Following on from our success, and fun we had, in the CQWPX SSB contest in March 2025 The Royal Signals Amateur Radio Society (RSARS) contest team decided to take part in the CQWW DX SSB contest This contest is held annually on the last full weekend of October each year, this is a  48 hour contest starting at 00:00 UTC on the Friday and running through to 00:00UTC on the Sunday evening. The aim is to make contact with as many different stations on the HF amateur bands – 160, 80, 40, 20 15 and 10M – in as many different countries and CQ Zones around the world. There are also CW and RTTY events held on the last full weekends of November and September respectively.

RSARS have been kindly donated a building, The Cole Block, on the army garrison at Blandford Camp, in the town of Blandford Forum, Dorset. We have a permanent station there that is used regularly by members stationed on the camp, club members visiting, and guests who are invited to attend at special events. I have been a member of RSARS for the past 18 months and first attended for the CQWPX contest in March 2025.  

RSARS was established in 1960 and has been dedicated to the development and growth of communication skills among Royal Signals personnel, veterans, and those with a connection to the military community ever since. The group was originally founded with the authority of the War Office by General Whistler and Brigadier Eric Cole. The idea was to provide serving members of the Royal Signals a route to deepen their knowledge of radio communications and associated technologies through self-training. As amateur radio was already recognised as a military pastime, they offered a perfect blend of practical skill development and technical challenges. Originally based at Catterick Garrison, there was a move to Blandford Camp in Cole Block – a location steeped in heritage and significance.

So after some discussion we decided to get together for CQWW SSB contest this year, again to have fun on the radio with friends, make as many contacts to score as many points possible, and finish as high up in the results in our category. We finished 2nd in the UK in our section of the CQWPX contest in March 2025, only being beaten by an established team of experienced operators, and we only operated for a total of 34.2 hours of the contest. This time deficit was due to the team getting to know each other especially as it was the first time some of us had met, maintenance on the antennas, and some interruptions from the many visitors who stopped by to see what was happening. We also stopped to have tea and drinks during the Saturday and Sunday to chat and plan tactics. But this time around we were hoping to operate for the full 48 hours on all bands and get further up the table, and there will be more stations in our category to try and beat.

At this point I must say thanks to the garrison commander that we are able to take part in this activity with her being so supportive of the club. The Cole Block is a single story building with 2 offices and a large sitting area. We decided that one office would be used for sleeping and storage of boxes and our kit, one is the permanent shack with an Icom IC-7610 and Acom 1000 amplifier, a Yaesu FT-990 connected to a Yaesu FL-7000 amplifier and an Icom IC-756 connected to Ameritron AL-80B amplifier. Tom also brought his IC-756 Pro3 along and hooked it up to a Kenwood TL-922 amplifier, Ady had his Elekraft K4 and Acom 1000 and his IC-7300 as a spare, Tom also brought along his spare TL-922 just in case we needed it. And with me now working at Icom UK I was kindly loaned an Icom IC-7760 flagship radio for the weekend and this was used in the main shack area, thank you Bob (my boss).

So we could be on all bands we used all available desks to set up the equipment. This gave 4 operating positions, and with only 5 operators on site for the full contest and visitors calling in through Saturday and Sunday we felt this would give us maximum time to each be on air and on the main bands to get the scores we would need to finish as high up the table as possible.

Antennas to be used were the clubs 3 element tri-band Yagi with a 10M parasitic element added to give us 4 element on 10M, along with a 3 element tri-band Yagi used for 15M and 20M. Both are mounted on the 60 foot towers with a doublet suspended between them fed into a balun and then into an automatic antenna tuner to get the impedances right. Ady brought along his home made full size 1/4 wave vertical for 80M, and we have a 4 square antenna for 40M – which also works on 15M – that had been built and was very successful in the CQWPX event earlier in the year.

The IC-7760 was to be used on 10M, 80M and 160M using the clubs Acom 1000 to the 4 element Yagi and 80M Vertical – and tried the doublet for 160 with limited success – and the 100W output from the radio to the doublet mounted between the 2 towers  the Yagis. The Clubs 7610 was also 80M through the Ameritron, sadly the Ameritron failed so we only had 100W from the radio. Tom set his 756 on the 40M 4 square we had built for CQWPX and was able to use it on 15m, and the K4 went on 20M through the 3 element Yagi and Acom 1000, and doubled up on 15M when the 40M band was rocking.

