Talking to the world one station at a time
Using just 20w I had a quick chat with Callum of DXCommander fame on the 80m band using my Inverted-L antenna.
Very happy with the signal report and being able to hear myself after the event was very interesting. I’ve not used my Yaesu FTDX10 much on SSB and so I was very happy to hear that the audio sounded nice and clear.
More soon …
Since setting up the new HAM station here in the UK the one band I’ve not yet got back onto is 160m, one of my most favourite bands in the HF spectrum and one that I was addicted to when I live in France (F5VKM).
Having such a small garden here in the UK there is no way I can get any type of guyed vertical for 160m erected and so I needed to come up with some sort of compromise antenna for the band.
Only being interested in the FT4/8 and CW sections of the 160m band I calculated that I could get an inverted-L antenna up that would be reasonably close to resonant. It would require some additional inductance to get the electrical length required and some impedance matching to provide a 50 Ohm impedance to the transceiver.
Measuring the garden I found I could get a 28m horizontal section in place and a 10m vertical section using one of my 10m spiderpoles. This would give me a total of 38m of wire that would get me fairly close to the quarter wave length.
For impedance matching I decided to make a Pi-Network ATU. I’ve made these in the past and found them to be excellent at matching a very wide range of impedances to 50 Ohm.
Since I still had the components of the Pi-Network ATU that I built when I lived in France I decided to reuse them as it saved a lot of work. The inductor was made from some copper tubing I had left over after doing all the plumbing in the house in France and so it got repurposed and formed into a very large inductor. The 2 x capacitors I also built many years ago and fortunately I’d kept locked away as they are very expensive to purchase today and a lot of work to make.
Getting the Inverted-L antenna up was easy enough and I soon had it connected to the Pi-Network ATU. I ran a few radials out around the garden to give it something to tune against and wound a 1:1 choke balun at the end of the coax run to stop any common mode currents that may have appeared on the coax braid.
Connecting my JNCRadio VNA I found that the Inverted-L was naturally resonant at 2.53Mhz, not too far off the 1.84Mhz that I needed. Adding a little extra inductance and capacitance via the ATU I soon had the antenna resonant where I wanted it at the bottom of the 160m band.
With the SWR being <1.5:1 across the CW and FT8 section of the band I was ready to get on 160m for the first time in a long.
Since it’s still summer in the UK I wasn’t expecting to find the band in very good shape but, was pleasantly surprised. Switching the radio on before full sunset I was hearing stations all around Europe with ease. In no time at all I was working stations and getting good reports using just 22w of FT8. FT8 is such a good mode for testing new antennas.
As the sky got darker the distance achieved got greater and over time I was able to work into Russia with the longest distance recorded being 2445 Miles, R9LE in Tyumen Asiatic Russia.
In no time at all I’d worked 32 stations taking my total 160m QSOs from 16 to 48. I can’t wait for the long, dark winter nights to see how well this antenna really performs.
The map above shows the locations of the stations worked on the first evening using the 160m Inverted-L antenna. As the year moves on and we slowly progress into winter it will be fun to start chasing the DX again on the 160m band..
UPDATE 6th October 2023.
Been using the antenna for some time now with over 100 contacts on 160m. Best 160m DX so far is RV0AR in Sosnovoborsk Asiatic Russia, 3453 Miles using just 22w. Pretty impressive for such a low antenna on Top Band.
More soon …
The 2023 new year has got off to a great start here at the M0AWS radio shack with my first QSO with New Zealand since setting up the new radio room.
It’s been almost a year now since I started putting the radio room together and throughout all this time I’d not been able to secure a complete QSO with New Zealand.
Well today was the day that I finally achieved what seemed like the impossible.
ZL4AS was the first New Zealand station that I’d managed to complete a full QSO with, up until now I’d made a few ZL contacts but, never managed to complete the QSO due to conditions on various bands.
The band of choice today was 17m, a great WARC band that has provided me with much of the DX over the last year. This band really does give full global comms when it’s open.
