All I’m thinking when out on my bike currently is… when will the warmer days start to arrive, eh? The weather looked pretty decent as I glanced out of my study window this morning, giving me the kick I needed to once again get safely geared up and heading out on my motorcycle. Only a short ride of about 20 miles there and back today, to a quaint little place called Mountain Air car park, on the side of a hillside just north of Cwmbran, in South Wales. It’s a popular spot for walkers, joggers and radio enthusiasts alike, unfortunately it is also a notorious spot for illegal off roaders who blast their way past anyone and anything wearing no helmets or safety gear.
Mountain Air car park is around 800 feet in elevation and is a super take-off point for working either HF or V/UHF with super 180˚ views NE to Hereford and the Midlands through SW across the Severn Estuary to Bristol, Avon and Somerset.
Once again setting up with the 2M dipole connected to my Yaesu FT-70D I made several new contacts, the furthest today was with Steve, M0PFF, located around 54m (87km) due south of my location, near Chard, in Somerset.
Also had a great QSO with Steve, M6STL, who runs a super little Youtube channel of his call sign name, which can be found here – please consider supporting a fellow radio enthusiast and pay him a visit, maybe also leave a comment and say I sent you… (oh, and also please remind him to adjust the timeout interval on his handy to a longer period, lol!). Steve was easily reachable with strong signals reported both ways to South Bristol, about 26 or so miles away. (Thanks for the nice QSO, Steve 👍)
I did plan on trying the comparison of the SlimJim with the Dipole but the downturn in the weather this week was particularly deceiving today, and despite it not being that windy, it was a lot colder than I had first imagined when peeking out of my study window some 2 hours prior! So, this comparison will yet again have to be for a future blog.
I have to say that the new dipole appears to perform very well, and with its quick to mount clip, is extremely portable and would easily fit into any backpack, seen in this pic it is clipped onto the 7M telescopic tube attached to the side of my motorcycle (and no, just in case anyone thought otherwise… I most certainly don’t operate when riding!!)
I did have a few passing visitors today, one of whom performed a nice little happy jig, especially for me! And if you think I am stupid, I may very well be, but it is always good to have a laff. Keep safe folks.
73
