There are always a few events on the calendar that put me in front of the radio. One of them is the sporadic E season. I suppose there are a load of different tools you can use, including the old fashioned ones ....ears. But being a bit lazier I use DX Sherlock. Its a great service that is basically a spotter for contacts on 28Mhz up to 432Mhz and beyond.
One of the more useful services is the email alerts which tell me where to point and the MUF, and the good thing is that I've started to get a few emails coming through, which in my book means that the big stations are starting to make contacts and its nearly time for the minnows to get a piece of the action.
This year the yagi in in the loft. Again it is a compromise between height and the opporunity to change the beam direction. Last year almost all of my contacts were Southern Europe and the Canaries with a few in Scotland and funnily enough none in England. So with no funding for a big tilt over tower available I'm limited to what I can do. Hence this years experiment. I say year beacuse dismantling the 5 ele yagi and reassembling it in a confined space is interesting at least. Plenty of swearing and sweating!
Here's to a good Es season and I hope to meet you on the band
At least your loft is big enough for a 5 element yagi!
ReplyDeleteA very tight squeeze Julian, one of the elements is slightly less straight than it was last year...The irish sea spray is so corrosive that almost didn't come apart at all. Keeps the XYL happy as well, out of sight.
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