M1PAC

2012-02-12T22:14:00.001Z

The Wakefield Rally

I asked a few fellow hams if they were going to attend this rally , those were Craig 2E0RIZ,Barry M6SBO,Wolfie M6FZR and Craig 2E0CSD, Craig had to back out at the last minute but we were fine for going. Most of the hams I talked to said that they were waiting until the Blackpool rally in april,one of them said "no I cant make it sorry " that was Kevin M0XLT who turned up anyway. Nice to see you Kevin.This man has one of the most recognisable voices in the Whole of Yorkshire, you only have to hear a few syllables of that voice to know who you are talking to ;-)

Along with Kevin I said hello to Terry G4AFS,Richard 2E0NTT, Jeff G0GNU,Andy M1ATT,Karl G1YPQ and others who's call sign's I cant remember at the moment,but it was nice to stop and chat.

When I started going to this rally it was in Leeds, well that is to say back in the 1990's it was. and it was HUGE. I remember walking around 3 floors of the Leeds university, OK so most of the stuff I saw then I didn't understand and that's because I wasn't a radio ham then, I was "into" CB radio .Now I have been a licensed radio ham since 1998.

The rally then moved about a bit and eventually ended up in Wakefield, in a sports hall, were I went to see it.The sports hall then was FULL ,now however with the recession kicking in and our present government sticking it to us , it appears the even the radio ham community has had to tighten their belts.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the manufacturers of radio ham equipment who's prices have not stayed in line with our rather meagre budgets. Consequently some of the rally's have died and gone to rally heaven along with some of the shops that we used to buy our gear from.

But we have fleabay don't we? you can pick up some good radio gear on there? yes you can and I have but you can also pick up some right DOGS too,after all you can't test them can you you can at least return it to the rally if it doesn't work but I digress , this rally has been hanging on for a few years now but has been getting steadily smaller, today I managed to walk round it and buy what I wanted and a couple of hours later I was done and ready to go home. even after eating my BooF sandwich my can of pop and a chokie bikkie.

That is not to say that there wasn't some bargains to be had .
My first port of call was to LAM communications table to buy a new mobile 2 mtr antenna. a multicom M-285 a 5/8 wave , I got that for only £16 , I am going to use that to make a dipole for my shack. seeing as I cant get on the roof (yet) add a post and two clamps , oh and another trimming tool, which I promptly lost after paying £2 for it ("SIGH") throw in a U bracket and a continuity testing screwdriver and I was done.

OK so it wasn't a big rally but there were bargains to be had, I just didn't want any of them.

I am looking forward to Blackpool and I am hoping to make a day of it with the same people.
The Blackpool rally is shrinking but not as fast as the Wakefield one so lets hope it keeps going for a good few years yet.

Thanks for reading, please feel free to comment at your leisure.

A new year A new Blog

2012-02-09T00:23:00.000Z

The Road Trip

A while ago I lost my bungalow along with the garden I had all my antennas in and my interest in Ham Radio waned at least till I got myself a flat in Quebec house , 8 floors up from the ground nice view but nowhere to put up any antennas . I had this Idea that I should get out and about,get a bit more exercise and a few more contacts so why not get myself a 2 meter multimode and get out on the hills and valleys.

The Idea behind getting a multimode was so that I could join in the 2 meter contests and generally get out and about in the car to some high places, I already have a drive on stand made by my good friend Simon 2E0HTS all I need to get is a telescopic mast for my drive on mast support kind of like that in fig 3. Anyone know where I can get some leisure batteries and a cheap generator, I might even get an inverter and a cheap rotator.I decided to have a look on fleabay and up popped a good old Yaesu ft-480r a decent 2 meter multimode ( fig 1) ,so I bid on it and won it .

I now had this radio and wanted to try it out, I had bought a yaesu Ft-290 from the Manchester rally earlier this year , My friend Craig 2E0CSD Craig asked me to get one at a reasonable price and that one was so I got it & he's paid half of what I paid for it. Now as well as Craig there is another with an FT-290 and his name is Chris M6FZR, that's why Craig wanted one so we could all try the 2 mtr SSB calling (144.300MHz ) it 's very under used except for contests when you can't get a word in edgewise.
We put our heads together and we came up with a 3 element yagi antenna and some poles we could stick into the ground just to test every thing out.

