-
QRP and the ‘super droopy’ T2FD
I’ve been a bit busy for radio over the last few weeks but I have found time for a few simple experiments. For the past month I have been trying to limit my HF use to QRP (low power) operation using 10w of output power on the 40 and 20m bands in the margins around […]
-
I do not like the zoo!
Today the family decided to go to the zoo for the day…. I’m not a big fan of the zoo so it seemed like a great opportunity to get away for a few hours of HF. I decided to walk from my holiday cottage to Northam Burrows which is the site of a Second World […]
-
SPDX – A Flagpole Of Opportunity
This weekend was the SPDX contest. In the SP DX Contest, competitors are divided into two groups – Polish stations and foreign stations outside of Poland. The aim is for operators outside of Poland to make as many QSOs to Polish stations and visa versa. As I’m currently on holiday I thought this would be […]
-
A Simple Double Bazooka Dipole Design
I’ve written a lot in my other blog posts about my double bazooka antenna. It’s probably my favorite antenna for quick temporary setups. I’ve tried to make it portable, quick to set-up and easy to change bands. The original design work came from this website, I’ve refined the design by building a nice center junction […]
-
The 2025 CQ WPX Contest
The CQ World Wide WPX Contest was this weekend! In preparation I built a temporary Double Bazooka Dipole oriented East West in an inverted V for the 20m band. The antenna was not perfect, one end was almost touching my garage roof and the height was only 8m or so above the ground, you can see more about […]
-
Preparing For The CQ WPX Contest
The CQ World Wide WPX Contest is this coming weekend! I’m not a contest station but I like to use contests to test out new configurations and antennas when there is plenty of band activity. One of the limitations of my home location is the size and orientation of the plot. My permanent antenna is […]
-
Double Bazooka Bandwidth
I’ve read a lot online about the double bazooka dipole antenna and if it is more broadband than a dipole. Some folks say yes, others no and there’s a healthy dose of guesswork sprinkled over the top. So I thought let’s do a simple test: Two 5.5m masts, in a field 10m apart. Rig up […]
-
SOTA/POTA
Today was my first Summits On The Air (SOTA)/Parks On The Air (POTA) activation. I was lucky enough to have the loan of a Codan Sentry 6110 HF radio so I thought I would give SOTA a try on Butser Hill. This is also a POTA location so I’m counting that as a buy one […]
-
They Don’t Do HF In Africa!
This weekend was the Africa All Mode International DX Contest. I’m not a contest station but I like to use contests to try things out, in this case it was not successful! Looking at the HF predictions propagation down to Africa from the UK was looking a little tricky but the late afternoon looked like […]
-
South America 10m Contest
Today I decided to take part in the South America 10m Contest… Why? Because it’s a great opportunity to build a custom setup targeted both at a specific geography and band. The South America 10m contest runs for 24 hours on the 10m band (28.3-29.3Mhz for SSB). The purpose is to encourage radio amateurs from […]
