Hey there,
So we have adjusted the capacitor hats, tightened all the screws and brought down the antennamast........and hey presto it works!!!!! Our beam is back in business and sitting proud 40ft in the air.
Tony has just tested it on a station in Brazil .. and got a report of 58 from him.
So now the fun is on, lots of stations on the way into my log, shame Im a bit busy this afternoon (my eldest child is 12 today) but otherwise Tony would be getting a push outta "the chair" in order for me to conquer the world again.
Now to have a look at the mini rotatable dipoles for 40m, with the NCRG rally coming up on the 11th Sept, it might be the best time to accost some of our resident traders and grab ourselves a bargain..... in the interest of experimentation of course.
Right Im off of birthday business so ciao for now
Lisa, EI9GSB
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Radio weekend all over
Hi Guys,
Well, another busy radio weekend done and dusted, and I have to say Im a little sick of it to be honest, I feel drained and my ears are exhausted from straining to listen.
Firstly we were in Blackrock Castle for a CASHOTA activation. I had really wanted to operate on 40m but our antenna was having other ideas, so much so that it refused to operate effectively. That, plus the interference from the castle technology and the noise from the people coming for the free tours for Cork Heritage Day made it a challenge to hear to say the least. So we settled for 15m for voice, and one of the other members had set up a WSPR station, followed by PSK31 on 20m (which I found extremely fascinating). We also had one of the members with a satellite station set up.
Although the voice station wasnt great (partially due to all of the above factors), the digi station was brilliant, being able to log different signals throughout EU, and some Stateside, which we had then projected on to the wall for visitors to see. The PSK31 station also did its job quite effectively and made some nice contacts. In saying that though, the major achievement of day for me was the contact to Japan, which I thought was really good despite the problems. There was also a lot of interest in the satellite station, finishing the day with a lot of stations calling through Im told.
Today also was the IRTS 2m counties contest. I decided to operate in the low power fixed category and as it was my first contest of this kind, I had to read the rules to see what it entailed. Unfortunately for me, I didnt get the responses I had thought I might and was getting a bit frustrated as time went on. I used the max of 10w allowed and honestly thought there would be more QSO's involved. In saying that, my log book is a complete washout as I was concentrating so hard on how to operate within the contest (ie you have to QSY once you have called and been answered, or if you have answered a call, then you have the freq for one more QSO) I totally made a hash of the logs, not that there were many, I think 6 in total, which I was dissappointed with, I thought the participation would be a lot more (or maybe it was a I just couldnt hear them)
So now its all done and dusted and Im mentally tired. Maybe I have to take another holiday from the rig or else Im just not cut out for the constant activity lol. My brain may need to be trained, Im sure I have a game on my Nintendo DS that does that haha.
So Im off to relax for another couple of hours.
Ciao for now, Lisa EI9GSB
Well, another busy radio weekend done and dusted, and I have to say Im a little sick of it to be honest, I feel drained and my ears are exhausted from straining to listen.
Firstly we were in Blackrock Castle for a CASHOTA activation. I had really wanted to operate on 40m but our antenna was having other ideas, so much so that it refused to operate effectively. That, plus the interference from the castle technology and the noise from the people coming for the free tours for Cork Heritage Day made it a challenge to hear to say the least. So we settled for 15m for voice, and one of the other members had set up a WSPR station, followed by PSK31 on 20m (which I found extremely fascinating). We also had one of the members with a satellite station set up.
Although the voice station wasnt great (partially due to all of the above factors), the digi station was brilliant, being able to log different signals throughout EU, and some Stateside, which we had then projected on to the wall for visitors to see. The PSK31 station also did its job quite effectively and made some nice contacts. In saying that though, the major achievement of day for me was the contact to Japan, which I thought was really good despite the problems. There was also a lot of interest in the satellite station, finishing the day with a lot of stations calling through Im told.
