Author: G0KOM

Yes you  read it right, I pimped my K3, or in simple terms added a set of the weighted Knobs by RGO, my first ever K3 had the  weighted VFO knobs by 73cnc, I wish I had taken them off when I sold it, always like the feel of them so I posted in a K3 group asking if anyone had any weighted knobs for sale and was offered a set of RGO ones Initially  i was a bit hesitant as my previous ones were all black and these ones were chrome and black but after a few days thinking I took the plunge, its a  bit blingy (as we say in the UK) but I  love em 🙂

Bands have been really poor last couple of weeks especially my favourite 10m band, we are approaching the summer doldrums unfortunatley, need to get my arse in gear and get something sorted for lower bands

Im slowly cleaning up the  Optibeam OBW 10-5 but its a slow process, not because its difficult more because i just cant get into the frame of mind to do it, my radio Mojo is severely struggling right now, it will be  back, it always is, hopefully sooner rather than later. 

I dont seem to be having much luck lately, Ive always wanted a Microham Microkeyer so when one came up a week or so ago for sale I took the plunge, all arrived and hooked up only to find out that Microkeyer isnt supported in MacOS, ive been a Mac user for donkeys years, I only really  use a windows machine at work so  im pretty much dead in the water before I start, to be honest I hadnt even considered the fact it wouldnt be supported in MacOS, the manual says there is some router software that has been written for Mac but it turns out this was many years ago and only applicable to older Intel Macs, so  im finished before I even got started, ah well, guess I will sell it on and go back to the drawing board

On another note conditions have been pretty poor recently, 10m has been pretty devoid of signals  however I did manage 3B9G  from Rodriguez Island yesterday. 

No new updates on this, just havent had the time with work but im concerned I have a fair bit of work to do on this, I had hoped it would just be a clean up and put together but not quite the case, this was to replace my Jaybeam MM3 three element tribander which is still up on the tower due to the issues with the optibeam, hoping to get some more work done on this soon as Ive pretty much sold the Jaybeam but as it stands im not sure how much work is involved, ive looked on the Wimo site and this antenna by the looks of it isnt produced anymore so  the chances of getting spares is looking slim

Watch this space. 

Optibeam OBW 10-5

So I took the plunge and picked up an Optibeam OBW 10-5 to replace my Jaybeam MM3 tribander, the Optibeam is a 5 Band Wire Beam for 10 thru 20m, when I picked it up it was just rolled up into one big bundle, that should have been a red flag right there, its taken me a whole day to unravel the wires and bits and bobs, unfortunately one of the plastic blocks that holds the fibreglass spreaders is split in half, hopefully I can work around it, the silicon rope and main  support ropes have been cut, normally that wouldnt be an issue but the support ropes in this antenna are pre cut and have fittings done at the factory, another headache which im going to have to sort out, the last issue is the fibreglass spreaders have a lot of mould/mildew growth on them so I need to find a safe way to clean that off without splintering the fibreglass so scrubbing is out of the question, the joys

The reasoning behind this antenna is simple, its less of an eyesore for a 5 band beam antenna (unlike a Hexbeam which ive previously had up a few years back)  it gives me basically a 2 element for 10/12/15/17/20m and although im sacrificing an element on 10/15/20m as im currrently running a 3 El tribander,  its a sacrifice that gets me access to the warc  bands, with some of the nice DXpeditons coming up in the next 12 months i need to look at other bands so this is the start, a bit of work to do before this will finally get on the air but I would rather take my time and get it done right.

Not much to report lately, I was happy though to work 3Y0K in Bouvet for an ATNO recently, I managed to work them on 10m SSB and 40m FT8, for bands other than 10m I only have a very poor ground mounted Hustler 5BTV vertical being in the middle of the city and a housing estate its blocked in many directions so I was pleased to work them on 40m even if it was FT8, little youtube snippet of the 3Y0 guys on 10m since they left 10 has taken a real dive, only starting to pick up again last day or two, Ive managed a few Qs with the CY0S DXped as well, again given the poor vertical any new band slot is a bonus

I had planned a trip to ZC4 this month, I hadnt really publicised it but I  had managed to get some time off work then I saw the post from ZC4C which completley destroyed my plans, I would have overlapped them timewise and considering I was going to use the same Melanda Beach location ive used for the last two  years they have chosen the same location so Ive had to cancel my trip, luckily I can cancel my accommodation with no  financial penalty but I will lose my flights which is frustrating to say the least, given the current situation in the Middle East and the drone attack on Akrotiri I suspect it would have ended up being a no go anyway,  turning up in the SBA with a load of Radios and Antennas is possibly not  the best idea in the world right now.

