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From Finbar EI0CF.
I thought the group might be interested in my most recent LF
qso on the 19th October at 1600 utc.
In February 1998 I received a phone call from G6RO, Ron,
telling me that he had just received my signal on the then new LF band, 136 khz.
Mine was the first signal he had heard on LF. This inspired him to
have a go himself and his experiments were part of Technical Topics in RadCom in
June 1999. On the 19th I managed to hear him for the first time, this being his
first
overseas qso on the band. We exchanged reports and I now have
his qsl card.
I phoned to thank him for the long awaited qso, and he
was full of ideas for developing his system to maximise his signal and we
discussed his use of a B28 receiver to pull in my signal and for his plans to
re-align this old valve receiver and perk it up.
I don't think Ron would mind me telling
you that he will be 87 year old in February next, he has been
licenced since 1932.
His enthusiasm and willingness to
experiment is an insperation to us all. This is Amateur radio at its best. Well
done Ron.
Meanwhile, back at Malin Head, using my
new ATU, an ex NDB antenna tuning unit ( lots of lovely Litz wire) I failed to
notice the variometer adjusting handle was not earthed during the initial tune
up session and ended up with a puff of white smoke as I zapped my finger with
thousands of volts........I did'nt even get as far as touching the metal control
knob, it came to meet me.
I checked with a screwdriver, having first
danced around the shack nursing a burnt finger, and was able to draw a one
inch, or should I say 25 mm arc. Not nice. I don't hear the guys on 20m
having these problems. Strange.
73's Finbar
EI0CF
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