Icom IC-7300 vs Yaesu FT-991 80m SSB Comparison

Video:YouTube/MLandSshop

Of course just one video and one comparison so difficult to draw any conclusions but to my ear the Yaesu FT-991 sounded slightly better....See what you think!

HF Pedestrian Mobile! - M0DAD

Video: YouTube/M0DAD

A great video from David, M0DAD who likes to operate HF Pedestrian Mobile from North East England with all his gear set up on a trolley. David has managed some amazing contacts with this set up and it's obvious that the seaside location (Away from all the electrical noise we have in our homes) makes a massive difference to the transmit and receive. 

Tim Peake's Next School Contact Announced

"The ARISS UK Operations team are delighted to announce that the ARISS Schools contact for the Powys Combined Schools has now been confirmed for Saturday 5th March 2016 at 1053UTC with Tim Peake on the International Space Station"

Thunderpole - New Look Forum

Thunderpole have updated their radio forum with a new clean look. The forum has been around for many years and provides lots of interesting and useful information. 

You can see the new look forum by clicking HERE  

The Thunderpole shop can be found HERE

Tim Peake Heard On The International Space Station 26/02/2016

Yet another video featuring Tim Peake on board the Space Station. 

Alinco DR-135UK - Only £99.95 @ Nevada!

Nevada have 100 Alinco DR-135UK radios at this special price so if you fancy one get straight over to their website: LINK

A decent radio and worth every penny at this price. 

Midweek Fun: Monkey Business On The Space Station!

Video:YouTube/News Today

It's good to know that they can find some time to relax and have fun up there!

Another Day, Another President Grant 2 Modification....

Video: YouTube/Klaus R.

An interesting video which appears to show a modified Grant 2 claiming a massive reduction in noise levels, with noise being reduced from S7/S8 down to S1/S3.

UK CB Radio: Single Side Band (Mobile)

Video: YouTube/Steve Stevens

In this video Steve shows us the advantages of using SSB even in flat conditions. Starting a chat with one other station and by the end of the video he has quite a nice little net going with stations in Luton, The South Downs, Peterborough and London.

SSB activity has increased dramatically in many parts of the UK since it was legalised in 2014 with many weekly nets springing up. Steve's video shows that a call on the UK SSB Calling Frequency (27.275 USB) can lead to some great contacts even in poor/flat conditions. 

So why not give it a try? Give out a call on 27 Mid Band (27.275 USB).

Tim Peake Heard On Board The Space Station 19/02/2016

This time I used one of my Baofeng UV5R radios connected to a home made horizontal dipole antenna which was on a 3m pole in the back garden. The horizontal dipole does a much better job of receiving signals from space than my normal home base vertical. This is due to the fact that the vertical is 'end on' to the direction of the signal source where-as the horizontal dipole is 'side-on'.

UPDATE: Tim's next contact will take place on 26th February 2016 at 14:40 hours GMT with City of Norwich Schools.