G4YSS: G/NP-008 VHF-NFD Campover, 6&7-07-19

That raised a smile with me too!

Yes, concur with that. There’s no external leakage and if there had been it wouldn’t have reversed itself. I have seen a note to swap the brake fluid in a lot of the manuals of cars I’ve had but I can’t remember if it’s in the Fiesta one. I will go retrieve it from the boot when it stops raining.

My goodness, a third of the cost of a ‘new’ car just to put new fluid in. That’s shocking. Good job you know that other bloke.
John

Thanks Andrew,
Very kind. I like this event but I’ve done it for so many years I feel duty bound to carry on. I did drop 6m, 70cm and 20m this year with three hours less time. Family life got in the way.

Ah, that’s like the G5RV with changed lengths. I decided decades ago to go the link dipole route for /P but I CAN readily see the advantages of the system you describe. In rotten WX you need not go out of your tent or shelter and that can be very valuable.

I took my tiny home-brew ATU once or twice for overnighters, strapping the 80m dipole and running out a reel of wire along the ground to tune 80 and 160m. On the down side, the ATU, though small, has a weight penalty and despite its simplicity, it’s another thing that can go wrong. That said I have always had an open mind to doublets so maybe one day plus an LDG?
John

You have been busy. Hope you can perfect it. Nice little ATU too.

The G-QRP Club mag has been a good source of ideas over the years. My home-brew ATU is a case in point. It has two 500pf miniature variables with the mica-like insulation/ dielectric between the plates plus a coil with a ferrite rod that slides in and out. GQRP had it as Pye config but after working out how to make it switchable to ‘T’ or Pye using one 4-pole miniature switch, it became even more versatile. Though it was never intended to, it will take QRO too.
John

Hi Rob,
Thanks for the reply. Yes, the QRM was massive but from my side the QSO was good.

“After a few repeats G0HRT Rob entered the log on the second time of trying at 2x 55. It was hard to get the reports across for Rob but the real difficulty was properly identifying Rob’s callsign in massive QRM.”

I had the reports OK on the earlier attempt. The only thing I was unsure of was the callsign. I had some of it but couldn’t log it until I was absolutely sure it was you. With the reports from the first and the second attempts plus your callsign from the second exchange I logged you with confidence. It seemed good to me so unless you’re really not happy, leave it in. It was good from my side but I wish this data wouldn’t keep creeping up the band. Considering the height of the QRM, your QRP into an ‘available antenna’ was doing that bad. Keep calling!

Border Collies have been in my top three breeds since we stayed on a farm in Cornwall in 1958. Lassie and I were ‘best friends forever’ by the time the 2-weeks were up and of course we had to go back for the next five summers. Such an intelligent breed. Yes, there’s something special about taking Sasha on SOTA’s. She’s human really.

73, John

MM0FMF…thank you!