RadCom April 2024, Vol. 100, No. 4

April 2024 59 Regulars both had excellent suggestions about turning this around (activity days to focus activity, Facebook groups to organise and arrange skeds etc). The best thing I think we can do is simply put out the occasional CQ call to see who’s around. A lot of us, including myself at times, are guilty of listening to a repeater or the FM Simplex calling frequency and hearing nothing, but not putting out some calls ourselves. For every CQ call there’s probably ten lurkers who are just listening in the shack. I’ve often had unexpected QSOs after calling CQ on 145.500MHz. Why not put out a call and see what happens? Past activity I thought it might be interesting to trawl through my photo archive to see what I’d been up to on the VHF/UHF bands in years past. My amateur radio activity is extensive and varied and some would say I’m a jack of all trades and master of none. However, I do enjoy a little bit of everything! I found a few different VHF/UHF-related photos which might be interesting and maybe even encourage you to get on the bands (Photos 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 and 5 ). I have plenty of other VHF/UHF pictures, which I might present in next month’s column. Typically, a lot of our radio activity tends to be quite hidden while we sit in our shacks. Here my intention is to just share what I’ve done. Hopefully it might be an inspiration to you to try something on the VHF/ UHF bands. My efforts don’t tend to involve huge Yagi arrays and technical setups, I’m more of a have-a-go kind of guy, primarily being out just to enjoy something different. Kev, ZB2GI sent in another report from the Rock, and it pretty much reflects the quietness of the bands at that start of the year. He monitored 6m FT8 throughout January and received no activity in Gibraltar. He used the ZB2BU/R 70cm FM repeater, located at the top of the Rock, to contact Matt, EA7KWE (IM76). Matt called into the repeater, while walking in the hills at Santa Margarita in Cádiz, with a Baofeng RD5R and a DH-771 antenna. This is approximately 10km, point to point, with a clear line of sight of the Rock. Kev also tried 6m FT8 from the Gibraltar Amateur Radio Society (GARS) club station and used a Yaesu FT-450 with around 20W to a Hexbeam. He managed to work Lars, EA7/SM0KAK (IM76), while visiting the south of Spain. Anderw (IO93) has written in regarding his 6m activity: “I have heard some very faint SSB traffic on a few days. However, none of the signals were strong enough to tell what was being said. Like the other elements on my HF long wire, the 6m element had a run in with all the recent storms. And at the point of writing, I’ve still not had a chance to fix all the issues that have come up. Sadly, my tool chest has seen more action recently than the radio equipment.” Best of luck with the repairs Andrew, you’ve got enough time to get everything in order just before the Sporadic-E season kicks off. Sign off That’s it for another month. Again, this could well be my last column, or I may be back next month, we’ll see. But do reach out to me or the Editor to see what the column entails if you’re interested in taking it on with Paul. Otherwise you might just be stuck with me! Thanks for all the reports and feedback as usual. Paul an I always appreciate it. We want to hear from you even if if you’re just getting started on the bands. Please keep it coming to radcom@rsgb.org.uk 73, James Stevens, M0JCQ References [1] Fun facts about the Lyrid meteor shower: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/ everything-you-need-to-know-lyrid-meteor-shower/ [2] RSGB MGM Contest Rules: https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/contest_rules.pl?ye ar=2024&contest=1stmgmcontest James Stevens, M0JCQ m0jcq@hamblog.co.uk Reports to radcom@rsgb.org.uk by 19 March 2024 PHOTO 5: Calibrating my old Kenwood TR-751E 2m-only transceiver for the 2m Backpackers series, to ensure compliance with the maximum power levels. The contest has two sections, a “Backpacker” section limited to 5W, and a “Hill Topper” section limited to 25W. Usefully, the rig had both a low and high power setting, meaning I could calibrate the low setting to 5W out and the high setting to 25W. In this photo I’m double checking the output on the high setting, after adjusting it using the necessary pot. PHOTO 3: Burning the midnight oil on the 70cm band. Well not quite, it was a UK Activity Contest so no later than 10.30pm! This could have been out portable or from the top of my garden at my last home QTH. PHOTO 4: Summertime 2m Backpacker Contest from a local hilltop. Using a 5-element Tonna Yagi and a short run of Ecoflex 10 coaxial cable, to make the most of my 5W of QRP power. The umbrella provides luxurious cover from (rare) sunshine and (more likely) rain.