The problem was that on the Friday it stared to snow, but by the Sunday most of it had melted so we decided to go up to whetstone gate colloquially known as the Keighley gate (fig 4) and give a shout.With me being an experienced driver in snow we decided to try to get as far as we could and give a few shouts out.
I wasn't expecting to get any answers on 2 mtr SSB (144.300) but I gave a call out anyway and was surprises when John M1AEB answered my call thanks John,We stayed up there till about 16:00 hrs ( 4pm) and the total contacts came to about 9 some on SSB (144.300) and some on FM (145.500) It just goes to show what a bunch of loonies we radio hams are.

(Fig 3 Not my car or mast stand)

Fig (1) Not mine BTW

My actual one made by 2E0HTS

(Fig 4)

I hoped you enjoyed my post , please feel free to comment

M1PAC ( phil)

NFU mutual insurance company

2011-01-28T18:57:00.000Z

I was told to ring NFU mutual by a friend of mine because the time is drawing near for me to renew my car insurance" give NFU mutual a ring phil ", "My insurance was lots cheaper than my last one ."
So ok I contact them by e-mail coz apparently they are so behind the times that you cant ask for any quote on line , you have to ring up and speak to a person. Fare enough! and so I phone NFU MUTAL SKIPTON BRANCH and spoke to "REBBECA" who after I had answered some questions promptly told me that NFU MUTUAL COULD NOT INSURE ME BECAUSE I WAS UNEMPLOYED!

NFU mutual WILL NOT INSURE ME COZ I AM UNEMPLOYED. thats discrimination isnt it ? gets me mad that! and even has had me e-mailing BBC Watchdog, tweeting it to all my followers, and one has even asked my permission to re-tweet my original tweet. I am NOT going to let this Lie .. I am going to e-mail BBC Radio Leeds, and our local radio station, as well as the Telegraph & Argus ,the Keighley times ETC,ETC .

I am not going to keep on at this , I cant see why they would do that, That is the first Insurance company that has declined me insurance I think. any way I went back online and applied for insurance with the CO-OP and paid for it on line and all my details are online, I printed out a copy of my insurance certificate . so from 00:00 hrs on the 10the of feb 2011 I am covered to drive my car as long as I keep up the payments . and at £40 a month I think I can afford that. I don't have to pay road tax I am exempt, and that car doesn't owe me any thing and I don't owe on the car . so all I have to do is just put diesel in her and buy her a service every year. and bits when she needs them .

I am shocked and deeply disturbed about this . The police have ANPR computers that check wether or not your vehicle is insured, and with firms like NFU MUTUAL refusing the unemployed insurance for their vehicles , is it any wonder they are driving them with no insurance? I am NOT condoning driving with no Insurance on your or any vehicle its BAD BAD BAD and I don't do it any more coz I know just how bad it is. Its just not fair to other road users who might fall afoul of those without. and NFU MUTUAL are not helping matters in my honest opinion.

Rant over watch this space

Thinning out the shack

2011-01-24T19:02:00.001Z

Well as you can see I have tinned out the shack, the new picture says it all. with the coming of the new year saw me loose my little black and white doggy friend known as Baron The Dog. I Miss him. for those of you who would like to see the pictures I had taken of him they are available to see on my facebook Click on photos and look for pictures of Baron.
But for now here is a compilation of the pictures I took at the rally

THE RED ROSE RALLY IN MANCHESTER JAN 16th 2011

I did go to the red rose rally over in Manchester near the Trafford centre. it was easy to find and was well sign posted to the event ,this is thanks to the people at the West Manchester Radio Club who's website is here WMRC. It wasn't a bad event there was a good attendance, And the lads from LAM were there, and the link to their website is here LAMCOMMS , I actually met someone that reads my blog! thanks mate please keep reading and do pop a comment on it will be nice to catch up.
Bye for now and thanks for reading my blog 73 de M1PAC

The Perils of running a radio business

2010-12-28T16:55:00.000Z

Not having a "RAG CHEW RADIO" at home I decided to save myself some money and pay my pals down Barnsley a visit for one of there used guaranteed for 90day pieces of equipment.

After a nice drive down the M1 I got off at junction 36 the Hoyland turn off and headed down Sheffield Rd to A Well known shop with this Logo on the outside.

