On 23/04/2025 I activated Aschentalshalbe. This is a lovely summit in the Harz, with the hike there and back offering fantastic views of the surrounding mountains. The Harz is a region in the middle of Germany, and used to be synonymous with tree covered peaks, but unfortunately due to drought and fires, 20,000 hectares of forest… Continue reading SOTA activation DM/NS-111 (Aschentalshalbe)
Tag: antenna
The perils of a bad connector
We decided that we would take advantage of the sunny weather, and set up for some radio fun on the office roof after work. We setup the 1/4 wave ground plane antenna, and double checked the SWR with a nanoVNA. It showed an unexpectedly high value of 1:4. That can’t be right – when we… Continue reading The perils of a bad connector
Debugging with a dummy load
One of my friends recently got a new radio (an Icom-706MK2G), and wanted to try the 15m band. We did not yet have an antenna for 15m, so it was a perfect excuse build another ground plane antenna (more details about the construction can be found here: https://m7isy.rootfs.net/2025/02/28/building-a-1-4-wave-ground-plane-for-20m/). It was the third time building this… Continue reading Debugging with a dummy load
Building a 1/4 wave ground plane for 20m
I’ve been struggling to get HF working for me. I replaced the Yaesu FT-818nd’s internal battery, and figured out that there is a 11.5V threshold to get the full 6Watts out (more info can be found in my previous blog post: https://m7isy.rootfs.net/2024/12/06/yaesu-ft-818nd-the-11-5-volts-that-nobody-told-you-about/). I attempted to check my propagation by using the reverse beacon network and… Continue reading Building a 1/4 wave ground plane for 20m