NOW TRYING DSTAR

MMDVM PICTURES

MMDVM GATEWAY

I am currently in the process of building an mmdvm

gateway and will keep my progress updated on my blog.

Using an mmdvm board, arduino due, raspberry pi 3 and a yaesu ft 7800 transceiver.

My Shack 2016. Upgraded the yaesu ft-847 to the yaesu ft-991 with fusion. Also now using dmr with the hytera md-785, with DvMega on the brandmeister network monitoring reflector 4400 and also the new dmr to fusion link on reflector 4416.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x_K6xwdwjdQ

Exploring Sdr and digital decoding

2E0IJK Investigates the dmr world of amateur radio

Hi guys its been a while since I updated my blog. Here is what I'm doing at the moment.

20m Homebrew transceiver project

My projects at the moment are a 20m transceiver. Here are the parts above all ready to start the build

144mhz May Contest

2E0IJK'S S 2nd Vhf Contest

After my first taste of a vhf contest I checked on the rsgb website to find out when the next one was as I enjoyed it and was all ready looking forward to it. For my 1st contest I used a dual band mini beam 3 elements on 2 meters and 5 elements on 70 cms the results I had were very good but I was keen to better my antenna. After looking on various websites I spoke with another local ham Graham G0HPA who lives less than half a mile from me. He had an 8 element cross yagi he didn't use and was kind enough to give me it to further my interest. The same day I lowered the scam 12 I have my antennas on and removed the little dual band beam and replaced it with the 8 element cross yagi. The s.w.r was just right and I proceeded to 144.300 to check out the bands. As usual not a lot happening here always the story when you put up a new antenna. So whilst in the shack I just left the yaesu ft847 I use for 2m ssb monitoring 144.300 usb and I heard G4EHD Bill put out a cq call so I gave him a shout. Bill is located in Halifax around 30 miles away from my qth so I knew at least it would rx and tx. The morning came of the 144mhz VHF May contest 

(18-05-13) I had my log, pen and paper to hand. To be honest it was a bit slow and band conditions compared to the last contest I had experienced were not so good. I thought there may be a problem with the antenna I had recently installed. I give Chris M0RSF a call who I knew would be taking part and he said also band conditions were poor. So carrying on looking up and down the band whilst having calling cq a few times I went to bed early and hoped the conditions would be better the next day. After a slow start the first day I was up for an early start in the contest and worked 35 contacts in the end which I was pleased with giving me 4784 points and 33 multipliers making a total score of 157872. My best dx contact was G3XBY/P in Exeter a distance of 371 miles away from my qth. . Bellow is a map of my contest qso's. I will also post the results of the contest here when they are announced. Thanks to all the stations that I worked in the contest I look forward to the next one.

2e0ijk's 1st VHF contest

I have just taken part in my 1st vhf contest on the 08/05/13. It was the Uk Activity contest which was the very 1st time I had decided to put up a small beam for and take part in. I have always used 2 meters Fm of which the furthest contact I have made is Wales. During the contest I worked various Uk stations and also Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Isle of Man which I would consider my best contact so far on Vhf ssb. Thanks to the stations that worked me and I look forward to the next time. Below is a map of the areas I worked during the contest.

Scam 12 Develops Air Leak

Scam 12 Maintenance and Repairs

Available on the market and used by a lot of amateurs is the scam 12 telescopic mast made by Clark. Created in the  mid 1960's to provide

 the military with a versatile field and vehicle mounted mast for vhf/uhf antennas then in use.

I purchased mine in June 2011 and installed it not long after with my G-600RC rotator and my Cushcraft MA5B

 mini beam mounted on the top. It worked great every time I came to use it with no hassle. After a break of a year

 from radio I came to use my equipment again pumping the scam 12 up. The top section I had left fully extended on

 my break thinking nothing of it. When using the mast I noticed the top section the 2 1/2" tube (item 3 in the

 diagram below) would not come down it was stuck up even when all the air released and collar slackened off to let

 the tube down. When pumping I could hear air escaping from the top tube and the mast would not pump up. After

 taking the mast to pieces here is what I found. The top Piston (Item 6 on the diagram below) had an issue with the

 screws corroding causing them to break inside the piston (item 50 in the diagram below) which then made the
piston insecure causing an air leak when trying to pump the mast up. Also upon inspection the inner tubes had

 gathered a residue of dirt and grit which eventually would have worn the tubes, seals and O' rings (Items 42 & 46

 on the diagram below) A lot of wear was present on the top 3 pistons (3 1/2", 3", 2 1/2") so they was to be replaced along with the seals. You can read the full write up by clicking here

                             

A rest from amateur radio I'm back surfing the HF bands

After about a year off amateur radio my enthusiasm has regained itself and I'm back surfing the HF bands. Thanks to Daz M0TPS letting me know what I'm missing. After been put off and not been able to use my radio equipment due to interference on the HF spectrum and ofcom not being able to find it telling me to buy a noise filter I recently purchased the MFJ1026 noise canceling signal enhancer. To my surprise working radio without having to put up with interference was a great pleasure it was like someone had turned my radio on again. Fantastic I can have a shout and ball on HF again from home rather than from the car. So bank holiday weekend saw the wpx contest take place. "Great" a chance to try out my station in over a year. Out I go into the garden to pump my scam 12 mast up to find it frozen and full of water. My first task was to release the valve and let all the water out. Then boil the kettle and pour over it to warm it up ready for the great launch. So after around an hour or so maintaining the mast up she went to 35ft after been on the ground at 10ft since June 2012. Kettle on and upto the shack with a coffee to start the pc's up and the radio's and I bet they got the shock of there lives. Anyway working a host of stations including: Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Argentina, Bahamas, Bonaire Island, Virgin Island, Trinidad and Tabago Island, Cayman Islands,  Mexico, Ecuador, Cuba, Tunisia, Chile, Colombia, Aruba, Kyrgyzstan, Senegal, Cape Verde and Brazil with a few others thrown in for good measure. All in all glad to see my station still working well and now looking forward to a spot of summer dx.

