Es at my QTH

Last year I had a short spell on 6m with a beam in my back garden. The antenna was only 3m above ground level and certainly not expertly set up. Having said that I still made a good few QSO's within Europe and seemed to have a direct line to EA8.

This year I initially promised myself a portable mast that would be sturdy enough to be raised up to the roof line then lowered when I wasn't using it to reduce the visual impact. This idea was to keep the XYL happy as she doesn't share my enthusiasm for antennas and also the neighbours as they've hardly passed comment on the vertical and I didn't want to push my luck.

Mainly through time and budget this didn't happen (2 sets of brakes on the same car put pay to that) so I opted for the inflexibility of putting the thing in the loft. After a lot of swearing it was installed and I thought that I'd made a big mistake as even though dx sherlock was telling me there was good chance there was Es in the region, the band was empty. Not to be put off I kept turning the rig on and scan through the band every now and then and last night was rewarded with the first QSO's of the season for me.

I guess the lesson is to not rely heavily on the internet and to not worry if it is just not happening. Check the connections. Check them again and build a kit or read a book if you just get static.

By the way I still haven't heard a single UK operator this year even though I hear European operators. Also if these Es clouds would make themselves available when I'm at home rather than at work then it would make it a lot easier ;-)

[caption id="attachment_433" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Monster in my cupboard / loft"][/caption]