When your only antennae are dipoles pinned on the wall, you don't exactly pack a punch. You don't hear much either. A nearby pylon and an even closer cordless telephone base station/charger were my main sources of noise until later in 2008, when I had Sky+ installed. My decoder is a few feet away from my radio, and my aerials. The Buzzcocks were correct; noise annoys. Solar Cycle 24 isn't helping.
In the intervening years, the QRM has become oppressive. I have added, in no particular order, a BT Home Hub 2; a CD player on standby; a DAB radio/alarm on standby; a Freeview+ HD box (don't ask), and two mobile phones. Oh, and I suffer from chronic apathy. What's to be done?
1. Get on the Internet:
I set up a Twitter account, @GM0JHE. 10 tweets in how long? I sense a pattern here.
2. Go to a rally:
Yes, another one. The Central Scotland Mini Ham Radio Convention took place at the Crofthead Farm Community Education Centre on the outskirts of Livingston (isn't everything in Livingston on the outskirts?). My SatNav couldn't cope, and took me to the former mining village of Seafield, which was nowhere near the rally. It turned out that I wasn't the only one flummoxed by the '2nd turning at the roundabout', though that was nothing compared with the hilarious raffle which seemed to go on forever, when in reality it went on for half an hour!
The CSFMG AGM was taking place, so I rejoined after two years. My membership had lapsed due to my stupidity and the lack of a Magnum Rally. I also took the liberty of buying 'The Low Power Spratbook' to add to my collection of books I never read or from which I never build anything.
I bought an old book for 40p from one of the junk stalls, 'Wireless Servicing Manual' by W. T. Cocking, in which there is the inscription 'William L. Cameron Feb 1938', so it really is old. It's in relatively good condition, but I still don't like handling old, dirty books. I may cover it in some way, or sell it in a junk sale.
Some nine and half years after the last one, I bought a Callbook, but my excitement at acquiring the RSGB Centenary edition was tempered somewhat by my details having been changed by someone. However, an e-mail to Ofcom later, and it was sorted. We'll see next year. I didn't buy any of these, though.
3. Buy a rig:
I've been thinking for a while that I need a new HF rig, one with a little more sophistication, but money has been tight for some time. So, what about VHF and UHF? I have a handheld, a Kenwood TH-F7E, a dinky little dual bander (for its time). I bought it at the beginning of 2002, but have barely used it, because 2m here isn't up to much. It's plagued by moron ex-CBers who appear to think that operating practices 'acceptable' on 27MHz are acceptable in Amateur Radio. For example, one morning a few weeks back, I heard someone bemoan the fact that the authorities had confiscated his guns! No one seems to call CQ on 2m anymore, and if there's any activity on 70cm, I have never heard it (apart from a repeater somewhere down the Clyde about 10 years ago). Unless you have a sked with someone, you don't make contact with anyone respectable, and I have no friends. OK, so I have a handheld, some of the natives are far from appealing and I have no friends: why did I buy another handheld? I have no idea.
The Yaesu FT-60E is, as we say round here, Clydebuilt. If I dropped it on my toes, I'd be hopping mad. It's heavy because of the big battery, but heavy means robust, in respect of the case, at least. I went for this over the Wouxun or Baofeng, as they have the reputation of being a little lightweight (and a swine to programme). I may acquire a Baofeng UV-5R for a laugh later on in the year, as they sell for around £30 on the Web. That's not too much money to throw away, as I must eat that much in chocolate every week. Back to the FT-60 and, no, I've not transmitted since I bought it four weeks ago. However, I'm taking it on holiday, so we'll see. Don't hold your breath. Look, here it is
and finally...
4. Erm, switch the radio on an actually go on the air?
That's a bit drastic, isn't it? Well, I did. For a couple of hours this morning, I took part in the IARU contest (nice bit of symmetry that). I worked 25 stations in quite difficult conditions on 10 and 15 metres (where the QSB was my enemy), 20 metres, and had one contact on 40, the RSGB headquarters station, GR2HQ. My other favourites were VY2ZM on Prince Edward Island on 20m; H2T in Cyprus and OH0X in the Aland Islands on 10m (with 5W); and MU0GSY in Guernsey on 15m. Now I'm halfway down the second page of Logbook 2. It's a start, isn't it?
p.s. Somewhere in there, I bought a Raspberry Pi. Let's see if it stays in its wrapping as long as the 70cm HB9CV!
and now for a genuine 'and finally':
My trusty Yaesu FT-690R, which I had bought secondhand in 1991, has decided to give up the ghost. With 2.5 Watts, and the built-in telescopic whip, I worked 16 countries (that's a lot for me), the farthest away being Ukraine on CW. I'm surprised that the much older, and much more used FT-290R is still going, but I have to accept the fact that I may have to put my hand in my pocket and buy something else. VHF multimodes are not the order of the day anymore. The closest is the FT-817, but that is now also old technology, and I read on the Internet that parts are hard to come by. Next nearest is, again, a Yaesu rig, the FT-857. That can't be much younger than the 817, and it doesn't get the best of reviews. Most other rigs are base station sets which only go up to 50Mhz, but the 2m and 70cm bands can be useful to have. Decisions, decisions.
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