This weekend saw the start of the Queen's Jubilee special event call 2Q0IJK after 3 days of calling I racked up over 350 contacts with over 900 hits on qrz.com and also getting in the list of top current hot call signs. The pile ups were mental and I am looking forward to alot of qsl requests from all the station's that have worked me so far. By the end of the month I am hoping to work over 1000 stations also making it a record for my first special event call sign. My partner Emma MQ6EOW also had a great response and the pile ups was even bigger for her, she also got 2nd in the world for the top current hot call signs on qrz.com at one point and is also hoping to work nearly a 1000 stations before the end of the month. More information on qrz.com and the qsl card is available from our qsl manager Charles M0OXO.
73'S for now more updates throughout the month on the special event.

SOTA G/NP 004 SHINING TOR

Today myself and Linden M6PZZ activated our 3rd summit Shining Tor, the day started with a bit of breakfast and cup of coffee from subway in Stockport then onward to the Cat & Fiddle car park. On arrival there was plenty of mist and fog around so we could not get our bearings and not doing this Summit before we were unsure where we had to go after asking in the Cat & Fiddle pub we were still no nearer to finding out where to start the accent to the top. After a short drive back down the road we spoke to a guy walking his dog who pointed us in the right direction by this time the fog was starting to clear slightly so we could make out certain reference points we had been told by the man walking his dog. At no time on our accent or decent from the Summit did the rain stop bouncing down it wasn't a good day for a SOTA activation but we were not going to let that stop us. We made it to the top of the Summit within 30 minutes and to be honest did not want to start getting all our gear out so we just used our handhelds, mine a kenwood thf7e 5 watts and Lindens a yaesu vx8r 5 watts. I worked 4 stations M0VFO Steve, 2E0ZRA Chris, 2E0LKC Peter & 2E0LMD Ann that was enough to get me 2 points for activating the Summit so thanks to you guys for working me.

Below are a few pictures taken on the day as you can see it was wet and windy lets hope on my next Summit there will be a bit better weather 73's 2e0ijk Dave

SOTA G/NP 010 PEN-Y-GHENT

Today 06/04/12 Easter weekend I activated my 2nd summit Pen-Y-Ghent with Linden M6PZZ. It took just over an hour to get to the top stopping a couple of times on the way for pictures and for a rest. It was a cold day with snow on the ground which made it hard going and made us tired quite quickly. Arriving at the top we took a drink of coffee and started setting up our stations. My portable station the Yaesu FT817 mfj tuner and SRC X80 vertical antenna. Lindens station was a Yaesu VX8 handheld with a home made 2 meter beam. I had 5 contacts on 20 meters and then interested in how Lindens beam was working he let me put some calls out on his station working 8 stations on 2 meters including working 2E0YYY/P Mike on Summit G/SP 011 Freeholds Top a nice Summit to Summit qso. It was a great day and we are both looking forward toarranging our next SOTA activation within the next week or so.

Thank you to all the stations who worked 2E0IJK/P Northern Pennines 010 Pen-Y-Ghent below are pictures of the day.

SOTA G/NP 017 Fountains Fell

Today 31/03/12 I activated SOTA G/NP 017 Fountains Fell with Chris M0RSF, Neil M3UNG, Linden M6PZZ and Ian M6WRX all pictured above from left to right. It took about 55 minutes to reach the top of the summit stopping on the way to take pictures. A great day was had by all and we all had some great contacts. Linden, Ian & Neil all working on 2 meters FM, Chris working on 70cm FM and myself on 20 & 15 meters SSB. The station I used was a Yaesu FT817 with 5 watts into a vertical SRC X80 antenna strapped to a fence post tuned by my MFJ 941e tuner. My first contact was on 20 meters into New York N1EU calling me with a great signal into my portable station on top of the summit. I had a total of 38 contacts 33 on 20 meters, 4 on 15 meters and 1 on 10 meters. We all plan to activate our next summit in the coming weeks so keep visiting for more details. Thanks to all the stations who called 2E0IJK/P Fountains Fell for my first ever SOTA activation I look forward to the next one 73's.

Fountains Fell G/NP-017 SOTA activation 31/03/12

Saturday 31st March 2E0IJK/P will be active from SOTA Fountains Fell G/NP-017 using 2 meters FM and possibly 40 + 80 meters bands and weather permitting of course. I plan to be there for around 11am and on the air for 1130am. Also listen out for M0RSF/P, M3UNG/P M6PZZ/P & M6WRX/P they will be accompanying me on the activation of the summit

2Q0IJK CARD REVEALED

To celebrate the queens diamond jubilee 2Q0IJK will be active from the 5th of May to the 10th of june 

on SSB and on the digital modes. The above qsl card will be available for working the special event station via M0OXO. A big thanks to Charles for the efforts sorting out the qsl card design.

To mark the 2012 olympic games and the queens jubilee 2E0IJK will operate special call signs 2O0IJK & 2Q0IJK over the month of june. A special qsl card will be available for working the relevant call sign and more information will be available in due cause.

This weekend 2E0IJK was at the home QTH of Linden M6PZZ helping install his new co linear and HF antenna's. Thanks goes out to HZ1SK Samir for the fantastic report on 10 meters after installation of the doublet was completed. Pictured is Linden with his cp6 vertical antenna.