AmateurRadio.com

It was really all that on the bands last weekend. Easy fun as well. Just dial in 10 or 15 meters and stations back to back, with great signal strenght and from all over the world. Just blurt 59 24 into a microphone and the other party is as happy as a clam. My radio was alive and despite me being not too keen on contesting I did spend quite some hours on Saturday and Sunday giving away point, just for the heck of it.

More importantly, I did a side by side comparison of my 5m and 12 meter verticals. The 5 meter one is hooked up to a transmatch, the 12 meter one to an CG-3000 autotuner. The latter is prone to RF feedback, but since being partly above my roof it did perform better. I haven’t found the perfect lenghth of wire to cover all bands with the CG-3000, but for now I am satisfied with it.

I didn’t work any special stations, only VK9XSP from Christmas Island. They were easy to work in CW as well, because of the few takers. Unfortunately it left me with no time to participate in the CLE-188 as advertised by Steve VE7SL. I think I wouldn’t have heard much either, because when I tested the setup on Thursday there was so much noise I couldn’t even get clear signals from the local beacons. Never mind, there is always next time.

The only thing that made this weekend a little sad was to learn of the passing of Julian G4ILO. His blog was great and I am glad to have exchanged some mails with him. He will be missed. I hope conditions are always top where he is now.