Roy and CQ100

Well it has come a full circle with G4VCT. I did tell him the initial thrill of CQ100 would wear off, it has taken just over a week and he has reinstalled Echolink and Skype and vowed not to pay for other software. I just knew it wouldn't last, i feel like starting a campaign for "real radio". Listen for Roy swanning around on 40 metres again....

CQ100/QSONET

Roy G4VCT spent this morning on our 80m net raving about the virtues of cq100, a virtual transceiver on the internet. This caused quite a debate, the majority of us agreeing that it wasn't "real" radio. Roy enjoys it because of the large interface, the lack of QRM and the ease of use! So i thought i would have a look at it, even though this sort of thing holds no interest for me. I have used IRLP only once and Echolink when G3ZFZ was out in Malta.
The interface looks like a proper radio and the controls react how you would expect them to, it is also very easy to use. I had a quick listen round but after 10 minutes got extremely bored especially when i found out you used the keyboard to send CW! As far as i can see it is just like Echolink with perhaps more potential. It is internet communication with a fancy front end but if thats what some people enjoy then thats up to them. Sorry Roy i am not impressed.

Comet Capers

Thought you would like to see the Comet dipole that Bob G1OCK used in Tenerife. Its a rotary dipole for 10/15/20m and it worked very well for him mounted on the roof of the villa. Wish we had that sort of sunny weather over here at the moment!

On the Air with HRD

As you can see from the sidebar it is now possible to see what frequency i am working on HF at the present time. This is achieved using Ham Radio Deluxe sending information back to the blog pages every few minutes. It was quite difficult to get it working right but with the help of G6CRV , the guys on the HRD forums and my long suffering husband it is finally up and running! I might not always be running this feature but it is an interesting concept to try out. Ham Radio Deluxe continues to improve in leaps and bounds and i highly recommend it!

Start of the New Year

I really seem to have not got into any serious radio this week, time seems to be flying by somehow. What i have been doing is listening a lot on 30 metres. The trap dipole tunes well on this band and signals seem to be very good indeed. I used to own a Cushcraft D3W rotary dipole which would have been ideal but somehow i never did make the effort to make any contacts on there. I must admit to enjoying the listening and it makes a pleasant change to do something different for once. Now i need to get my Bencher out of the cupboard and do some transmitting ;-)