Almost all the members present own at least 1 Icom radio, which with their simplicity of operating made it easy to move from one to the other as the controls are so instinctive to use. Ady set his K4 up and as on the Icoms we found it easy to use, not really having to change any settings, just tune the amp which again we were all familiar with from using the equipment in March.

From the off we were making good runs on the chosen bands, the 80M vertical was on with the 7610 and Ameritron but we were struggling to get any output from the amp and tried to cure the issue, meanwhile Ady was on 20, Chris using the 7760 on 160 trying to get some “bonus points” with us not having a tuned antenna for the band. As it was a struggle after about an hour it was decided to switch the 80M vertical on to the 7760 and Acom to maximise that band and points. Tom was trying to find a clear spot on 40M, but as he said it was that busy “you can’t get a fag paper between the stations”. This was much the story all weekend with us rotating and taking breaks for sleep, though mostly it was for a couple of hours here and there.

Tea and coffee was flowing and made by any operator who was not at the desk. We grabbed food when we were not on shift and this again was erratic like the sleep. We also had times where we would all sit round and chat trying to work out a strategy for getting maximum points possible. We even had times where no matter how much we tuned up and down the bands we were only hearing the stations we had already worked, even when having a run (calling CQ) we were getting called by duplicates, especially on the Sunday when it got really hard. Another thank you here, Martin (2E0HVE) brought pizzas in on the Sunday afternoon so we all stopped and had a chat, Inghi (M0MHJ) also called in at this time so they both got on the air and put some points on the board while the others had lunch.

Score wise we ended on 3000 contacts and 2,944,800 points before we get our final score from the checks for any errors. At the end we were talking and planning for the CQWPX 2026 event in March to get together again for some fun on air. We had a fun weekend with all members who attended having a go. We had a couple of new to contesting guys attend and made contacts – all saying how they enjoyed it and asking when we were next going to have a go.

Every radio performed flawlessly, with the same thing being said by every team member who used the IC-7760 on how much a pleasure it was to use. They commented on how they found moving from the 7610 to the 7760 was so easy and it was as if they were using the same radio – as I explained they were in effect as the human interface side is just about exactly the same (as said earlier just a few features more on the 7760 over the 7610). The 756 Pro3 also never missed a beat, and was excellent on the crowded 40M band, working everything we could hear. At one time there was “not a cigarette paper” between the stations transmitting on there.

Currently we are looking at entering the CQWPX contest in 2026 and try to improve our position from this year. Then the society will be active from the club using a different call to the contest call we used at regular periods. They are looking at putting a D-Star repeater in place of the current one there for FM and Fusion, this is due to many locals using Icom equipment on the VHF/UHF bands and have asked if this can be done.

My thanks go out to the guys who were there for all the fun, laughter, and hard work that was put in to get this up and running. The full team was Ady G6AD, Tom G2NV, Tim G5TM, Tony G7FSD, Inghie M0MHJ, Martin 2E0HVE, and myself G1VDP. Again we welcome any members of RSARS to come and join us, just to have a go and see what contesting is all about, you don’t have to be a seasoned operator either, just come and have a go, it may be fun – which is what we all enjoy.

RSARS are open to membership from any radio amateur or Short Wave Listener. They have a website at https://rsars.org.uk/ where full details of the membership can be found. There is a quarterly newsletter called Mercury published electronically and emailed to members quarterly’ covering articles of interest to members on varying subjects. Membership is currently £12.00 per year, all members are welcome to join the RSARS nets held daily on 40 or 80M and to operate from the club station. And we invite you to join us for the contests to assist with operating and set up before and strip down after. Contact Tom, G2NV, for more details memsecrsars@gmail.com.

As mentioned in an earlier post I am now working at Icom UK, and one of my first duties 3 days after joining was to attend the annual Hamfest at Newark Showground. This is where dealers, parts suppliers, special interest groups (SIG) and manufacturers get together to display their wares and sell them. I have been to a few before but only as a visitor and someone looking to buy new or used equipment. It is also a place where you can meet old friends and make new ones who have the same interest as you. The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) are also there with their bookstall, and booths for the specialist departments. You can also meet the general manager, the president and most of the board members to ask them what ever you want about the hobby and what the RSGB do – they don’t only sell books and publish RadCom, in fact without them we would lose bands and privileges to others who are willing to pay for Spectrum space (but most don’t think to join as they think OFCOM will not take the frequencies away – get your head out of the sand as they will if you don’t support the RSGB going forward).

