These days I am QRV on all the usual HF and WARC bands [160m to 10m], as well as 6m/50MHz [known as the Magic Band], and the 2m VHF band. In the past I was also QRV on 4m/70MHz, 70cms/432MHz and 23cms/1296MHz.

 

If you click the icon below you will see my current station set up!

 

My most active HF band is 40m/7MHz, closely followed by 20m/14Mhz. My original HF antenna was a HyGain AV-14AVQ. This is a 40m-10 trap vertical antenna. By removing the 'top hat' radial and adding a new twin radial and coil section, the antenna now covers 80m-10m. It's not ideal as the antenna only covers part on 80m. It's currently set for CW and RTTY, with SSB up to about 3.62MHz. Any higher and the antenna will not tune, even with an external ATU.

 

Why not see what is happening on the HF bands at the moment? The buttons below are linked to various band searches at the Ham Radio Deluxe DX Cluster in Switzerland.

 

       

Click on each band button and see the last 50 callsigns spotted on the cluster for that band. As my most active band to date is 40m, I have included a map which shows the gridsquares that I have since worked on the band using various modes. Most have been worked using 20watts or QRP.

 

 

The furthest north I have worked is Greenland and the furthest west is the US state of Washington. The furthest east and south is taken by several contacts I have had with New Zealand.

 

 

This is a photo of part of the polymorph inverted-L end-loaded inverted L wire I use for WARC and 160m/1.8MHz [Top-band].

Looking for a replacement for my ageing 2m transceiver, a Yaesu FT-225RD, I ended up getting an Icom IC-7400. I believe that the Icom IC-7400 is sold in other parts of the world as the Icom IC-756 PRO II. This gets me on to 6m. I have installed a 5-ele Tonna Yagi on the mast. It sits above the rotator cage and below the 9-ele Tonna for 2m.

 

Any chance of working some DX on 6m at the moment?

 

 

A short log of the seasons activities...
 

2006

Season started 12th May 2006

Tuning across the band and heard some stations down in the noise. Raised the mast to about 20m and started to listen for the 6m beacons to see what was around. Picked up 'LY0SIXBEACON' on 50.063MHz, which is not listed in my reference books. Tuned up to around 50.150MHz and worked two Lithuanian stations, including LY3W in grid KO14 for a distance of around 1835km, and then worked LY2FN. Within 10 minutes both the stations and the beacon had disappeared back in to the noise. This is the first time I have seen what 6m can do when it turns 'magic'. Best DX for the year was WP4U in Puerto Rico. Season ended 6th August 2006. Lots of east/west Sp-E, with a number of very loud HA stations on the band [had worked all of them previously!]. Saw CN8KD spotted on the cluster. Went to his frequency but heard nothing. Nine minutes later he appeared out of the noise at 5/7 calling CQ. A quick call and a new DXCC of Morocco was in the log for 6M. This was the last Sp-E opening of 2006 that I worked. Did not hear any 'winter' openings.

 

2007

Season started 27th May 2007

First Sporadic-E heard for 2007. Band fairly quiet but did managed to work EG7SIX in IM67 for a new callsign in the log. Most unexpected DX worked was 1A0KM in Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Season ended 22nd August 2007. After the last good opening on 22nd July, there were one or two minor openings, with 2-3 previously worked stations being heard on the band. Not as good as 2006 - no W, VE or KP4 stations in the log !

 

2008

Season started 22nd June 2008

Finally replaced the 5-ele Trident with a new 5-ele Tonna. Commitments meant I could only spend an hour in the RSGB 50MHz Trophy contest, early on the Sunday morning. Started off quietly with only G/GD heard, then a 49 minute opening to the Balkans, with stations on SSB and CW. Usual set up, 5W QRP from an Icom IC-7400. Worked 20 stations in total. Season ended 14th August 2008. The last opening started with just the two Estonian stations on the band, often peaking 20db over 9. A Ukraine station appeared and was workable for about 40 minutes on SSB. No Italian or Spanish stations in the opening. SM7CMV was a rock-crushing signal in to the UK! Again no W, VE or KP4 stations in the log for 2008!