After parking the car I proceeded into the shop to be greeted by a cheery Dave Who despite a burst pipe was carrying on doing repair's and modifications to radios.

Next I made my way over to their CB museum to see the weird and wonderful things on display.

There are CB's I have never heard of in there.Plus a few duds that I would NEVER EVER entertain.

I Mainly went down there to pick up a second hand Yaesu FT-1802M, a nice little 2Mtr 50W rig that will suit me for using at home , and here is a picture of me trying it out, The thing in my ear is a bluetooth earpiece NOT A flipping hearing aid ! and just below that is a picture of the rig itself

Then Lee The main man popped his head round and said hello , I had to take a few of him coz he is always moving about he doesn't stop at all. Behind him there is a LOT of stock in so don't be afraid to give him a ring and ask if he has a particular radio in stock,He has, and if he hasn't I am sure he will do his utmost to obtain it for you .

Here is Dave doing what he doe's best Getting a radio out for modification .

I believe the radio is the Need for greed 200W Kenwood TS-480 Nuff said.

There wasn't much going on over the holiday period I was trying WSPR but now my computers sound card seems to have gone on the blink . "SIGH" It looks like I will have to up grade the radio computer for something a bit newer. Its perfectly adequate but I think I need to get something with a bit more MEAT under the bonnet so to speak,it is only a lowly pentium 4 21.8GHz with 2 gig mem and windows XP.

Thank you to all my Followers and I promise I will not leave it so long before I update my Blog again.

73 from M1PAC

Have a merry Christmas from M1PAC & BaronTheDog

2010-12-19T18:59:00.001Z

Here is a Piccy of my long suffering four legged hairy buddy ,I hope you like it .It took me absolutely ages to get it right,in the end I had to hold one of his toys over my head to get him to look at the camera.

I haven't been on 2mtrs for a while but I plan to visit my good friends at LAM COMMUNICATIONS in Barnsley to buy myself a used bargain if I can pry it out of Granville's sticky little mits.
The Snow hasn't been that bad up here on the estate, and although Arwen was surrounded by snow , she did'nt have any problems getting out. and I cover her with a nylon cover that keeps the snow from sticking to her . I bought it from ARGOS and recomend them for everyone that owns a car.

I have been busy trying out another mode. its called WSPR aka Weak Signal Propagations Reporting.

So far I haven't been that successful,although I did manage to receive a signal from a station in the USA .

My antennas have stood up well to the winter weather, the home brew fishing pole Rybakov trap that me and 2E0LXA made has been performing well on all bands , and being a trap vertical its been quite good at receiving from distances, just how well I am going to find out after a while using WSPR.

You can also hear me on PSK31 using 20 mtrs (14.07015) and 40 mtrs ( 7.038) there are others but these two seen to be the most popular.Right it's time for me to go.I will post another Blog after I have been to Barnsley.Bye for now .

Phil de M1PAC

Blog pics

2010-07-22T16:22:00.000+01:00

Have you any Idea just how much work goe's into taking a picture for your Blog?

The picture on the header is the one I was happy with for here.

Taking the picture for QRZ.com took me the best part of an hour to take and re-take a picture until I was happy with it.You take the picture then find that there is a model antenna poking out of your head, then you didn't set the flash just right etc.

About a week ago there was quite a gale blowing here in K-Town, and the following morning saw my 3 element 6 mtr antenna on the roof. I thought the wind had got to it and the nylon lashing strap had snapped.

As it turned out though some little so and so's had been on my roof and nicked the lead flashing, cutting my strap to get it away , the insurance company are not going to believe me. Apparently you need that lead flashing to stop the wet stuff getting in. It was'nt just me , they had a go at about 3 other bungalows,in the immediate vicinity they managed to get on the roof because my NDN.s sloping garden is just about a foot away from the roof.No I am not going to show you a pic of that!

So now there is just the wireless weather station sensors and a TV aerial up there now , I looks odd to me but it doe's look better and you can still see what I had up there on google earth street view.

And for those who wish to see the picture I eventually chose for qrz.com here is a link to it www.qrz.com/db/m1pac

Please leave a comment if you think of anything to say.Thank You

The Blackpool Rally

2010-04-11T01:57:00.009+01:00

Well I was hoping to take a few friends with me over to the rally at Blackpool but two of them dipped out, one with prior commitments to family and the other to a bunch of cyclists!!!!
Ah well maybe next year .