Myself and colleagues were on the Icom stand introducing the new Icom IC-7300 Mk II transceiver, along with all the Icom amateur equipment. We had a steady stream of visitors on both days with a heck of a lot of interest in the new radio. This will be another great seller for Icom with it’s new features. It was good to see lots of old friends who came up and congratulated me on the new job, and it was good to see my old mate Andrew, M0ALA, that I haven’t seen for best part of 30 years. An excellent and fun weekend with new work colleagues allowing me to get to know them, and to have chance to officially meet the dealers.

Following the Hamfest and only about 3 weeks later was the RSGB convention at Kents Hill, Milton Keynes. This is where the RSGB organise talks on varying aspects of the hobby, special interests, and a couple of groups hold their meetings. This year I have to say was one of the better ones I have attended for a number of years.

Again I was there in an official capacity to show the Icom range of transceivers with the New IC-7300 Mk II the centre of attention once more. It is also another place where I see old and new friends for a chat and a beer in the evenings – in fact I think I shook more hands than Donald Trump this weekend with the amount of people across the hobby congratulating me on the job. We have a sit down meal on the Friday evening, and an official dinner on the Saturday. I must also thank my colleague Chris Ridley for his company all weekend and allowing me the chance to catch a couple of the talks.

The weekends talks opened on the Saturday morning just after the official opening by the president and general manager of the RSGB – Bob Bebe GU4YOX and  Steve Thomas M1ACB respectively. This was by Dr Lucie Green who had given the presentation to Hinckley ARES a few months before, an excellent presentation and I am looking forward to hearing more on this with possibly assisting with the amateur radio side of things. She is hoping to get a spaceship into orbit around the earth and moon to get images of the sun with a total eclipse to study the corona – see the video on the RSGBs YouTube channel. As I say another excellent weekend and a chance to catch up with old friends and new. 

Icom also had donated a prize of an Icom IC-705 portable transceiver for the raffle that raises money for the RSGBs DX fund. This helps fund DXpeditions and supports young people in their endeavours to join the expeditions to remote places on earth. We also donated a couple of items to a radio club that supports Icom and use Icom equipment in their training and club station, an LC-192 rucksack and SM-50 microphone. Photos below of both items being handed to Bob Bebe (RSGB President) and The members of Norfolk ARC for the mic and rucksack.

So what’s been the reason for the lack of posts? Why has it taken this long to update on FHN and RIAT? Well a huge change in my life.

Back in June I applied for a job working as the Amateur Radio Specialist at Icom UK, the importer of the radio products made by Icom in Japan. When I was in FHN I spoke with Ray Novak about it and he said I would be the ideal guy for the roll as I was so passionate about the hobby, not just my interest but the whole hobby of amateur radio. I received an email saying that they would like to meet me so I suggested a teams meeting with it being 3 hours minimum each way to drive for the interview – and if they didn’t like what they saw it was very minimal time we both lost. I heard nothing until the week before RIAT where I was invited to the meeting on the Monday before I left to the show.

This meeting took place and then I was at the air show. I then received an email inviting me to come down to Herne Bay and meet the team and a second interview for the job. This I did on my holiday the week after RIAT. I was offered the job and then had to make arrangements to move from Nuneaton to Herne Bay. 

I started at Icom UK on the 1st September 2025, found a flat and moved down over the past few months. I have one last trip to Nuneaton to close the house and hand keys back to my landlord this coming weekend. I am then down here full time. I could not say anything until 2 weeks before the start date due to having a job and working my notice, thank you Kelly Communications for the opportunity and time with you – a great team I worked with there. 

Also a huge thank you to Icom UK for giving me the chance to not only work for a great company, use some of the best radio’s on the market, but also in trusting in me to deliver for you. 

Here’s to a bright future within amateur radio and see you all at one of the shows/conventions over the next years of my life. 

So time for a full update with what’s been happening and why no activity on here. Starting with FHN 2025.

Friedrichshafen 2025

What a fantastic week again. It does seriously get better each year. We made our usual journey down to Heathrow on the Tuesday, chilled out and watched some aircraft, drank coffee, had food, and a couple of beers before bed ready for silly o’clock alarms to get to the airport for our flight. It wouldn’t be a FHN trip if we didn’t get lost and fall out trying to find the car drop off point – your turn to navigate next year Ady. Check in and go through security to have breakfast in Weatherspoon’s airside, then a walk to the departure gate and the flight.

