….let the fun begin.

I need to get my hands on a cheap and simple 2m HT, any ideas? Have seen a few floating around on the Ontario Swapshop but don’t want to pay dollars for what will really be only a stop gap radio until I decide what I want to do.

Attended my first club meeting with NSARC. VA7OJ, Adam gave a very detailed and insightful talk on German World War 2 radar. Apparently some of the larger 3m diameter dish installations & transmitters are in use by some amateurs in Europe, how and what for I do not know.

This weekend is the ARRL Worldwide DX SSB contest. Though obviously not partaking in such events just yet it gave me the opportunity to listen out for a few more unusual (for a Pacific NW SWL with a very small antenna at least!) callsigns. Clearly heard were OX2A, CT1LT and OH8R, along with the more usual torrent of JAs. The paths from Vancouver to Japan on 20m always seem to be good.

Funnily enough I did not have much interest in any kind of contesting up until this weekend. Previously my listening experience of contests has always been RTTY or CW, neither of which interested me that much. This weekend was the first time I spent a whole day listening to bands in a sideband contest, I am hooked.

For a new ham like me even non-participation on a contest weekend gives me a chance to listen to some quality operating. A lot can be learned from listening to an experienced operator working weak or poorly identifying stations, KH7XS was a big standout this weekend.

After this weekend I am itching to get on the air!!!!!

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 7th, 2009 at 10:37 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.