlexLoop Hampack the right antenna for you – I would say probably not, especially if you already own the transceiver, however, if you are designing a /P or /M solution from scratch, my answer would differ…
The Ugly
So is there anything ugly about a so well designed antenna. Well, I for one can say there is. When I received this antenna I found assembling it ‘awkward’ – that is getting the loop over the centre pole. This resulted in a nasty ‘nic’ getting into the loop coax.
I could easily accept this on a ‘cheap’ antenna with no instruction, but of an antenna, that at the time cost me £500+, I really was perturbed why a decent instructional video or document was available on how to set this antenna up. Furthermore, show how the selectivity worked would of been a benefit to a first time ‘loop’ user. Hindsite is 20/20, but when you pay allot you should really get that level of service included, not as an add-on.
Being an IC705 user, I found the Transceiver bag in the Alexoop Hampack to be oversized, compared to the afore mentioned LC-192, its padding/packaging for carrying a transceiver was really not as good as Icom’s own product. To me, this was scrimping on cost, rather than any other reason (i.e. a transceiver would fit in the bag) – and at the price-tag, was a little disappointing.
Summary / Recommendations
So its been nearly 2 years since I’ve had this antenna, I have at least 2 other antennas I can use with the IC-705 when working portable or mobile, and have the actual ICOM bag for the IC705, so what are my personal oonionsf the Alex Loop Ham Pack.
I am person that is time-poor, that is for me to go /P or /M requires planning and organisation, its not like I can just grab my radio and go out when I like, I’m busy. With that the Alex Loop Ham Pack always ensures that when I go out, I will get on the air – its easy to setup and I can make contacts as soon as the antenna and transceiver are matched. I don’t need to setup a mast, wire and ATU for an antenna, the Alex Loop Ham Pack does that for me with its simple and effective compact solution.
The biggest issue to me is the price, today (Jan 2023) it would cost me £600+ to get this antenna. That is a serious amount of money and given it is only capable of 20W maximum, is it the best antenna for the price ? I would say not, that a good dipole, end fed or vertical will outperform this antenna, but would it be as compact, easy and portable ? Probably not.
If you today you don’t have a QRP solution, you really cant go wrong with an IC705 and the Alexloop Hampack antenna, but then you are looking at a solution that is going to cost upward of £2000, to which you can get on the air with a QRP rig and antenna for £100-150 using a ubitx and simple dipole/end fed solution.
There is going to be a big difference in performance of the radios and antennas, and cost might be your personal motivation, where as quality/time maybe the secondary consideration.
Eitherway, the most important thing is to find the best solution you can afford, starting with the antennas as part of the solution, not the secondary, and getting outdoors and on the air.
So my biggest constraint of amateur radio activities is, yep, time. Mostly I run WSPR and monitor via the webtechnologies site for how well the IC705 and 6BTV are doing, as well as pull in the automated SSTV broadcasts from 20m available here.
So why the sudden ‘burst’ of telephony QSO’s – mostly thanks to scheduled (scheds) transmissions, firstly the most excellent 145 alive event organised by G5TM and then the regional contacts that setup out in the field.
2 Meters Alive event by G5TM
I was lucky enough to contact G5STU who setup nearby – very line of sight, but was great to hear all the other people in. I did manage to make one other contact on the ‘net’ but left it to those with better setups to enjoy the QSO’s, it was great to listen in !
G5STU – 145 Alive
Not one to rest, G5STU then setup a live stream of his activity on 40M – based in Poole ! I thought I had to give it a try, to me on 2M Poole harbour is complete black spot due to the hills between the east side of Bournemouth and the low side of Poole, so thought it worth a try to have a QSO with G5STU, sure enough, was my first HF contact so near, was great to get in the log book.
So whilst I’ve been manicly busy, its been great to take time out for those that organise live events that are fun to join in with – I’ve scheduled my next PoTA – which will be at night during the week ! So am looking forward to that, I have no idea how I will do, but the main thing is to get out and enjoy radio.