Arrive in Zurich at 09:15, go through passport control, collect the bags and off for the train. No queues, no rush just a nice steady walk and get some supplies from the shops in “the circle”, the last bits needed for a holiday that we didn’t bring from the UK.  Into the booking office for the train tickets where once again we found the Swiss railway staff to be helpful and friendly. We had a short wait for the train this year but it was lovely and cool on the underground platforms so the wait wasn’t uncomfortable. Train arrived, and we were also joined by an  American ham who was also on his way to FHN and the Bodensee region researching a book about his grandparents who “escaped” during WW2 to America. 

Romanshorn was upon us in no time, so a change and onto the ferry for the crossing over Lake Constance to FHN. This is one of the highlights of the trip, they have an excellent apple pie on board that I had promised Ady I would buy him a slice of for giving me some items I was using in the QO-100 build (which is still ongoing and will be explained in a later post). The apple pie was again delicious by the way. 

Upon landing we met our friends from Northern Ireland heading back to Romanshorn for a day exploring and some lunch for a change of scenery, we would meet up with them again later in the day for a beer or two. A short walk to the hotel and a look at the watch – just hitting 12:30 local which is 11:30 UK time. Again we had a chilled relaxing trip to FHN. Sadly we couldn’t all check in as mine and Ady’s rooms weren’t ready so we put our bags in Charles’ and decide on a walk and explore the town.

Just down from the hotel is a square next to the church, which now has a shipping container that has been converted into a bar, owned by an English guy, with deck chairs all around to relax and have a beer in. Now we English cannot resist deck chairs and so it was decided that the first beer of the trip was to be consumed there – Ady’s idea and a bloody good one too. The bar itself has some local craft beers and ciders, so me being a beer “aficionado” decided to try one of these. It didn’t look inviting but boy was it tasty. A couple of ciders were the choice of Charles and Ady. Deckchairs found and the boys relaxed watching the world go by. 

We then went for an explore, especially as it was a nice day and we had time to kill. But rather than head into town we had a walk along the lakeside through the park and up to the marina and see what all the statues are about along this section of the town. All the way along we could see into the lake and how clear it was, and me being the fisherman would love to have set some rods up and had a go at catching some of the ones that were out there. The ones cruising around the marina were so tempting to chuck a fly or two and see what happens. Rod benders definitely.

This was the first time any of us had walked and explored this way, and we found it to be such a beautiful part of the town. I say this every time I go it is a far better lifestyle over there than the one we have in the UK, the streets are cleaner, the people seem to respect it more and they seem to have the right balance between work and social life.

Back at the hotel we finally checked into our rooms and went down to get some food and relax before the others arrived. A walk into town and a kebab from a little shop we had spotted earlier – Charles’ choice. A couple more beers and we had an early night, that early morning start soon caught up with us.

Thursday morning came, and following breakfast, which once again makes me remember why we choose this hotel, we made our plans for the day. We decided on going to visit the Dornier museum, the opposite side of the airport to the Messe where the show is held. And like the Zeppelin museum the year before the exhibits were interesting, giving an insight to the local area and what it was all about. As usual we started off with a coffee before heading into the museum.

Dornier not only made aircraft, which they still do, they also made cars and scooters – some strange shapes and they would probably go down well now with the “green” drivers of electric vehicles. The outside exhibits were very much hands on, some allowing you to go into the cabin and see the military equipment, or the communication side – we had G6AD calling CQ and not getting any contacts which was rare. Amongst them was the FIAT GR-19, which as you will see later, was the first of 2 I would see this year. A fantastic fighter that was like most aircraft of that time graceful and had beautiful lines when in the air.

Inside and the upstairs area has the information and exhibits of the companies history. Some information on what was happening around the lake during World War 2. This was a very industrious area and was targeted by the allied bombers. It just brings home the futileness of war, and highlights how humans can be so cruel to each other. There is also a hall that shows what the current Dornier factory is working on with scientific projects in the European Space Agency and into the future. There is also a Huey helicopter and this had me singing the theme from M.A.S.H. (“Suicide is Painless”) to the boys, which went down like a lead balloon.

A quick coffee, a look around the shop and a taxi across to the Messe to look at our spot and set up the table ready for Friday. This also gave us chance to meet up with some old friends who were also up there setting up. By now it was mid afternoon so we headed back to the town to see who had arrived and catch up with old friends.

