Shropshire Activations - G4DDL

Sorry to anyone who was looking for me on HF this weekend.
The WX killed all but a minimal operation from WB-004 on Sat pm.
I had the 2m FM up and running with evil QRM from the radars and PMR on Titterstone Clee. The rain held off for my orienteering but as soon as we reached the summit it started to come down quite heavily and we headed back to the car and pub in that order. I had the Ft817 and Hf antenna with me but it never came out of the rucsack.

Thanks to the 5 stations (inc M1EYO/P Alan) who worked me. You must have thought I was deaf at times but the QRM was colossal.

Mike G4DDL (with G4AOL and 2E1FKA)

In reply to G4DDL:

Sorry to hear about the QRM Mike. I used a FT290R with preamp and a beam on the hill and had no problems apart from a slight audible rasp as the L band radar swung past my position. Presumably you were using a handie.

Hopefully you’ll get out onto the hills again soon.

73, Gerald

In reply to G4OIG:
Thanks Gerald, yes QRM was bad and the handheld Yaesu VX7 and a SOTA beam did not keep it out. I was going to get the FT817 out to try it when the rain started. with the 817 I can turn the preamp off (I think-it does on HF) and the attenuator on etc. I was also going to try ssb.

Never mind the weekend was about orienteering and I had 2 enjoyable runs, especially pleasing on Titterstone as I did not get lost once! I am just a bit slow at present.

73 Mike

In reply to G4DDL:

with the 817 I can turn the preamp off (I think-it does on HF) and the
attenuator on etc.

The preamp (IPO) and attenuator are on the HF side only. I’d expect the 817 to be as useless as a modern handie in such circumstances. The problem is due in a large way to the lack of effective bandpass filtering on input stages of modern radios. We want a single radio to tune from DC to light, well there’s a cost that comes with that and that is poor performance in an RF rich environment.

It’s almost worth investing in an old 290 (or similar) simply to use as a receiver on these sites where there are lots of commercial transmitters, especially as you can pick up Mk1 sets for around £50 nowadays. Of course it is much less convenient but you’d only need to take out the 290 for the >awkward< sites!

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:

By coincidence an FT-290 has just been listed on my Flea Market:

http://pub29.bravenet.com/classified/show.php?usernum=2477864602

73

Richard

In reply to MM0FMF:

I can confirm the efficacy of a '290 in rf-hostile environments, I have used mine from Titterstone Clee with a SOTAbeam strapped to the trig point with no problems other than the periodic swishing noted by G4OIG. I have a tuned (I think GaAsFET) preamplifier that I fitted to mine which when I purchased the kit many years ago was sold as the “SOTA” preamplifier. The vendor thought that stood for State of the Art, but now we know different…!!

73 de Paul G4MD

In reply to MM0FMF:

Of course it is much less convenient but you’d only need to take out the 290 for the “awkward” sites!<

Hmmm, a good thought Andy. Mine was going into the car, but I’ll keep it out and cable it up as a direct alternative to the 817. Then if I arrive at the foot of a hill sprouting masts, I can take it with me… just in case.

73, Gerald