In the mean time, I’ve setup the MFJ993B to get on top-band at home, and am able to hear the various ‘nets’ that occur, as well as get out nicely on FT8 mode, having made several QSO’s on top-band on a non-resonant 80m end-fed antenna, i was very happy that the MFJ993B got some action !
Top-band FT8 QSO’s
So, hoping the end of January and start of Feburary will allow more time for radio, more project parts are arriving, allow things to progress on the VHF/UHF and Microwave bands, so excited to tell and show more about that 🙂
Whilst no POTA Activations myself I did enjoy making some POTA Hunter contacts this weekend, albeit on FT8.
Its nice to be part of something, even when I cant get out the shack to do PoTA activations, I appreciate those guys who do go out and operate from the parks !
G7WKX@G-0620 – Wirral and Thurstaston Country Park
I noticed I was having some issues with the IC7300, i.e. it kept on rebooting ! With some analysis I was able to find I had somehow knocked the power supply output voltage to 9v ! It was quite something to be making contacts at all, but rest assured 13.8V was soon restored and the 50W available to me soon back in use.
Having been playing/monitoring with QSSTV on Linux, I rebooted my Ham PC and went into Windows to use MSSTV – its been a while since I used it, but I must say I find the interface much more ‘friendly’ than QSSTV. I made really good QSO’s via SSTV.
EA3AUW SSTV QSO
First EA3AUW, a very nice QSO into Spain, with great signal reports. Looks like a slight typo in my callsign, but I was glad to make the contact and have the QSO on 14.2300. SSTV gets very busy on weekends, so getting clear images and completing was great.
IU5KZF – SSTV on 20M (14.2300)
I had another great QSO with IU5KZF on 20M – I was really getting thu with my 50W from the QTH, the RX pics was a true P5/595 for the best part. I think the USB Audio codec drivers under Windows are slightly better than under Linux/Ubuntu – I’ve not really looked under the hood, but I seem to get better pictures from MMSSTV than I do from QSSTV. Still, I was glad to make two really great SSTV QSO’s from the QTH.
Elsewhere I was prepping for my next PoTA – Whilst I find the iPad and SDR Control to be amazingly easy to use and setup, I have used my laptop and IC705 out in the field before, having made a SSTV contact for PoTA (Upton Heath Park), so I thought it a good time to check the laptop and IC705 again. My main ‘niggle’ with the laptop was having to the USB Cable. I installed WFView on the laptop, along with VBAudio Cable and the Serial Com Port emulator – whilst I could connected and hear audio from the laptop, the laptop is just old I think it cannot do all the things I need it to do via WFView – I reinstated the USB Cable and went ‘native’ and everything (SSTV, FT8, FT4) started working perfectly again.
IC705 and Laptop running WSJTX for WSPR via 6BTV on 40M
I have now setup my IC705 to hang off my 6BTV doing WSPR on the laptop, I’m running 1W into 40M to do the propergation reports, and its working really well, so I know for my next PoTA I can use the laptop and do/try SSTV again !
1W WSPR Reports – DX into VK on 1W!
I twasn’to be disappointed with how well the IC705 and WSJT~X was doing on 40M and 1W of power, in no less than 12 hours the 6BTV and IC705 had reached all over the planet, needless to say, I was very happy with that the IC705 and 6BTV was working correctly and getting some action, rather than being sat in a bag !
I’m now looking forward to G5TM’s 145 Alive Event on 2M – a way to have simplex contacts via 2M. G5TM has put allot of work coordinating the event and G5STU “should” be within my reach from IO90BS. I’m sure many of us know G5TM excellent youtube channel, but incase you’ve not been introduced, hers the 145 Alive Event posting.
G5TM 2M 145 Alive Event
So I’m almost making the postings back on a weekly basis and there is enough in the shack at least to make something interesting to talk about, hopefully I can keep new blog postings going reguarly.
Happy New year to you all who follow the blog ! Apologies for the absence of postings, hopefully I’ll keep them a little more regular, at least with doing a PoTA once a month.
