Ronan MM0IVR
@itsronan
Just an average lifeform, trying to survive until the inevitable big event... Dabbler in music, electronics, amateur radio, hillwalking and photography.
And today's prize for Most Excellent Yellow Lines goes to the Thriepmuir team with their Picasso-inspired installation. Beautiful interpretation, sensitively executed👌
More Rifa Madness.... The amount of smoke and stink these things can spew out never fails to impress. These lasted about 14 years before shitting the bed. #nord #rifa #stinkycaps
I had this radio as a kid in the 70's, and spent so many hours listening to all the stations that appeared on MW and LW in the evenings. I've been looking out for one at a sensible price and now, finally, here it is. Anything with a Photon Beam Control can't be bad, can it?
Another spot of QRP morse therapy yesterday evening up in the lammermuir hills. I even brought a VHF radio, just in case. Glad I did as I had a nice QSO with GM4MTC who was way up North, camping on a SOTA summit (gm/es-031).
Lovely to see this osprey as it was doing its thing over Whiteadder reservoir yesterday evening. I've not seen one there before. #osprey #rspb #eastlothian #birdwatching
Slight change of venue this evening for a spot of QRP radio fun. Using the trusty old Xiegu X5105 and a vertical whip. Only six in the log on CW for 45 minutes of effort. Not enough to "activate the park", but enough to keep this guy happy for a bit. Two into the USA and the rest round Europe.
Interesting splash of sunset light through the trees earlier. I don't think I've ever seen such strong Ready Brek vibes!
Excellent performance of Dracula at the festival theatre this evening. Shame it was let down a bit by muddy sounding PA.
I've been very much enjoying the tiny "rooster" CW kit radio from Kanga. This one puts out about 1W on 7030.1 kHz and has already had nice QSO's into Norway and Wales. Both with good signal reports.
Dodging the hail showers on Scald Law (GM/SS-125) earlier to release some SOTA dits and dahs. It's been a while! The Xiegu X6200 seemed to do the job fairly well but I think I'll revert back to the little QMX radio for the next one. #hamradio #SOTA #Xiegu #flippincold #CW #morsecode
35 in the log from the car. All on 5W CW. That station in New Mexico did well to hear me!
Indeed. I was parked down the front of Longniddry No.3 so the wind was pretty brisk at points. It was no match for the triple mag-mount though 💪💪💪 I took the little G106 out too, for its first /p sesh. It's a solid unit for CW and perfectly sized for sitting on the steering wheel.
The Xiegu x6200, despite its MANY faults, is a fun radio to use in the car. 5 watts of CW into an ampro antenna was enough to get through on my first or second calls to most of the ARRL contest stations on 15m earlier. Dah dit diddly dah...
Ok, I've gone over to the dark side temporarily... After seeing posts on here about the tiny Cardputer running FT8, I had to give it a go. As of last night, there's an MD5Launcher compatible version of Mini-FT8 available on GitHub. It's pretty impressive and soooooo teenyweeny!
Holy tiny capacitors, Batman. If these things get any smaller, Farnell will start using insects to deliver them!
Sending CW with a straight key will (probably) always be my favourite mode of communication. I have, however, decided to meddle with the dark side and have bought the new Xiegu paddles. I apologise in advance for all the extra dits . . . . . . . .
They're a bit moreish... We had a great show here in Scotland although it was fairly late so I suffered at work today...
It would appear that the morse key I use for /p isn't just a straight key. It can also be used as a bug! #hamradio #VeryWeakJoke #CW #morse #amateurradio #SOTA
This little guy sat beside me on the grouse butt for a while while I tapped away on the radio. I think he's keen on getting licensed.
I was out again on Sunday with the mighty QMX radio for a local 2-point SOTA summit GM/SS-148. 35 in the log with 15 of those being on SSB! The firmware is still a Beta version but SSB performance is already very good with my teeny-tiny mic.
Glorious weather today, although a bit windy, on the summit of Ben Chonzie. I had great fun using the tiny QMX radio for a quick(ish) SOTA activation (GM/SS-015). Conditions seemed a bit subdued, with most signals being fairly quiet compared to the usual. 16 in the log and another 6 SOTA points.
This last week or so, I've been trying to change my routine a bit. I've been setting the alarm for silly o'clock and heading off in the car for a bit of early morning QRP radio by the sea before going to work.... What a great way to start the day. #qrp #hamradio #amateurradio #radio #cw #morsecode
Saturday SOTA up on Minch Moor GM/SS-133. A bit of a chilly breeze and the odd shower but good fun nonetheless. 32 in the log on CW using the mighty QMX and a linked EFHW.
Getting a bit personal with a faulty Bricasti M7 Reverb processor earlier today. A bit of high-class, but fairly niche DSPorn. All ended well.
Feeling a bit grim, with a throat like a bag of rusty screws. Think I'll just take it easy tomorrow and find a quiet spot on 20m or 15m for a bit of chilled out CW...... Wonder if there'll be anyone on 🤔
Unleashing the full might of the neglected QCX "classic" on 20m... Should raise the ambient temp by a few degrees. You're welcome.