Ah well im pretty gutted tbh but have now had to re-think things, I am now planning on being QRV from ZC4 during the CQ WW SSB contest in October from the same location (Melanda Beach), watch this space, if I can get some extra leave I may take a week in the Summer and do some 6m from ZC4, all depends on work.

I bought a KX3 quite some time ago thinking I quite fancied getting into portable and QRP, its pretty much just sat on the desk in the shack not getting used, maybe for the odd listen around but this last week or so Ive started using it on 10m CW, ive wound the power down to true QRP levels @ 5w and have been working lots of stuff, quite a few into the Carribbean and North America, few into South America, various EU and Asia and even ZD7BG  who was kind enough to specifically ask for QRP stns the other day, I was particularly please to work him with my 5w, 

Really starting to quite enjoy this QRP lark

Im in the planning stage for next years trip to ZC4, im thinking this time I will go back in March, the first ever trip I did after 30 odd years was in March and conditions were pretty good, I took part in the CQ WW WPX contest on 10m from the beach at Melanda, although carting the generator every day to the beach and setting up was very tiring, it would have been so much easier if I had been able to leave the equipment setup but it just wasnt worth taking the chance , so I think that will be the plan for next year, I think i will either purchase another IC-7300 or an FT-710, ive always been an Icom man but the price of the little 710 makes it hard to beat tbh, depending on finances I may also go back in October for the CQ WW SSB in October, the ZC4 Multiplier will be very much wanted in that contest.

As far as my UK operating goes im still only active on 10m and 6m, 10 has been pretty good this year but im seriously thinking about going down the SDR route so I can also use my station remotely, theres been a few times Ive missed a new one because ive been away from the shack and it would be great to have the ability to remote back into it, ive so far this year worked 165 DXCC on 10m and 65 on 6m, considering I work shifts im fairly pleased with that, I do miss not having access to other bands when 10 is dead and Im actively looking to  do something about that, even if its only a multiband vertical for the Warc and bands down to either 40 or 80m, been looking around the  2nd hand market for any verticals for sale but so far havnt found what I want.

Well I made it back to ZC4 for the 2nd week in July, back to the same location I was at last year, maybe I should have learned my lesson, dont go in the Summer and operate inland with a vertical antenna, conditions were really poor, I had really wanted to operate 50Mhz but the antenna i was promised fell through a week before I was due to go which gave me no time to find another, the whole week ended up with only 800 Qsos, really disappointed, I did that in one day the previous March whilst operating from the Beach

Its been an expensive lesson, the  whole trip cost in  excess of £1200 for just a handful of contacts, lesson learned for next time, I have uploaded all my contacts to LOTW so if you are in need of a confirmation you should already have it, I still love the old fashioned paper QSL so im still happy to receive your QSL card to my address on QRZ.

I made some new contacts locally on island this time and that bodes well for my next trip, my next trip will be a concerted effort to put up a decent station with a decent HF and 6m antenna, the only thing im unsure on for my next trip is whether im going to buy an amplifier to bring with me, I have an offer of help for my next trip so the planning has already started, watch this space.

I was contacted whilst in ZC4 by Dave WJ2O who was on one of his many DX trips to the various DX entities in the world, if you follow Dave you will know he is a very well travelled DXer, his website is here https://www.wj2o.com Dave wanted to set foot in ZC4 and although he was not able to operate he came to visit me for an hour or so along with Valdas 5B4AOF, I had spoken with Valdas a few times recently on 10m so it was lovely to meet up with them both, Valdas invited me to his QTH as well which I duly visited a couple of days later, an amazing hilltop location with fabulous views and and even more fabulous shack, Dave WJ2O was staying at  Valdas shack which he rents out via https://www.dx-holiday-in-5b.com well worth a visit and Valdas is a really lovely guy.