Saturday the 10th of aprill at oh my god O'clock

At an event like Blackpool you get to meet a few people that you may have talked to in the past, meet up with old friends whom you always hope to meet again and scramble for a few bargains .

Trying to squeeze your way into a crush of bodies that seem to be looking at something interesting on one table whilst the really interesting stuff is in cardboard or plastic boxes under said table.

This year I will be looking for a yagi or beam like antenna for 20,40,80 mtrs failing that somthingthat will perform better than a vertical. I really couldn't do justice to the 6BTV in my small garden, its a wonderful antenna & I have used it on various occasions with my good friend and fellow radio ham 2E0HTS.After owning the great Hustler 6BTV for a year , I am reluctantly taking it along with some other stuff to the bring and buy at Norbreck.

I fully intend to come away from Norbreck with an antenna that I can operate on the HF frequencies of my choice. As well as looking for antenna's I will be craning my neck looking for test equipment.I have already purchased a good frequency counter,now all I need are a signal generator,ossciloscope,and somthing else that slips my mind at the moment.

I will update this blog after my trip to Norbreck with pictures etc. as this part is being written the day before. Lets see if I get what I am after.

Well now I have stitched all the piccys together and added titles etc, so here have a look comment if you will.

The Slide show ( try not to yawn )

I did purchase a GM3VLB mini delta loop multi band antenna from the sandpiper stand and as they didn't have any poles with the bottom bit cut off,
(originally 4 meter GF fishing poles) he knocked £10 off the purchase price.
Thanks to everyone who I talked to ,and to the chap who found me and gave me the cover for my signal generator that I had bought from his stall. I knew I should have bought the scope as well. There are a few more rally's to attend so I will be visiting them to view and hopefully purchase some more test gear.

Thank you for stopping by
M1PAC

The Clutter Free Shack

2009-09-20T15:56:00.010+01:00

Greetings

After Some considerable consideration I decided that I needed to trim the shack a little and get rid of some surplus equipment . well now that I have this is the result

As you can see I moved the icom IC-756proIII up to it's own shelf along with psu & extension speaker and a nice little gemstone globe I got from Whitby.

The Desk is a little more uncluttered and I moved the main computer over to where the Icom resided, it's more accessible and with the new illuminated keyboard I can see what I am typing

There are some new acquisitions,one of them is this nice icom IC-7000

The Adonis AM -708E Desk Top Microphone ,was purchased at the Leicester Radio Ham Rally

and seems to compliment the rig quite nicely .and is capable of being connected to two radio's .

Along with this little beauty a trio TM-201A which will serve as my new Echolink radio

This is me in the shack . Tidy isn't it, Well it was when this photo was taken anyway ... and I failed to use the red eye reduction on the camera so I resorted to a red eye removal program and it puts a watermark on as its unregistered , but it DID do the job so I left it in .

Saves a lot of faffing about with the camera again ...

AND Now a little vignette about the Leicester rally Enjoy

Equipment For Sale

2009-07-24T19:29:00.010+01:00

just a few bits and pieces that are now surplus to requirement

so here are a few pictures for those that might want to see them

without placing the pics on JunkSail

Here is the icom IC-910HX Dual Band Sat Trx

* VHF / UHF + 23cm
* 100W VHF / 75W UHF / 10W 23cm Variable output

* All Mode
* Simultaneously works two bands at once
* Dual 9600bps High Speed Packet Ports
* Main & Sub Band Functions for IF Shift, Sweep, NB, RF Att.
* 0.11uV Sensitivity
* Large LCD

* Four Versatile Scanning Functions
* CTCSS Encode / Decode / Tone Scan
* Built-in Keyer
* PC Controllable

* Memory Pad
* Reverse Satellite Functions

* Phase 3D Ready
* Optional DSP is fitted

This little beauty is also for sale to anyone who will put

£900 in my Hands, and yes the SM-20 mic is included in the price

The Icom IC-910 HX

For £900 this is a compleat steal , but needs must as they say .so the 910 must go .