Back at the hotel and the first there was Stig, LA7JO/HS0ZGD, our old friend from Norway/Thailand. A slow stream of the regulars came in and at one point we had 11 different nations sat around the table, and not one cross word between us, that came from Europe, USA, Middle East, Far East, and beyond. Every one good friends who make this weekend fun. Plenty of beer was drunk that afternoon, and it was the first year that I actually had a good drink and chat. As I say good friends and lots of laughs. We went for a walk to the other haunt just up the road from our hotel to meet up with Jamie, M0SDV, and the boys from Northern Ireland – more good friends who I enjoy the company of. And an Indian meal to top the night off.

Friday morning and the first day of the show. Charles, Ady and myself had made the decision that Friday was going to be a loud shirt day – and boy did we have loud shirts. They went down a storm at the show with many calling at the IOTA stand to have their photos taken with us. Of course we obliged. We also had some drinks on the table, Ady had brought a bottle of Jura single malt scotch whisky, Charles a bottle of Buffalo Bourbon, and myself a bottle of Dead Mans Finger Mango rum. We were handing out shots to visitors from 12 O’clock lunchtime, as do the French CDXC guys with their pastice (Ricard).

Plenty of visitors, chat and laughs with them. A chance to catch up as I keep saying with old friends and making new ones. We also had time to walk around and look at the other stands and nice new kit. Seeing the new RSGB president, Bob Bebe (GU4YOX), for the first time since he was elected was good. It gave me the chance to congratulate him, he is someone I met many years ago and very rarely bumped into him at any of the events over the years but it is good to have a like minded president who will do the society a lot of good during his tenure.

Friday night was more beer and a meal in our favourite restaurant by the lake, the Bela Vista, which is an Italian and has excellent food. Upstairs was the Rhein Ruhr DX groups dinner, and a few couldn’t get in so they joined us and again it was a pleasure to meet them and have a chat with new friends.

Saturday was much of the same, but with even more new visitors. It also gave me time to catch up with an old friend in Ray Novak, N9JA, from Icom America. He asked what was happening at the Clipperton DX Club – the French guys – stand as there was a big crowd or “pileup” as he called it. I explained about the pastice and asked him if he wanted some. He said the “pileup” was too big, “let me show you how to crack a pileup” I replied and promptly took him around the side and got a drink for us from my friend Franco (thanks Franco again) as he knows how I like it. Ray had the same and was blown away with the taste, but enjoyed it. He then came over to the IOTA stand and had a couple of shots with us there. I mentioned I had applied for a job with Icom UK – more on this in a later blog – and he thought I would do well with the company.

Saturday evening came around quickly. This evening we went to Tiffany’s steak house. This has to do the best steaks in Germany. We were joined by James (KB2FMH), who is such great company and has the best New York accent ever, Jamie (M0SDV), Nathan (K4NHW), Lukas (LY7J), Paul (G4PVM) and Martin (GW4XUM). Afterwards again we retired to Pier 40 for a couple of beers and then into the hotel for a night cap ready for a long day travelling the next day

Sunday was the quick trip to the Messe to pack up the stand, say our goodbyes and book for next year – we had already booked our rooms at the hotel – with the organisers. A last taxi ride to the ferry and the start of the journey back to the airport. No apple pie on the ferry this time, but a lovely sailing across Lake Constance. Off and a wait for the train to depart – it was already waiting for us when we got there. Arrive at the airport with a few hours to kill so we had a meal in the circle, well a McDonalds, and wait around for the gate to open for the luggage drop. Through to Security where I got stopped and my bag searched, but no delay in the long run, passport control and into duty free. I had a couple of gifts to buy for work, and a friend – along with my annual giant Toblerone – before we sat down to the most refreshing drink of the week.

The flight was delayed and we left about 45 mins late but with the wind behind us we made good time and got back into LHR about 20 minutes behind. A quick walk through to customs and bag pick up before collecting the car and return to the Premier Inn for a night relaxing. We had a meal and a beer or two before hitting the hay ready to get up on Monday and head back to our homes.

I must say a huge thank you to Charles and Ady again for their company and friendship. These two keep me sane through the year and then are such good fun when we get together.  Huge thanks also to Charles for driving and picking up both myself and Ady from our homes in Warwickshire. Here’s to FHN 2026 and another top weekend.

Well it’s been a while. I have been a little busy this past few months, with getting a new job and moving home. Yes another new job. But this one is a dream job working for Icom UK.

