VK3LNX
Well my standard upgrade came through. VK3FBSD is now gone, replaced with VK3LNX.
Now I can use digital modes, and 20 metres among other things.
Just happy it’s all come through. And I’m looking forward to the weekend.
Entries Tagged as 'Uncategorized'
ISS
Well Hannah and I were driving home last night and we came across a converstion on VK3REC (the EMDRC club repeater.) About ISS making a pass overhead. So we tuned our trusty little HT to 148.8MHz and at about 1900 local time, we started hearing the SSTV transmission from ISS.
Wow, I really wish we could of decoded it but at least we heard it.
~Ivy
Licensing and call signs.
Well finally I took my exams a couple of weeks ago for the foundation license, and on last thursday was assigned the call sign VK3FBSD.
But it appears I won’t have this call sign for too long as I just took the standard exams (and regs exam) so in a couple of weeks a new call sign.
Yay no more second operator for me.
Dipoles
So Hannah and I decided to build a fan dipole, to cover 80 metres, 40 metres, and 20 metres.
Not a 100% success as it we still need to tune it correctly, but still it worked well. We didn’t really have as much time to work, as by the time we got to set it up, we realised we had left our balun at home, which was a bit annoying, but a quick visit to Strictly Ham, we bought another one. To be honest it wasn’t a short drive, but it allowed us to set up the following.
dipole
80 40 and 20 metre dipoles
Propagation.
Well, Hannah and I were able to contact a station in Russia over the weekend. One of the amusing things I’ve discovered about HF, is that while you may be able to converse with distant stations, just talking to someone locally can be difficult.
~Ivy
sounds of suburbia take three.
Well, now that Hannah and I have the new radio, it’s interesting to see the difference it makes compared with the ft-707, and that difference is huge.
Before we could only pick up the odd strong signal on 80 metres, but now we can pick up a whole lot more.
A better antenna would help a heap at home, but unfortunately in a rental property there is little we can do.
Also now looking at joining a radio club, the Eastern and Mountain districts radio club seems to be the most interesting.
And I’m really looking forward to getting licensed.
~Ivy
Radio New Zealand
One of the things we can pick up quite well on 40 Metres AM is radio New Zealand, on 7.145MHz it’s kinda neat.
Such a clear signals.
~ivy
Last week of no transmit.
Well this is our last week without been able to transmit, next week we will go down to strictly ham, and get ourselves an IC-706 MkIIg (yeah we did want the IC-7000 but the price was a little high.) A power supply, and an AT-7000 antenna tuner.
We can’t really wait.
~Ivy
Licensing and study.
Well I got the standard learning materials from the Radio and Electronics School and have been going through them quite quickly. They are a little rough and ready, but all the information I need to learn is presented well and explained. Which is good.
I guess I should book in an exam at some stage, the standard license has three parts to the exam. The first been theory, second been regulations, and the third is practical. The only part that worries me is the regulations part of the exam but with more study I should be fine.
~Ivy