Whilst my Dad (G8DUK) is visiting, we decided to try the 2 metre repeater located in Blankenese. This meant that we needed to configure the yaesu for duplex operation for the first time. This was actually very trivial, as we just needed to activate repeater operation, and the defaults were exactly what we needed (a -0.6MHz shift for the transmission frequency). To check it, we then pressed the PTT button on the microphone, to verify that the transmission frequency was what we expected. The screen read 145.662.50 for receiving, and 145.062.50 when transmitting – perfect! We were good to go!
We took the radio to the roof of the hotel where my Dad was staying, complete with the sota beams tactical mini, the 2m slim jim, and the rubber duck. This is a fantastic place to transmit from, as not only do you have great views of the city, you can watch the planes coming in low for landing in Hamburg. You are also very high up, with very few buildings or obstructions at the same height. However, once we were there, we realised that not only did the hotel roof not have lights at night, but it was freezing cold! Using the phone torch light, with numb fingers, we managed to attach an antenna to the yaesu and we were good to go! As soon as we got our first QSO we immediately forgot the cold!
As can been seen from the picture above, we also attempted HF, but there we had no luck. This would turn out to be a complicated problem that would occupy many hours of our time, but we were still naive and hopeful at this point!