The Yaesu GS-232B Computer Control Interface
This little baby cost £560.95 new
I have used it Once now bet no one wants this even if I only want £175 for it but hey here is a picture of it, I even down loaded a manual and printed it

Yaesu GS-232B Computer Control Interface

Also for Sale are the MFJ 269 HF/VHF/UHF antenna analyser for a measly £150.

yes you saw right just £150 . I have since found out that the UHF side of the MFJ 269

dos'nt calibrate and the reduction in price reflects this .

This is the Icom IC-R70 Communications reciever

It is a clean unit but surplus to requirements yours for £100.00

ICOM IC-R70

Raising the Hopes and G5RV

2009-06-27T20:39:00.005+01:00

Adam Rang me to ask if I wanted to go to LAR

He wanted to purchase a G5RV

After finding it shut for his Holidays ,

I told him that I just happend to have one

I was'nt using, so we organised a time and proceded to

RAISE THE G5RV

No comments about laural & Hardy thank you very much

A nice day out for M1PAC

2009-06-25T18:31:00.004+01:00

I have been out and about looking for places to
use for a bit of radio. I did not take my camera with me (DOH!)
I just had the iphone and the garmin GPS and the ipaq to write notes on
Just for the time being I will post this little Video
I will re-produce another one and post it

A DX Position

Adams New contest Location

2009-06-06T18:46:00.004+01:00

A Nice spot for a QSO

A few months ago I took Adam (M6AXL,2E0LXA) to some Prime locations in and around Keighley from which to do some Amateur Radio contests.

One site is the colloquially known Keighley Gate and is 1000ft ASL.

or shown on most local maps as Whetstone Gate.

This is an old picture of the gate as the little building has been demolished.

The ground where it was is firm and is an ideal place to park.

Adam is now no longer uses this site as Things were getting too "DODGY" .

Whetstone Gate

Another Fine location

This Location is known as Ovenden Moor wind farm The contest started at 20:00 and finished at 22:30 .This meant that we couldn't park in the car park at the windmill's because it gets locked at night,however there is a lay-by where we de-camped and set up the station .This Prime location is 1400ftASL and adam is quite happy with it so far .

Adam Trying out the new location

A fantastic view of the windmills

Adam using a 10 ele 2mtr yagi on a rotator ,
We think it's is a lot quieter up at this location. I saw about a dozen cars

in 3 hours and lots of "mountain" bikers.Adam tells me he had 89 contacts and 17 locator squares .

I can foresee him using this location for 6mtrs as well. No video as I cant find my mains adaptor for the video camera, but I will post one as soon as I can find it .That's all for now thank you for reading

73 de M1PAC

A New Piece of equipment

2009-03-09T15:40:00.002Z

My opening title , and a link to see the MK-1 version and how it was constructed click the link below
The 2E0HTS Mobile Antenna Mounting Stand

Today I picked up a drive on antenna mounting stand.
Fabricated by My good friend Simon 2E0HTS.
After Parting with a well spent £20:00 in my honest opinion
Here is a picture of it as fresh as the hour I picked it up.

The Antenna Stand Pre-Primer

The Stand after the first coat of primer
It is important to Prime bare metal before you paint it.
I gave it a light brushing with sandpaper to "key" the primer.

I also primed the underside , as well as a bit of the fence "SIGH"
well it was a bit windy thats my excuse and I am sticking to it .

And A coat of Plasti-coat paint.
I will use more of this to protect it from the elements
and of a high enough visibility not to be walked into !!

It is small enough to fit in the boot. and will be used as
soon as I can get a mast to fit over the pole
73 for now
thank you for reading
de M1PAC

M1PAC's Day Out With The Yaesu FT-100D

2009-03-01T21:17:00.006Z

I recently re-acquired My Yaesu FT-100D from my friend Josh M0DIT
with the intention of taking it mobile to use in and around Britain
with my new multi band antenna I purchased from LAR Communications
A WAtsON Multi-Ranger-9 HF-UHF Mobile whip.

There is a place just of the A169 a mear 12 miles as the crow might fly
called " THE HOLE OF HORCUM"
There is a car park there so it was an ideal place to
park and try out the Yaesu in anger.
My garmin GPS informed me that I was 911ft ASL (WOW)

One of the Information boards there

I had texted Adam M6AXL to see if he could hear me on 80Mtrs
and he said he did not have an antenna for that frequency and to try 20 mtrs

I couldn't hear Adam on twenty , so I called him on my local repeater
GB3TP.The repeater was giving me a signal 7 to 8 from that location
VHF is favourable from that location .