Since 1st September 2025 I have been in the post of Amateur Radio Specialist for Icom UK, and have moved to the coastal town of Herne Bay, Kent. I have found a small apartment that overlooks the sea, but has no room for any antennas. This does not mean I will be off air, well not the big signal I was hoping for when I moved down here. 

A full update with photos will be put up this coming week.  

Sorry I have not been updating the website as I wanted to. I have returned and been very busy with work and a couple of other projects that I will be posting about on here in the coming weeks.

This weekend I will get my photo’s from FHN on here, and give an update on the forthcoming Royal International Air Tattoo, I will be there next week volunteering so there will be photo’s and updates due from that also. 

The time has finally arrived. In less than 24 hours I , along with Charles (M0OXO) and Ady (G6AD), will be setting off on our annual adventure to London Heathrow airport (LHR) and the journey to Ham Radio 2025 in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

The day will start for Charles at around 04:00 when he leaves home to come to my house and then on to collect Ady from his home. We then go on to LHR and the Premier Inn on Bath road for a night ready for our flight at 06:30 – but this means we have to get to the airport for 03:30 so a second short nights sleep for us all. This first day is a relaxing day, usually spent out on the hill at the hotel watching and photographing the aircraft as the arrive or depart, depending on which way the wind is blowing, where it feels as if you can touch the aircraft. Last year I was there with my camera and a 24-120 lens, no need for my big zoom lens as is usual on aircraft photo shoots. And sitting in the hotel coffee lounge having a drink and some lunch, allowing us to get our social media up to date.

Wednesday at the airport usually allows us time for breakfast while waiting following the usual security and passport control, or a look around the duty free shops for a bottle or two for sharing on the IOTA stand at the show. Yes this year folks we will have some drinks available on the Friday and Saturday to welcome our friends as they pay a visit. The flight to Zurich usually takes about 90 minutes and we change our watches to the European time arriving in ZRH at 09:30, disembark and gather our luggage before heading to the train station in the building across from the airport. Another chance to grab any last minute needs as this is a shopping centre with a good selection of shops and eateries.

Grab the train ticket, go to the platform and if it is as quick as last year we will be on the Suisse Rail service to Romanshorn within the hour. This is a lovely relaxing rail journey taking in the beautiful Switzerland countryside and takes just over the hour. Once in Romanshorn it is a short walk around the marina to the ferry, which again is usually there waiting as we arrive. Onto the ferry for the cruise across Lake Constance to the ferry terminal at Friedrichshafen. A brief walk up the hill to the hotel and hopefully have lunch.

So breakfast in London, elevenses in Zurich, lunch in Friedrichshafen – that is if all goes to plan. Relax and chill out for the afternoon and check into the hotel before a nice meal in the evening sat outside a restaurant overlooking the lake and enjoying a couple of beers. Thursday will be a visit to the Messe and set up the stand and a little explore of the local area with maybe a trip to the Dornier museum near the airport. All nicely chilled for the show and fun over the weekend. 

If any of you reading this are in attendance then please do come and say hello on the IOTA stand, you never know but there may be a gift waiting from the Hinckley Amateur Radio and Electronics Society (HARES) as a souvenir. 

The ARRL have just put this announcement out. So remember next weekend their system will be off line. 

ARRL LOTW

System upgrade & temporary downtime

ARRL’s Logbook of The World® (LoTW®) is the 2nd most popular benefit among members. It is also an extremely popular service internationally for non-members, as it is the primary means for providing confirmations for ARRL Awards, such as DXCC and Worked All States.

As a part of the ongoing modernization of the ARRL systems infrastructure, LoTW will be receiving major upgrades to the operating system it is running on, the relational database system it uses to store and access logbook and awards data, and server hosting, where it will be fully migrated to the cloud. These changes will, among other improvements, ensure LoTW performance needs can be better met based on user demand.

LoTW will be unavailable from June 27 to July 2, 2025, to complete these upgrades. We will bring LoTW back online if it is available sooner than July 2.

Logbook of The World can be found at lotw.arrl.org. More information about the popular service is available at www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world.

If you are a user of LoTW and not an ARRL member, please become a supporter of LoTW by making a $20 (or more) donation to the ARRL LoTW Fund or visit www.arrl.org/donate.

Very 73, and see you on the air!

