
I used to take a 2m radio up there but I don't think I ever made a contact so I lost interest. The other problem with that path is that you sometimes have to run the gauntlet of a herd of cattle. In the UK it's illegal to put a bull into a field through which is a public right of way. However there is no such restriction on cows. They can be quite inquisitive, and there have been a few cases recently of people being knocked down and injured while walking through a field of cattle. It is quite frightening being followed across a field at less than the safe stopping distance by a couple of hundred tons of beefburgers in the making, as happened to Olga and I a couple of years ago. Shouting "horseradish sauce" at them has no effect at all!
Today, fortunately, the bovine creatures kept out of my way. I found a suitable operating spot, put the whip antenna on the Intek and started calling CQ. After a few minutes I had a call from Zdenek OK1AQW, coincidentally the same station that got away from me yesterday. Today he was strength 9 on the S meter, the same as Roger G0MWE had been from just a few miles away. We moved off the calling frequency and completed a solid 5 minute QSO, kept short only because Zdenek was receiving a lot of interference from other stations on the same frequency.
My report was initially 57, but was amended to 59 dropping to 51. At one point Zdenek informed me that I was coming over another British station that was calling on the frequency. He was running 100W to a quarter wave vertical and I think he was a bit surprised to hear I was running only 2.5W to a 140cm telescopic whip!
Incidentally it turns out OK1AQW doesn't live near Prague at all as I wrote yesterday. His QRZ.com page is wrong. He is actually more than 100km east of Prague, about 10km from the Polish border, in locator JO80eb. I calculate that to be a distance of 888 miles or 1,430km. Not bad for a voice contact using a battery powered hand-held radio and whip antenna. Don't you just love Sporadic E?
I didn't manage any other contacts. I heard DO5DGH calling CQ repeatedly but he didn't hear me. But this was a nice taste of what is possible. Some people might wonder why someone who owns nice radios like a K3 and even an FT-817 should put so much effort into trying to make contacts using a modified hand-held CB but I think to talk to someone direct using a battery powered self contained hand-held radio, without the aid of a satellite, a repeater or internet linking, is the ultimate challenge and far more exciting than anything I could achieve even if I had the full legal power, a tower and a beam!
4 comments:
Congratulations Julian,
Can't imagine have more fun than this with a HT. Great experience and keep up the good work.
Congrats Julian, I tried this setup you're using on CB many years ago, but never made a single DX contact despite trying so much.
So, I think what you did is remarkable ! 73, Bas
Hi Julian,
Love your blog, such a good read.
I've also just got myself an H-520. I've carried out the mod, however I haven't turned up the modulation yet, I'll do that soon.
Can I ask, what type of whip do you use with the handset?
Many thanks
James
I'm using a base loaded 10m telescopic whip from Waters and Stanton but it is not very good quality. I have asked Jeep in Bangkok - an eBay seller from Thailand - if he will make me a 10m antenna. I'm sure he has had 27MHz versions listed in the past. It would be worth contacting him by email and asking. I've had a 2m 5/8 telescopic from him and it is excellent, and a lot of hams with 70MHz rigs are buying his 70MHz telescopic antennas.
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