 

2009	Season started 18th May 2009
Noticed some inter-Europe activity on the DX cluster. Didn't hear anything on SSB other than some Band 1 TV QRM. On CW though heard two SM stations peaking at S9. Season ended 19th August 2009. First time I was on the band when there was an opening to the USA. Managed to work K4PI ~ N9XG ~ K8MFO ~ WA1T ~ K1NA ~ N1LI ~ KC8UWZ ~ K3TKJ ~ K4TD.

 

2010

Season started 18th May 2010

I had been keeping an eye on the DX clusters for the past few days, when I noticed some spots coming in between the UK to Italy, and from eastern Europe across to Spain.     Map of contacts worked during the RSGB 50MHz Trophy Contest [IARU Region 1 50MHz Contest] in June 2010. Two distinct Sp-E openings, a strong one to the south-east, and a weaker one to the north-east. No 'local' Europeans worked, very few Italians, and no GW/GM stations. DX spot cluster showed large numbers of eastern European stations working in to Hong Kong and Japan! You can also see good tropospheric conditions within the U.K. On 22nd July there was a good morning opening to SM/LA/OH, with distances of around 2000km being easily worked with the QRP. During the opening I actually heard two JA stations on CW !!! Season ended 9th August 2010. First season I have managed to work in to Africa. On 5th July I was working stations to the south in EA, when http://www.vhfdx.net showed several European stations working even further south. A check on the http://www.dxsummit.fi listed several stations working C56E in The Gambia on CW, around 50.103MHz. Several calls and the QRP got an all-time new DXCC logged. The group of W7XU,N0QJM,W0SD and W0OE were QRV from IK13ql, giving a QRB for the multi-hop Sporadic-E of 4474kms.

 

2011

Season started 8th May 2011

For me the season started slowly. Although there were a couple of good openings to the USA and Caribbean, I was out of the shack at the time. The first opening that took place during the morning when I was in the shack was 28th June. It lasted in to the evening and I ended up working in to G, GW, TF, ES, OH, EA, CN, YU, YL, SP, SM, S5, HA and OM. The activity to EA was light, with most of the activity spread from about 30° to 110°, with no Italians being heard or worked.     Ended the year with only 42 QSO's in 21 DXCC countries. Best DX was  5933 km with K3ZO in FM18LQ.

I was QRV on 4m for a couple of years during the late 1980's using a Trio TS-130V and a Microwave Modules transverter, running about 10W to a 5-ele Tonna, but I have since sold both the rig and the transverter. I have no plans for getting back on the band at this time.

 

 

As access to the 4m band is restricted in a lot of European countries, this means that all my contacts have been within the UK.

DXCC worked	QSO totals	First worked
G (England)	126	GØDQA
GI (Northern Ireland)	1	GI3TCU/P
GM (Scotland)	2	GM4THB/P
GW (Wales)	5	GW4BVY/P

For 2m operations, mainly on SSB, I use the Icom IC-7400 and the 9-ele Tonna antenna running at 5W. In the event of a meteor shower, I try random MS using FSK-441 from the latest version of  WSJT software. Most of my activity is confined to contests at the weekend.
 

 

The furthest DX worked on 2m has been S51AT in Slovenia, via FSK-441 on a random Meteor Scatter call. Most of the contacts are via 'Tropo' though.

