Month: September 2016

New additions

Posted on by Stephen

cub1

I added a couple of new things to the shack recently, a Yeasu FT 817 which I picked up at a rally just last Sunday and I have not had much time to play with plus an MFJ CUB for the 40m band. I have to say that I’m quite impressed with the Cub. It didn’t take too long to make, the toroids were easy to wind and the testing was easy too. I took real pleasure in putting the kit together and it was a bit of a shame when it was finished. It’s the first time I do one of MFJ’s kits. It came already with some parts pre-soldered and three bags to parts. Components that are generic to the series and band specific components. Like I say it went together very easily over a couple of nights.

 

After finishing all the testing and alignment I boxed it up and switched on. The receiver is very sensitive and it has nearly 2 watts output something like 1.7-8. There is a modification that you can do to double the output, if you can find the transistor. It has an “RCA” connector at the back for the antenna and I would have preferred an “N”. They do however, provide a place for the male “N” connection but do not supply the part, I found that the connectors I have already were too big for the hole. Saying that it works OK with the RCA, I just made a patch lead.

 

I decided to call CQ around 7,032 and straight away I was answered by GW0MYY in Milford Haven which is about 500 miles as the crow flies. He too was running QRP using an FT 817. I got a 579 report from him which I think is great. My antenna is just a G5RV so nothing special. So, overall I’m really impressed and thinking about the 20m version.

CW QRP

Posted on by Stephen

I decided to write a blog as a sort of diary of my successes and failures with Morse Code and QRP. Why learn Morse Code, you might ask, in the age of the Internet, high speed communications, mobile telephones, GPS localisation and satellites? Good question!

I suppose it goes back to my childhood and my interest in radio. I remember that my uncle had a shed in his garden where we would go and listen to his short wave radio. Though he was not a radioamateur himself he clearly enjoyed listening and I was fascinated by the sounds that came out of the radio. I always wondered where did they come from and who was sending all those messages in Morse code. Plus there were all the broadcast stations from all over the world and some pretty weird sounds that I had absolutely no idea what they could be. I remember asking one day if I could build a radio like that and he just said it was a bit too complicated for me. I must have been around 10 or twelve at the time, I really can’t remember. All I know is it left it’s mark. Of course this was way before computers and the Internet.

My interest in radio never really faded. I remember having a CB like a lot of people at the time and the father of one of my friends was a radio amateur. I remember going to Sutton Coldfield Radio Club and following the radio license course but I was probably a bit too young to pass the exam at that point. It wasn’t till after I had finished college, got married and moved to Belgium that I decided to get back into radio. I joined a club near Brussels with a couple of friends and finally took the exam.

Last year I decided to learn Morse code properly. I learnt it to 5wpm for my licence but that’s not fast enough and I quickly forgot it.  So last year in November I decided that once and for all I would take the plunge. It’s quite and adventure of discovery. Discovery of how I learn and understand things, a journey into myself.