I must apologise to all who attempted to chase my activation of Sugar Loaf, GW/SW-011, today (05/04/2026). The problems that affected my previous activation of Gwaunceste Hill, GW/MW-010, were supposed to have been resolved. Apologies too to those who attempted to chase that one.
My very sincere and grateful thanks to those who were persistent (or lucky) enough to make valid QSOs, in particular Allan, GW4VPX, who was able to work through the intermittence and reassure me that some sort of signal was being transmitted from MW-010.
There were apparently two problems on MW-010 - one was an unreliable connection from the EFHW to the 9:1 matching transformer. The other remains undiagnosed and evidently caused today’s problems. The end result on both hills was that the extensive protection system in the QMX seems to have been activated and shut down transmission. I found it difficult to operate with both the power output indicator and the SWR indicator showing completely blank for much of the time. The varying signal reports suggest that the fault may be partial or complete which will make it even more of a challenge to deal with.
If we go out again on Saturday (07/03/2026) or otherwise sooner than successful diagnosis and cure I intend to use a different radio and probably carry two aerials. Hoping to make more successful QSOs then.
73, Rod