DXCC worked	QSO totals	First worked
DL (Germany)	38	DJ6BN
EA (Spain)	2	EA1JJ
EI (Ireland)	4	EI3GE
F (France)	61	F6CTT/P
G (England)	1854	G4LSU
GD (Isle of Man)	1	GD4IOM
GJ (Jersey)	2	GJ4ICD
GM (Scotland)	9	GMØBQM/P
GU (Guernsey)	4	GU6NMT
GW (Wales)	32	GW4GSS
ON (Belgium)	82	ON5UN
OZ (Denmark)	5	OZ9ZI
PA (Netherlands)	70	PAØFHG/A
S5 (Slovenia)	1	S51AT
SM (Sweden)	4	SM6AEK

 

When I first started running SSB on 2m, I used a TS-130V with a Microwave Modules 28/144MHz transverter. The antenna was a Halo mounted on the guttering.

 

 

I was QRV on 70cm for a couple of years using a Trio TS-130V and a Microwave Modules 24/432MHz transverter to a 19-ele Tonna, but have since sold both items. Most of the activity was on low power, using just 10W from the transverter. For a while I did own a home-brew K2RIW amplifier for this band, but did not really get the opportunity to use it, other than portable on field days. This amplifier used a pair of 4CX250B valves to provide 400 watts of power.

 

 

I have been paper chasing on these bands ever since I was first licensed. Although my 432MHz activity has slackened off in recent years, I have managed to achieve a number of award certificates for both G6CSY and G6CSY/P: 4-2-70 Squares Award > 30 squares and 6 countries endorsed SSB and the Four Metres & Down Award > 20 squares and 3 countries endorsed QRP.

DXCC worked	QSO totals	First worked
DL (Fed. Rep. of Germany)	43	DL4OL
Y2 (German Dem. Rep.)	1	Y22ME
EI (Ireland)	2	EI7BJB
F (France)	15	F6CTT/P
G (England)	578	G8EZM
GD (Isle of Man)	1	GD6ICR/P
GJ (Jersey)	1	GJ4TAW/P
GM (Scotland)	1	GM8TSI/P
GU (Guernsey)	2	GU6PHJ/P
GW (Wales)	18	GW8TFI/P
HB (Switzerland)	2	HB9MIN/P
LA (Norway)	1	LA8AK
ON (Belgium)	9	ON6OO
OZ (Denmark)	4	OZ1FER
PA (Netherlands)	33	PE1FCQ
SM (Sweden)	2	SM6FYU
SP (Poland)	1	SP6MLK/6

I was QRV on 23cms for a couple of years using a Yaesu FT-225RD and a Microwave Modules 144/1296MHz transverter to a 23-ele Tonna, but have since sold the transverter I used. The photo below is of my 1986 setup for 23cms.

 

 

Although I now have a 35-ele Tonna available, but I have been unable to find a second-hand Microwave Modules 23cms transverter. The are some transverters available from Germany, such as the SSB Electronics LT-23S , but these are very expensive option for just one band. The other option would be to get an Icom IC-910X or a Kenwood TS-2000. This would be much more expensive that buying a transverter, but the upgrade would also include a 70cms station, as well as providing a backup HF/6m/2m station. Perhaps when I win the lottery...

 

 

I have been paper chasing on these bands ever since I was first licensed. I have managed to achieve a number of RSGB awards for both G6CSY and G6CSY/P on 23cms, using QRP 600mW SSB and a 23-ele Tonna: the Microwave Award > 10 squares 2 "endorsed QRP", the Microwave Distance Award > 600km+ "endorsed QRP" and the Four Metres & Down Award > 20 squares and 3 countries.

DXCC worked	QSO totals	First worked
DL (Fed. Rep. of Germany)	1	DG6EAE
F (France)	1	F6GIF/P
G (England)	142	G8CUB/P
GW (Wales)	3	GW8TFI/P
OZ (Denmark)	2	OZ7LX
PA (Netherlands)	9	PE1CQQ

I am not yet QRV on the 3cm band. I hope to one day get hold of a second hand PW EXE wideband 10GHz transceiver kit. Have you got anything to dispose of?

I'd like to get back on 23cms! 70cms would also be fun, especially as I still have two 19-ele Tonna antennas in the loft going spare. 3cms is a bit ambitious but I am hopeful.