Today also was the IRTS 2m counties contest. I decided to operate in the low power fixed category and as it was my first contest of this kind, I had to read the rules to see what it entailed. Unfortunately for me, I didnt get the responses I had thought I might and was getting a bit frustrated as time went on. I used the max of 10w allowed and honestly thought there would be more QSO's involved. In saying that, my log book is a complete washout as I was concentrating so hard on how to operate within the contest (ie you have to QSY once you have called and been answered, or if you have answered a call, then you have the freq for one more QSO) I totally made a hash of the logs, not that there were many, I think 6 in total, which I was dissappointed with, I thought the participation would be a lot more (or maybe it was a I just couldnt hear them)
So now its all done and dusted and Im mentally tired. Maybe I have to take another holiday from the rig or else Im just not cut out for the constant activity lol. My brain may need to be trained, Im sure I have a game on my Nintendo DS that does that haha.
So Im off to relax for another couple of hours.
Ciao for now, Lisa EI9GSB
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Long weekend for me!!
Hello there,
Just thought Id put a little blog on before I hit the hay, Ive just won €18 on the lotto, Ill have to try and not to spend it all at once lol
I just have one more day at work and then im off until next Wed, a few days to recover from returning to work on Mon last haha. We have a CASHOTA activation at Blackrock Castle on Sat 27th Aug to coincide with Heritage Week. My plan is to set up the rig (Kenwood TS2000) along with the 65ft EZ wire and hope to operate on the 40m band.
A few of the other members of NCRG will be operating different modes also, Ciaran plans to set up a WSPR station and Mick Quilligan will be showing satellite presentations. A few of the other lads, Edwin and Martin, are looking into streaming the activation on the Groups website, www.ei1nc.com , so that is another interesting element going on.
Not long now to our annual rally, held on Sept 11th at 11am, Blarney Golf Resort. This should be good, you get to see bargains and meet some of the hams you speak to over the airwaves.
Right, im wrecked so ciao for now
Lisa, EI9GSB
Just thought Id put a little blog on before I hit the hay, Ive just won €18 on the lotto, Ill have to try and not to spend it all at once lol
I just have one more day at work and then im off until next Wed, a few days to recover from returning to work on Mon last haha. We have a CASHOTA activation at Blackrock Castle on Sat 27th Aug to coincide with Heritage Week. My plan is to set up the rig (Kenwood TS2000) along with the 65ft EZ wire and hope to operate on the 40m band.
A few of the other members of NCRG will be operating different modes also, Ciaran plans to set up a WSPR station and Mick Quilligan will be showing satellite presentations. A few of the other lads, Edwin and Martin, are looking into streaming the activation on the Groups website, www.ei1nc.com , so that is another interesting element going on.
Not long now to our annual rally, held on Sept 11th at 11am, Blarney Golf Resort. This should be good, you get to see bargains and meet some of the hams you speak to over the airwaves.
Right, im wrecked so ciao for now
Lisa, EI9GSB
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
The return of the YL
Hey there,
So I have finally returned to the airwaves, only to find there has been a mass holocaust on the bands and no one is left to talk to me!!!!
Over 2 nights, I managed to call and call and call on 20m and only received 8 replies!!!! Have the waves decided to punish me for deserting them? Even the fact that I am a YL didnt help, but then again neither did my antenna, it needs to be stripped and reconstructed to ensure its 100%.
I even called through our local repeaters (3 of them to be exact) and even the local hams didnt feel like chatting. So there I was all ready to chat and noone responding :(
Oh well, at least I have the CASHOTA event on Sat coming at Blackrock Castle, hopefully the airwaves will be nicer to me and I can get the chance to have a chat, bet that will be much to the dismay of the other lads haha.
Ciao for now
Lisa, EI9GSB
So I have finally returned to the airwaves, only to find there has been a mass holocaust on the bands and no one is left to talk to me!!!!
Over 2 nights, I managed to call and call and call on 20m and only received 8 replies!!!! Have the waves decided to punish me for deserting them? Even the fact that I am a YL didnt help, but then again neither did my antenna, it needs to be stripped and reconstructed to ensure its 100%.
I even called through our local repeaters (3 of them to be exact) and even the local hams didnt feel like chatting. So there I was all ready to chat and noone responding :(
Oh well, at least I have the CASHOTA event on Sat coming at Blackrock Castle, hopefully the airwaves will be nicer to me and I can get the chance to have a chat, bet that will be much to the dismay of the other lads haha.
Ciao for now
Lisa, EI9GSB
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