Having watched several of my youtube hamradio favourites I was really inspired to get out with my radio and enjoy it. With amazingly good weather, I headed out to the New Forest, specifically to Bratley View.
Bongo at Bratley View, New Forest
I was quick to get the Alexloop Hampack antenna setup quickly and the IC705 tuned into 17m quickly. Using the excellent SDR Control on the IPad it wasn’t long before the contacts on FT8 started coming in.
POTA 17M from Bradley Park
In under 30 minutes I had made 13 FT8 QSO’s on 17M. I then tried FT4 on 20M, I could pick up the signals ok, but wasn’t haven’t much luck in making contacts.
20M FT4
I headed down the band to FT8 which was busy as ever ! I had no problem getting out and making contacts there.
20M FT8
With well in excess of my required 10 contacts for me to activate the park and with my lunch finished, I headed back to home to enjoy the rest of the day with XYL.
Lunch was boiled egg and sausages – but I had forgotten my pen !
I wasn’t able to locate my pen, so couldn’t log manually, which I usually do just incase something happens to the IPad.
As I was totally dependent on the IPad for logging, I exported and ADIF file. Since I last done POTA there is now an option to upload your own log files, so I set about checking out how to do that. A great video really helped me along.
Tutorial on how to use the POTA upload
The log export from SDR Control is great, but requires a bit of ‘munging’ to get into PoTA format. I found a script ruby-pota-csv-to-adif available here which made getting the file uploaded right first time.
With the upload complete, the following morning most of the processing was complete, I was pleased to see other PoTA Hunters in the log.
EC7AKV & SP8QC contacts amongst many others!
It was great to get back out on the radio and enjoy the simplicity of FT8 – I’m hoping to get some practice and try out using Telephony QSO’s via SDR Control, or just using the microphone, it felt great to be back out with the radio and enjoying it again!
Hopefully I’l have more progress on other radio fronts as well, but until next time, 73!
So during a break from studies and the fact this 70cm antenna had been sat in the shack since mid July, I decided this morning to at least make some progress with it.
The warm weather continues here in England/IO90BS – neighbouring Hampshire is now on a hosepipe ban, I’m hoping with the plentiful rivers and springs that Bournemouth will not be subjugated to such things, but with another 30c week forecast next week, who knows. I’m having to do any outside work very early in the morning else its just too hot to work.
wx in IO90BS
I enjoyed my attempts at satellite communcation with the Kenwood THD7 and Arrow antenna, this is great for portable operation. In the shack I have the ICOM 9700, which is built for satellite operation, as yet I’ve only used the 9700 on simplex and repeaters per-band, so probably 50% less than what the radio can actually do ! The Satellite feature allows split channel and (2m&70cm), so I wanted a solution to use the 9700 at the QTH.
I didnt want to spend a fortune on antennas, so I hunted out a reasoniibly priced 2m and 70cm antenna. For today will talk about the 70c antenna, the DUAL PA432-8-1.2RA. I got mine from Nevada Radio, other places sell them, but I’ve never had any problems with Nevada radio in terms of getting products to me and after sales care.
The specifications for the antenna are very good for the price, and with satellite communications you don’t want an antenna that is very focused (i.e. with alot of elements on it) else it makes tracking the passes a very precise movement across the sky. As I’m using an old TV rotator at 30 degrees fixed tinflation, this should be a good antenna for me.
Assembly was easy enough, the instructions and labelling of the elements are very good to ensure they are put in the right way first time. I have yet to threadlock my screws until the antenna goes up, but will do when I know it is working correctly and raised. There is a choke on there, its important *not* to unclips/cut these, if you’ve not seen a 70cm antenna before you might be tempte dto cut them thinking its packaged this way, and its not, just leave as is 🙂
Once completed I erected the antenna on the bike stand. Initial results were disappointing with the SWR very out of the 70cm band. Rembembering how volitle and sensitive equipment is at this frequency I swopped out the coax, which resulted in much better results.