Then all of a sudden , someone was calling CQ on 20 meters

I Then Proceeded over to Whitby for some Fabulous Fish & Chips .
After obtaining some rock & toffee We then drove up to the Abbey Car Park
to try and contact Simon 2E0HTS the following video is the result.

I am in the process of putting my 6 2 70 and 23cm antennas upon the chimny. My next blog will cover this
Thank you for reading
73 for now

de M1PAC

The DX pedition

2009-02-24T19:55:00.008Z

Just About Five miles outside of Keighley

There are a set of antenna towers known as Whetstone Gate
where there is an unofficial type of car park, as you can see in the background. of the picture of the Nine element tonna .
It was clear day , and the weather was FREEEEEEZING!!!!!

This is where Adam M6AXL decided he would Like to try out his 9 element portable tonna antenna. The one in the foreground.Adam is seen here ON AIR

Also braving the elements was your favorite blogger
attempting to talk to a station in cape cod on his FT-817 seen here

We were also joined by Simon 2E0HTS and Lou M3TLL
Simon is the one who told me to get a Blogspot and start posting.;)

Adam Made a contact to a station in Devon and here is a video

Adam would like me to accompany him on another expedition
I have no idea where yet but as soon as
find out I will Inform my readers of the location
73 for now
de M1PAC

Wakefield Ham Rally

2009-02-16T12:49:00.013Z

Driving to the rally from Keighley,I met up with Craig M6CIW
After almost going the wrong way,we eventually ended up at Osset school.
Upon unloading the car with my little trolley and I meandered down the little road to the rally.
After almost being tripped up by Terry G4AFS I tottered over to the entrance.
Extracing the £3.00 to Ingress I wobbled over to the Bring & Buy Stand.
The Bring and Buy Guys

The Madding Crowd
As you can see this rally was quite popular with the local hams.

I met quite a few faces that I have talked to on the air .
Just one of the many is the Kevin M0XLT
shown Below in the red fleece with the snow white hair .

One of these Faces I talk to is dave M0LAG
Shown Here at the GB3YW And the new 23cm repeater GB3WC stand.

GB3WC INPUT is 1291.375MHz -6Mhz shift OUTPUT is 1297.375MHz
Tone burst access at the moment there are plans afoot to replace the receiver sometime in 2009. lets hope it not to late into 2009.Knowing there is a repeater at Flockton,I will utilise the the wonderful Icom IC-910X which has the appropriate 23cm board fitted.

The YAGI
Ready to Mount and point at the GB3WC repeater
is a 21 element 23cm yagi wich I will be using ,
as soon as I can solder a couple of N type plugs on some RG 213

Lee @ LAM worked out a good deal with me for this radio
and Dave let me play with one before I bought it.
INTRODUCING THE Icom IC-756PROIII

Below reclining on his chair is Dave the person who advised me to buy this Amazing Radio, resting before the rush or so he said !

I did the meet and greet with a few fellow radio hams a BIG HELLO
to the one I talked to, the secret is to bang the rock together on a morse code fashion, and to the ones who didn't know of the infamous M1PAC
I will Purchase a fleece or a BIG badge with my callsign on it .

73
de M1PAC

The G-250 rotator

2009-02-09T22:06:00.010Z

After piddling about for AGES trying to get the 5 element ZL special tuned up on the G-250 rotator I managed it with the help of the MFJ-antenna analyser.

I have placed it horizontal along with the 10ele 70cm and the 3 ele 6m
Here is a piccy:-----

And here is another one

AT LAST
I managed to upload a VID of the thing going around......
Now thats all folks
G-250 rotayting

The Shack Re-visited

2009-02-08T19:37:00.005Z

Right now all you lovely people out there have been patient .
Here is a picture of the shack as it is to day Sunday 8th Feb 2009
Remember I still have to put some shelves up yet and a yaesu map.
The Radio Shack

Here is a piccy of me talking to Adam M6AXL

The Antenna's on the G-250 have been changed
There are now a 3 element 6Mtr yagi
A 9-ele 70cm and a 2Mtr 5-ele ZL special that is
"doing my box in" it just won't tune up for me .

More pictures to follow IF I get the thing to work
I will let you all know and if not...
then I will replace it.
I might go to this radio rally and buy myself a more straightforward one.
I also own an ascom 4Mtr radio so I might get a 4Mtr antenna and try and find somewre to put it !!.

