A quiet week on the radio

This time of year my day job takes over as the first term gets fully underway at my college. I like to squeeze in time to unwind and play some radio but it doesn't always work out thy way. 
I did get to spend a short time doing radio related activities though. 

On Tuesday evening I joined Tim M6ZRT and Keith G0RQQ for some activity on 70cm for the UKAC contest. There were quite a few local contacts and after I left some of more distance. This always happened when I leave the portable site. They were using an Elk antenna with 10w from the FT-857 to work stations all over the UK. 

After heading home I received a text message asking for assistance. It seems Tim had forgotten to run the engine occasionally and had a flat battery. I had to nip back out to te remote location with a spare battery and jump leads. I hope I don't make the same error in the future. Perhaps I should always operate from an alternative to the car's battery. Still a fun evening and some interesting stations worked from a very basic setup in IO93RH. 


Comments

  1. VE9KK 13 October 2013 at 13:10

    Good morning Alistair, I too find that radio is a very nice break from things. As for the flat battery I too have been mobile and had to be very aware to start the car so I would not have to make a call as did your friend who needed a boost.
    Mike

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alistair - M0TEF13 October 2013 at 13:56

      Hi Mike, we all think about these things, but as radio often seems to take us into a time warp we may forget the time spent on air. Luckily we had a back up plan and will most likely take a spare fully charged battery with us portable.
      As for relaxing it is a wonderful way to make the brain switch off and do something else. I am finding my CW practice is helping me lots. My brain is so focused on the CW everything else goes, it must be second only to meditation.

      Delete

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