David A. Minster, NA2AA
ARRL CEO

About Logbook of The World®

Logbook of The World® — LoTW® — is a web-accessed database and repository that enables you to submit electronic logs for amateur radio contacts (QSOs) and for confirmation (QSLs). Users can view submitted QSOs and resulting QSLs online. Radio amateurs can use LoTW to track their progress toward achievements and awards, such as The ARRL Worked All States Award, and amateur radio’s premier award, DXCC®, in which membership is achieved by confirming on-the-air contacts with 100 countries. LoTW was introduced by ARRL in 2003. Today, over 2.1 billion QSO records have been entered into the system.

Since 2020 and the lockdown for Covid I have had a passing interest in operating through satellites on the VHF/UHF bands, each year meaning to get the necessary antennas and radios together to set up from home. This still hasn’t happened, but maybe it will in the next year. Then following a trip to Bletchley Park with my radio club (Hinckley ARES) and operating the QO-100 station the RSGB have in the National Radio Centre I decided I was going to get on the air and set up my own station.

When I got home I started doing research on what was needed and found out that it is not that hard to get on the air as first thought. A basic station can be up and running with minimal outlay to start receiving signals. It is then a little more difficult to start transmitting, unless you are a home constructor or already capable of transmitting on the 13cm band.

Basic receiving station

So I needed a satellite dish to start the station build. I put a question out on my Facebook profile asking if any friends had the old-style Sky TV dishes still attached to their house that they no longer use. Tony, G7FSD, one of our club members messaged me with the offer of his old satellite tracking and receiving dish he had as he no longer used it for watching any TV and it was just up in his shed rusting away. Answer “yes please”, with the usual “how much?” etc, but he kindly gave it to me as it was only going in the scrap as he was clearing it out. So we have the first parts of the build. I then sprayed the dish with car primer after rubbing it down and getting rid of the surface rust to make it look prettier and give better reflection, again this followed research on the best way to paint the dish. 

Ady, G6AD, was the next donor with a tripod and short stub mast to put the dish on. This not only meant I could get it off the ground, but I would be able to get it above the neighbour’s fence and in clear sight of the satellite. Another bonus. 

At first I bought a DX Patrol Low Noise Block (LNB) and receiver/LNB rectifier and Bias-T kit. This enabled me to set up my dish with the LNB and point the dish in the general direction before tweaking to see how well I was receiving signals, and to learn the protocol of using the satellite. I connected the DX Patrol receiver to my SDR Play RSP-1 that has been laying around in the shack redundant into my laptop and SDR Console software.

This worked fine to listen to the satellite and get some ideas. But I wanted to answer the callers and be able to call myself, so I looked at an alternative to the 70cm transceiver, with a transverter, that had been my first thought. I looked again at the DX Patrol website and their complete station in a box, which would give everything I needed. I also joined the QO-100 User group  on Facebook and asked for advice and any hints/tips that would be the way forward. Plenty of replies with answers and pointing towards YouTube, where I found David Trewren’s (G7IYK) videos where he basis his QO-100 on a Pluto + SDR.

A few notes written down and a search on the internet for the parts and I could get set up and build the kit with a total outlay of around £500.00, which was considerably cheaper than the other suggestions I had had. The Pluto + came from Ali-Express that has a multitude of choice at very reasonable prices, make sure you get the one with 2 receive and 2 transmit ports. Delivery took around 1 week or so and arrived with no issues. A few other bits were found on eBay for less than £20.00, and others had to go direct to manufacturers – the amp is direct from SG Laboratory Ltd in Bulgaria and has a short lead time before it was dispatched . I exchanged emails with Hristiyan (LZ5HP) and paid the money, I was hoping they would be at Friedrichshafen Ham Radio but they were not attending this year, so postage paid and the wait began.

The final thing required was some kind of waterproof housing that could contain everything and allow the completed station to be at the antenna, coax cable losses at 13cm is a lot worse than at VHF/UHF, so the cable run needs to be kept as short as possible. With my build I wanted it to less than 500cm from the amplifier to the antenna on the arm of the dish. It would then only need 1 run of CAT 6 cable, and a length of power lead to feed into the box for the power supply. At this point I had a chat with others who had done this type of build on the Facebook Group and changed my mind on the power feed. As the dish and antennas were going to be close to a disused out building I decided I would run a 240V extension lead into the out building, and have a small 5 amp power supply in there. I would ensure it was waterproof and in the winter make sure it could be kept dry.

More to come as the bits arrive, and I start the building of the “transceiver”.