Equipment Muster III

My good friend Robbie (GM0SEI) has loaned me an antenna & his recently repaired FT100. I have tested Robbie's multi antenna & my own vertical fishing pole antenna. Sorry Robbie but my antenna is looking better & potentially quicker to assemble. If I use the vertical fishing pole antenna I can operate 80 through to 10m with a good DX radiation angle. Mode will be restricted to SSB. I am however a CW man - apologies.

More testing of antenna's required plus a good shakedown of the FT100 to ensure it is up for the job.

I know by now that you have listened to Salsa Celtica & viewed/listened to Fiddlers DRAM below. If not have a listen here. I am in the crowd bouncing. Gaelic/Salsa awesome.

Now time to educate your pallete more. Go here to view/listen to the GOTAN Project. They are a techno latino tango group that hail from France. They have no association with Scotland but are never the less fantastic - enjoy!

Thankyou for your comments so far, please continue sending to us.

DEQ

Volcanic Ash & Amateur Radio?

You may have heard that volcanic ash has been causing chaos with the aviation industry recently in Europe. Being both involved in the aviation industry, myself & Hamish know exactly the potential damage of volcanic ash.

As our challenge will take us up to the Orkney Islands which have a latitude that has been particularly affected, there are a few factors to consider.

Due to the aircraft type (G-DRAM), height & navigating VFR (Visual Flight Rules) we should still be able to complete the challenge. With that said, we will be subject to conditions at the time. Only a few months ago I naively thought that weather conditions was all that we would have to consider..

If you are interested in the volcanic ash plume distribution go here.

Here is when it was particularly bad over Scotland.

Have you listened to Salsa Celtica yet or viewed Fiddlers DRAM?

Equipment Muster Part II

Power is starting to become an issue. It started off fairly simple but now becoming more complex as using an aeroplane. I will have to decide soon in order to progress.

Hope to play with a few antenna's soon in order to determine ease and speed of assembly/dis-assembly.

For those of you that have not visited Hamish's YouTube clip please go to: Fiddlers DRAM, the music is amazing - give it a minute to heat up... No apologies for the Scots slant.

My other favourites can be found here: Salsa Celtica Pipes, Fiddles and Salsa - it works.

Testing mobile blog.

Testing from isle of bute.

With adequate coverage you should get up to date reports of our island travels.

P.S Fantastic day on Bute..

DEQ

-- I sent this from my 3 mobile --

Equipment Muster Part I.

Still compiling equipment needed, taking weight restrictions into account. My intention is to operate HF from 40m thru to 10m - SSB only.

Fast antenna assembly is also required therefore antenna selection still to be decided.

GB4DTD - Dawn To Dusk.

Welcome to our Blog spot.

This Blog is for you to follow us and participate in our Dawn to Dusk - 24 Hour Scottish Islands Amateur Radio Challenge. You will be able to see our progress and hopefully we can share a few QSO's with you along the way.

QSL information is via GM0DEQ, QTHR.