70cm band and the PA432
I was very happy for about an hours work to get an antenna with high gain and good SWR reports.
As I want to mount the antenna on a horizontal beam, I will need to work out how to attach it (probably another 90 degree holder), but for now I’m glad the antenna is out its box and ready to use.
measurement tools and longer coaxantenna on bike stand
Next week I’ll hopefully get the 2m Yagi built (Diamond A144S5R2) and then can see how to tie it all together.
After a few weeks break of regular PoTA Activations, I was very excited to go out for my planned activation at Lodmoor Country Park near Weymouth.
I had completed my prep the evening before, checking that my batteries and accessories were all packed into the Alex loopham pack bag. In the morning I found that XYL Monica had even made me a pack lunch for my day out, which was much needed later in the day. An early start got me out with walking my dog Sweety at 5AM just as the sun came up, I then headed off to Weymouth, APRS beacon sending out packets as I did so, my full route wasnt covered today which seemed unusual, I did hear APRS packets on arrival in Weymouth.
APRS Recetion dropped off around Bere Regus
I chose to go to Beach Car Park, as this was situated conveniently near to the park facilities, its always useful to have a WC available, also the park itself look great and venturing beyond the comfort of the Bongo to get into the park would be nice.
Car park pretty empty at this hourCampervan just about fitted under the 2″10 restrictionnotice the limit on vansArrival at Beach Car Park
The Beach Car Park is open 24/7, and even free between 18:00 and 08:00, although the signage says ‘no overnight sleeping’. Interestingly I noticed that Motorhomes are banned outright (probably for this reason), and where as my Mazda Bongo is classified as a Campervan would still be limited to a ‘4 hour’ max visit – noticed this of course after I had paid £10 for the full day, and whilst I think during the less busy seasons its unlikely to be enforced, I can imagine during peak times its something to be of mindful of.
good clear mapsnice clean facilitiessmall park but tidypark overview
Before settling into the Bongo and setting up, I popped to the WC, even at this early hour the facilities are open and clean and tidy, nice to see. The park had great maps to help navigate around. There is alot to do here for a family, such as Sealife centre, gokarts, mini-golf, pitch and putt and Sandwolrd – maybe its the kind of place where the youngsters could be enjoy the activities whilst allowing others to be operating the radio, win all round !
lots of exercise/play areasno train today, looks great thogo karts and sandworld open thoalternative activities
Once back in the Bongo I was quickly on the air thanks to the fantastic Alex Loop Antenna – whilst I have other antennas, the ease and speed in which I can get this setup really makes it hard to use the alternatives. Using the bikestand as a support which I can drive the bongo onto ensures that the wind doesnt get the better of it as well !
IC-705 on bongo seat20M was aliveSDR Control in actionSetup in the Bongo
With the magloop just out the door and feedline thru the front window, I could get the SWR pretty much always under 1.5 to 1:1 – 20m was alive with contesters – even FT8 was super busy – the excellent SDR Control really helped – I cant say how good this application is, I am getting more out of it every single time I use it, the ease of logging and connection to the IC705 via Wifi is excellent. FT8 got very busy, so remembering I had FT4 available also, headed up the band slightly and enjoyed a rapid sucsession of QSO’s. Within one hour I was very close to having enough QSOs to activate the park.
Digital Mode QSOs logged manually
I also log manually just to ensure I have a backup, I found today that jumping between bands was getting easier – I tuned 1:1 on 17m in just one go, and by now with a great collection of data mode QSO’s under my belt, felt it was time for some telephony/SSB action.
I piggy backed on the back of the contest, it was great running QRP portable and even the contesters were happy to receive a mobile station, some even going beyond the usual contest rubber stamp asking my about my setup ! I really enjoyed that and a method I will use in the future (I actually was inspired to do this by VK3YE talk on how to get more HF contacts!)
excellent video by VK3YE on getting contacts on HF
After a great lunch in the Bongo, I decided to head out to the park for /P action !