Wakefield and District Radio Society, on Sunday 15 February at the new venue of Ossett School, Storrs Hill Road, Ossett, West Yorkshire WF5 0DG. Doors open at 10.15am for disabled visitors and then open to the general public at 10.30am. Admission is £3 per person.
Talk in will be via the GB3YW repeater, which can be found on 145.7875 with CTCSS of 82.5Hz. Further details can be found on the rally website, Thaat can be found on this LINK
Hope to see you there .
Bye for now
73
de M1PAC

The New Shack

2009-01-30T14:40:00.005Z

After having surgery on my BIG toe just after my last post, I was in no state to post a new blog . but now that I have been a little more "mobile" I decided to-day would be the day to post a new blog. So here we are.

I also have a new domain and the link is here :- CLICK ME
The domain is also is a work in progress

This is my New shack

It is still a work in progress. I still have to put some shelves up as well as my yaesu map . I have a anglepoise fluorescent lamp which is great when I am writing down things. as well as a light up globe that someone bought me for Christmas.

There is a computer that is dedicated to radio use and has had to be re-cased so that it can fit under the shelf.I had bought a serial card from maplins so that I have 2 more 9 pin serial port's . There are lots of wires and cables that need to be tidied away in the future. and thanks to Adam M6AXL I now have a new chair to sit comfortably in at the new shack .

More later

2008-12-29T23:37:00.003Z

After a quiet Christmas I drove over to Whitby
to do a mini expidition on Sunday the 28Th
I wanted to try out my new FT-817.
As you can see on 20 Mtrs I was getting a good signal.
I attached the wonder wand to my tuner.
I gave a few shouts but was not successful.
The americans ,germans and the Italians were BOOMING in .

I was Parked in a car park in a place called Sandsend.
near the sea wall looking out onto the North Sea
To see were I was parked Google earth sansend whitby uk
and zoom to the car park at the end of the A174

ERECTED

2008-12-11T16:51:00.005Z

With A LOT of help from ADAM (M6AXL)
Disturbed from its sleeping position on the workmate We walked the thing
with and loads of " OK OK put it down here for a bit ",
Gasp gasp wheeze wheeze(all from M1PAC) over to the T & K brackets on the wall. .Adam was doing a fine job of lifting it up as I was tightening the clamps
all to put another piece of scaffold pipe underneath it .Satisfied that it doesn't need to be any higher now all I need to do is poke the coax through the hole in the wall along with the control cable

All I need to do then is take down the desk I have in the corner and replace it with my big wooden office .That's when all the hard work starts, cutting holes screwing shelves, mounting radio's oh boy am I going to have some fun.
I will be using the equipment in Earnest next year on the satellites so keep your ears open for "CQ satellite CQ satellite this is M1PAC.

Thanks for reading
73's de M1PAC

Winter WONDER Land

2008-12-02T18:47:00.003Z

I woke up this morning with the intention of putting the Yaesu G-5500 rotator up to the brackets on the wall .As soon as I opened the door I knew this was going to be Impossible .There was going to be SNOW WAY to erect this wonderful piece of Kit

I am off to hospital on New years eve and I hope to have all my radio equipment installed so for the six to eight weeks I cant drive anywhere I can at least use my Amateur radio gear,there is still time though and with Little help from my friends I am sure I will be able to do it .

The Next Step

2008-11-18T19:34:00.001Z

Today was a good day here in Keighley.

Outside the sun was shining, there were no strong breezes, and there I was in bed Gasping for breath.The change in weather was playing havoc with my chest infection.All I could do was gulp my inhaler and hope it would pass.
On or about 12 o'clock I started to feel better, so I got up and did the one thing I had wanted to do for a while .

I grabbedthe yaesu G-5500 and hoyked it outside and clamped
it to the scaffolding pole. A lot of time was taken up with
getting the 2 mtr fibreglass pole Through the elevation rotator .
That was when I grabbed the 10 ele 2 mtr yagi and fastened it to the pole, it was a bit of a struggle but I did it , next up was the 19 ele 70cm yagi,then the hard work started.

