This year, I assisted the VK3ER/p (EMDRC) team comprising of Peter – VK3QI, Jack – VK3WWW, Mike VK3AVV and Jonas VK3VF in participating in the Spring 2013 VHF/UHF Field Day. The club has been a very active competitor in this contest over the years, and we have a very good spot at Mclaughlins Lookout near Blackwood…
A couple of years ago one of the Manly Warringah Radio Club members acquired some mystical unicorn DXwire from Germany. This created a heated debate that lasted for months on the merits of this expensive unicorn blood rainbow wire vs cheap and nasty copper from discount electrical suppliers R us. Well, i have just acquired some…
I haven’t ever really played serious DX HF, Ive used it to chat around Australia while exploring the country and for the occasional chat overseas while driving, but thats not a serious effort. In recent weeks (and with the CQ WWDX Contest) it spurred some interest in me, that my small bit of random wire…
Having day release (thanks wifey) to attend the Ballarat hamfest saw me spend some time activating two more local mountains. Both Mt Warrenheip VK3/VC-019 and Mt Bunninyong VK3/VC-018 are ~10km form Ballarat and are the remains of old volcanoes. This was my second summit for the day, having worked Mt Bunninyong earlier in the afternoon. After my previous hill…
When I lived in sydney, i was a member of the Manly Warringah Radio Society (VK2MB), this is a very active ham club on Sydney’s northern Beach’s, they have weekly meetings at the clubs shack/rooms in Terrey Hills. The club has recently obtained a stack of portable / quick erect flagpole antenna poles, and have…
A cheap and cheerful way to mount wire antennas and verticals when portable is a cheap Squid Pole. These fibreglass poles are available in many sizes and styles from fishing stores all over the country. One example antenna using the squid pole as a base is this simple multi band vertical from VK7JJ. I plan to…
DUBUS magazine is an international amateur radio magazine intended for the serious VHF and up operator. Published in Germany, it is fully bilingual (English/German). There are four issues a year, each of over 100 A5 pages which are devoted to a mix of state-of-the-art technical articles and DX operating news. Ive always been interested in the…
I enjoy getting out into the Australian outback, but i like to keep connected to the going’s on of the world via AM broadcast band radio when I’m travelling, listing to the morning news helps keep me connected. I recently upgraded my camper trailer AM Broadcast band radio to a very capable Sangean PR-D7 am/fm…
Just a quick post to help promote a company in Adelaide who I recently used for some parts that will go into an antenna project that I have underway. The company is run by Mark, VK5EME. I was after a T106-2 Toroid core. And found one on the mini kits website. I also took the…
A neat little toy, the Youkits HF antenna analyser, its handy to check the resonance of my antennas’ small, portable and quick!. my version goes from 1-60mhz, and have adjustable tuning control. you can read the manual at http://www.youkits.com/ its pretty simple, and has a built in Li-on battery. this is a version one model, the…