Lunch prepared by XYL MonicaA lovely walk around the parkLots of nice benchesIts not Bushwoods..Walk around the park after lunch
I really enjoyed the walk around the park, I wore the Alexloop hampack bag without any problem. It was quite weighty and at first a little nervous of the straps – thinking about how much equipment and how much it costs tends to make one a little trepidatious in trusting it all to a couple of straps!
Alexloop on the benchlogging with penpacked away easilyEnjoy the Alexloop and IC705 on a bench
Whilst having a table/chair is my preferred ‘comfort’ of operation – and I even passed one picnic table, I liked this location, it was in the shade and the bench long enough to get everything on it without worrying about it falling off. A good bungee allowed me to strap the alexloop onto the bench, only once wobbling over when a big gust of wind came in.
It was nice that there was people interested in what I was doing, even a few comments by the passing runners on what a nice setup, as ever people where amazed with being able to make contacts around Europe – I think peoples perception of Amateur radio is that of huge Yagis and long wires, when they see the little loop and the SDR display with foreign voices booming from the IC705 they are interested to see it in action, I’m always happy to show the log book and talk about it.
I was able to make one more QSO from the bench and really enjoyed that, even on 5W of power the noise floor in the park was so good that I didnt need lots of power or a huge antenna to have a SSB contact. The fact that I had spotted on PoTA app meant other amateurs were looking for me helped for sure.
It was as easy to pack away as it was to setup from the bench, proving how versatile a well organised radio can be.
A beautiful locationBlackberry timeA massive overflow carpark
Heading back to the bongo I enjoyed seeing blackberrys growing and a giganttic overlflow carpark – it looked closed and judging by the meters had been for quite some time. I dare say this could be an excellent place to put a bigger mast and wire-type antenna up. I admired the view from the carpark once more before heading back to the QTH having had a really excellent time out with the radio. I will be back for sure and would like to investigate the bird reserve next time, it really is a big PoTA area to cover !
With the upcoming Hamworthy Park Festival I wanted to see if there was any chance I could reach the QTH. Previous attempts from Poole Harbour were unsuccessful with FM and the Bongos whip antenna, but having a new antenna in the armoury thought I’d give it a try.
I had already tested from the drive way of my QTH, then headed out to what is the nearest high point to my QTH in IO90BS, that of Ringwood Road near to the Matalan – IO90AS. A test of the SSTV repeater there worked well.
Received picture at QTHreplayed picture receivedSSTV Testing from IO90AS
I then headed down to Hamworthy park, as I drove through Bournemouth and Poole the hills behind me which I knew would absorb my weak signal, but I’d thought I’ve got to give it a try.
hand held YagiRX at QTHHamworthy SSTV Test from IO80XR
I had the hand-held antenna quickly setup, it was fun to do it out in the field. I attached it to the THD7 and tried to reach the QTH station.
I was not surprised to not hear the pips back to transmit, but as I had driven there, transmitted anyway to see if anything would be received. I wasn’t expecting anything back as the replay mode hadn’t kicked in, so I would have to wait until I got home to see. Sure enough I had received something, albeit mostly static, but at least the application and radio could pull the signal out.
APRS Provided some interesting information. My route was entirely captured, this is due to the geography of where the APRS stations are located.
Route captured via APRS
If I compare my APRS packet reception to my location of the transmission from IO90AS, the APRS station is just down the road near to Bournemouth University.
APRS received via 2E0UXV
As soon as I go over the hill, all my packets are received from stations to the east.
G8TNU Digipeater
The hills between each location are clearly visible using the useful line-of-sight tool.
Hamworthy Park – QTH
Between Hamworthy Park and Corfe Mullen
A much better chance of reception
So it was great to go out and test, albeit the transmission back to the QTH from Poole was again not successful I was able to gain valuable experience and APRS packet data. I think I will be able to setup another solution utilising the Bongo’s 2M whip antenna and a small laptop for the actual Hamworthy Park Summer Fete, so will put those pieces together and test those out next !
