Hi guys, Just received my UK Foundation Callsign over the weekend - M6UAW. I only have FM capability on 2m and 70cm at the moment but looking forward to moving into HF comms when the finances allow.
Hi Andy,
Welcome to the board! Welcome to the hobby!
Depending on where you are in the UK, there's a chance you and Gil (in France) could hit each other on 2m if you make yourself a cheap Yagi. Gil has been getting into the weak-signal stuff (SSB on VHF). Here's his YouTube on building a portable 6-element 2m Yagi.
https://youtu.be/6quIk_X3QIE (https://youtu.be/6quIk_X3QIE)
Quote from: Andywragg on December 11, 2017, 11:56:28 AM
Hi guys, Just received my UK Foundation Callsign over the weekend - M6UAW. I only have FM capability on 2m and 70cm at the moment but looking forward to moving into HF comms when the finances allow.
Go see this thread that caulktel just started. A fully built board-set for a 3MHz - 30MHz SSB & CW rig for $109! The rig is brand new, so I don't think much is known about it, but it's done by the crew that does the BITx kits, and they have a solid reputation.
http://radiopreppers.com/index.php?topic=1384.0 (http://radiopreppers.com/index.php?topic=1384.0)
We truly are in the glory days of ham radio ;D
Thanks and Hi CockpitBob.
I'm in Sheffield IO93HI so unlikely to get Gil on SSB, I do 2m and 73cm contests at our club (Worksop ARS IO93KH) and have never got a french station. We can sometimes get stations on the south coast but not the other side of the channel. The 2m Yagi at the club is optimised for contest work as well. I have no SSB capability at present at home.
That radio (in the second link ) is the UBITX, the next step on from the BITX40. I was planning on getting a BITX40 in the new year just as soon as funds allow, but I may now wait until I can afford the UBITX, as it contains some of the mods I was planning for the BITX40 once I get my 2E0 callsign.
I've got got myself an arduino starter kit and have some bits on the way to allow me to experiment with rotary encoders, VFO's and TFT displays.
When I first started messing with radio's it was powered by lightning in a bottle (valves).
Congratulations Andy! Don't forget to add your call sign to QRZ.com.
Not sure how far you are from the vicinity of Lille... I wish I had a permanent 2m antenna. Maybe I should install a Yagi on the roof, pointed towards England...
Gil.
Hi Gil,
I'm in Sheffield, locator square IO93HI, quite a way from Lille. I'm already registered on QRZ as a SWL but I can't add my own callsign.
Looking forward to working your station once I get HF capability.
Hi Andy, have you listened to the VMARS net on 3615 USB, Wednesday nights? I attend sometimes...
Gil.
No Gil, I don't have anything that will pick that band up