30m update

My 30m "campaign" has got off to a good start. With the weather mostly warm and dry, my garden table "shack" has been busy.

I'm using a QCX+ from QRP Labs running about 4W (depends how the battery is doing) to a lightweight dipole that I built for SOTA and WWFF activating.  The dipole uses a Pico Balun centre from Sotabeams, on a Sotapole at 7m AGL.  Another Sotapole at the bottom of the garden and a halyard attached to the house hold the dipole ends 5m AGL.

Maybe I've been lucky, but 90% of my CQ calls have had a reply within five minutes.  Typical QSOs have lasted 10 minutes and I have worked more than a dozen European stations, from Spain to Norway and Scotland to Switzerland.

Courtesy of John GM4SLV, one of the QSOs has even made it onto YouTube! 

YouTube: GM4SLV and M0DHP QSO

What next? More of the same - I'm enjoying the ragchews. But I also want to try some QRP SOTA and WWFF chasing, since 30m is one of the less commonly used bands by activators and I would like to support those who try it.

Focusing on 30m

My friend Roger MI0WWB has always been more of a ragchewer on CW than I am.  I favoured the quick thrill of contesting or SOTA / WWFF activating and chasing.  Roger recently told me about his exploits on the 30m band using QRP and simple antennas, so I decided to give it a go too.  

It has been great fun and has rekindled my interest in amateur radio.  Thank you, Roger!

My objectives in the short term are:

• Call CQ more often
• Ragchew
• Operate from the garden using my QCX and the 30m dipole I made for SOTA but hardly use

Longer term, I want to see if I can put up a better permanent antenna than the EFHW I installed a while ago.  It is quite low (5m sloping to 2.5m) and seems noisy.  I would like something better that I can use from my upstairs shack when the seasons change and I am less inclined to set up in the garden.

Hello

Welcome to my amateur radio blog.  I'm Ray, callsign MØDHP, based in Thames Ditton in Surrey. In this blog, I aim to keep a journal of my operating activities and construction projects.

Check out my QRZ page.

I was previously active in amateur radio for several years in the 2000s.  If you want to read my old blog from those times, you can find it at MØDHP Amateur Radio.