I have a surveyors tape which is 50mtrs in length.
This was used to measure,measure,measure
then cut the wesflex 103 to hopefully the right length.
Next up was soldering the N type plug on to one and a SO-239 on the other.
Once this was done I went outside only to find that darkness had arrived .
I grabbed my LED headlight (invaluable) and went outside.
I fixed the coax onto the antennas then taped it down the pole and left a loop for the azimuth rotation , that was when I remembered to plug the elevation control cable in as well, because that has to have a loop too. that was when it got too dark. so I took a few pictures and left it .

The Yaesu G-5500 fixed the pole .
(I can't lift the thing all by myself
with all that metal on it ,Its now too bleeding heavy!)

That's going to be fixed to the side of the bungalow
On these two brackets
(note the coax and control cable from the G-250 )

Well Until I can get some help It's going to stay there.
As soon as It's up I will be posting the pictures here.

Thanks for reading

de M1PAC

One set of Antennas Up and running

2008-11-15T20:25:00.001Z

Fortune favours the Brave
(but not me)

It's taken me a while but I eventualy got these antenne up and rotating.
Not curently using them tho at the moment.
The girlfriend has been on 2 week holiday
and I have been spending more time with her, going to whitby etc.

The winds here in Keighley hav'nt been all that good for raising a load of antennas ,add to that the fact that the garden is now slippier than an ice rink ,and you can see why not a lot has been done .
The plan is to loft a 20ft scaffie pole thats going to have a Yaesu G5500 AZ/EL rotator on the top as well as a 10 ele 2mtr and a 19 ele 70cm.
these two will be mainly for tracking the satelites, shuttle and the ISS.
Two have been erected though.
First here is the little yaesu G250 rotator. My good friend Simon 2E0HTS has one of these and I was so impressed by the unit and price I bought one
Here is a piccie with it loaded up.

The Big 3 ele is for 6Mtrs the one in the front is a 10 ele 70cm and the one at the back is a 21 ele for 23cm

The antenna you see here is the Hustler 6BTV also recomended BY 2E0HTS
This is one FANTASTIC antenna BUY ONE NOW

I have an Idea. A certain orange DIY center here in Keighley are doing Plastic cobbles in sheets I might get a couple of these and stick them in the quagire that is the back garden to give me somthing sturdy to stand on ,ans whilst I am at it I might as well get another sheet of of that bamboo for the back end of the fence you see there.

Well thats about it for now.
I promise that I will publish more as it happens and as soon as I can ling vids from youtube to here I will post them as well. 73 for now De M1PAC

2008-11-08T18:12:00.000Z

M1PAC's adventures at the barnsley rally
Oh Excuse me {The Great Northern Hamfest}
It was as busy as I remmeber it from last year with a few bargins to be had, one was thanks to M0LAG a friend I talk to who hails from huddersfield , was a little jingtong 2mtr handset and charger for the princley sum of £7.50.(you can never have enough handsets)the other was a Yaesu FT-747 which I have lent to a fellow ham(Craig) who has just passed his intermediate and plans to become a 2E0 , it needs a little TLC I am told by him and I suspect it will get it there.
I had to buy a few bits and pieces like a great circle map now I have a rotator,and a map of all the zones etc,
Here for your delectation are a few piccies

Lee and Co hard at work

The Great Throng

The banner advertising our Local D Star Repeater
(must give it a plug now I am a member of the group with a D Star Icom 2820)

There were some video but I havnt got around to editing all yet.
I hav'nt been feeling to sparkling
thats all for now . Thanks for reading

Barnsley Rally

2008-11-04T09:21:00.001Z

Being a Radio Ham

2008-10-30T21:37:00.000Z

Hello My Name is Phil and my callsign is M1PAC.My full details are on qrz.com
Since becoming a gentleman of leisure, I have decided to put my antics on line.
I have a long way to go before I get as many people interested as my friends Simon's
blog spot .
Here is the link :-- 2E0HTS
I can be seen on one of Simon's video's
on you tube

I was trying to call on the satellites and kept fluffing .
Being a radio ham .I will also post some pictures from time to time,and as a starter here are some I took at the Leicester rally on Friday the 24th of October

The antenna array in the shack there.

it was cold on the ears

This is Josh M0DIT his ears were defiantly cold

just a couple of Nice radio's on the Icom Stand

It was a LARGE hall

I only did a little shopping .

That's all for now more later
73 de M1PAC