Category: Uncategorized

I’ve decided to upgrade the coax and PL-259 connectors running out to my end-fed random HF antenna. I’m going to stick with RG-58 coax as it’s only a short distance from my shack to the antenna so cable loss is not a massive concern, but instead of the junk I got from Amazon I’m going…

Today I have mainly been soldering 2 PL-259 plugs onto RG58 coax. Not the most exciting of jobs but it’s been a long time since I’ve done this and I quite enjoyed it! One thing I did notice was that the liquid flux I used was almost completely useless. It’s worked for now but the…

Over the weekend I sat down and assembled my new Diamond D-130 Discone antenna and moved it outside for testing with my SDRPlay RSPdx software radio (now my main wideband receive radio). Now, at the moment is is just outside of my office/shack widow and not very high off the ground so it’s not in…

I love using WSJT-X for making contacts in FT8 mode. It’s simple to set up, it works and it connects to my logging software (Log4OM) so I don’t have to manually enter contacts when I make them. But I absolutely hated the standard bright white UI. It gave me a headache, particularly at night. even…

Last week I finally sat down at my desk and programmed/configured my wonderful little IC-705 to connect and work with my Zum Hotspot. It took a few hours to get my brain around what I was doing and how I was doing it but in the end it all worked andI enjoyed myself immensely which…

Recent weeks have seen the HF bands at times completely dead due to extreme solar storms. This has proved quite frustrating to say the least. This weekend however has been very different. I fired the radio up on Saturday morning and the CW portion of the band was completely alive with contacts. I’ve no idea…

A few days ago I fired up my FT8 client but instead of it filling with scrolling numbers of FT8 contacts all shouting out CQ, there was almost nothing in the lefthand decode window. Everything worked OK, everything sounded OK but nothing on any band worked. I looked at the waterfall and that was full…

***************An Important Message From Chris Day, the man who designs, makes and sells the CatTouch and other CatX products. I will say only purchase you products from Chris directly via his web site at https://www.catknobz.com*************** You may be interested to learn there is a chap called ‘Larry Grant’ trying to sell CatTouch & CatKnobz on…

I have a little bag of cable adapters that I have collected over time. You know the thing, you need an adapter so you go to Amazon and they sell just what you want but only in packs of 7!! So you use 1 and put the other 6 away for later. Later arrives and…

For many years I’ve been the owner of an Icom IC-R20 scanner/receiver and I have been nothing but impressed with it. However, it’s getting a little bit old now and I wanted to upgrade. My obvious choice was the Icom IC-R30 scanner/receiver. Similar to the R20 but just with much improved overall performance, better screen…