With a new longest distance of 11776 Miles to ZL4AS in Balclutha New Zealand, I’m looking forward to see what new countries 2023 brings to the M0AWs radio room.
More soon …
I’ve been chasing the DX on the HF bands using FT8 for a while now and I have to say it’s been very successful however, it does get rather boring after a while just exchanging SNR reports and nothing else. I noticed that my time spent in the shack was getting less and less, not a good sign after all the work I’d put into building the new radio shack.
Since there’s not a lot of CW on the bands these days (everyone is on FT8) I thought I’d give JS8CALL a go.
Initially I started with trying to get JS8CALL working on my Kubuntu PC to my Icom IC-705 wirelessly. This turned out not to be as straight forward as I’d hoped but, I persevered.
I found that to communicate with the IC-705 via WFview wirelessly I needed to use FLRig as a go between. I installed FLRig from the Ubuntu repo’s only to find it’s an old version that doesn’t have support for the IC-705. Downloading the IC-705.xml file didn’t help either so I uninstalled it and headed to the source forge website to grab the source code for the latest version of FLRig.
Once I had the right development libraries installed compiling the code was easy enough and I soon had FLRig talking to the IC-705 via WFview wirelessly from my Kubuntu PC.
My first JS8 QSO was with Jonny, SM5COI in Sweden on the 20m band, using just 2.5w I had a very reliable link from my 20m band EFHW vertical antenna to his 20m band yagi antenna.
I also worked GM0DHD/P via OH8XAT using the relay capability built into JS8CALL, it works incredibly well and allows you to work the stations that you cannot hear directly, very useful!
Later in the morning Jonny, SM5COI emailed me asking for a sked on the 40m band later in the afternoon, of course I agreed and decided that I’d also get my MacBook Pro setup with JS8CALL so I could give my Yaesu FTDX10 a spin on JS8 mode.
Installing and configuring JS8CALL on my MacBook Pro was much easier and I had it fully operational in minutes.
The sked went well on 40m and it was good to get Jonny on another band.
With 3 JS8 QSOs in the log it’s great to be using a digital mode again that allows you to have a good chat with other radio HAMs around the world. I think this may become my preferred digital mode going forward.
More soon…
Having just completed building my new radio shack I thought what better way to break it in than to do an all night radio session chasing the DX.
All nighters aren’t anything new for me, I did many an all night session low band DXing when we lived in France (F5VKM). Back then I had a massive cellar, part of which was a very well fitted out radio shack. With some very large antennas in our field out back I was truly spoilt with some great times on the 160m band in the dark winter months.
Now back in the UK and only just getting back into the hobby after a long break things are somewhat different. I now only have a typical small UK garden and only vertical antennas. Better than no antennas though!
The new radio shack is small compared to my super spacious setup in France but, it’s perfectly formed with all facilities.
For my over night radio session I decided to use my trusty Yaesu FTDX10, it has the best receiver I’ve ever used and is built to withstand the long haul operation.
Antenna wise I decided to use my 30m band EFHW vertical that can be tuned on most bands from 80m and upwards. I use a CG3000 remote auto tuner to match this antenna to the 50 ohm coax feed and it does a great job.
Being comfortably setup in the shack I tuned up on the 30m band and had a listen to see what shape the band was in.
Using FT8 I worked a bunch of European, Russian/Asiatic Russian stations with ease, the band was in fairly good shape albeit localised around Europe and Russia. Wanting to work stations a little further afield I decided to move up on to the higher bands. 12m is a band I really like but, always seem to miss when it’s open.
Tuning up on the 12m band using the same vertical that I was just using on the 30m band the FT8 section was packed with signals. At last, I’ve tuned up on the band when it’s open!
I suddenly noticed Bobby, VP8ADR down in the Falkland Islands in the WSJTX waterfall and gave him a call. He had a fair few people calling him and so I joined the list. In no time at all Bobby answered my call and we exchange SNR reports of -8dB both ways. This was surprising as later on one of the FT8 Facebook groups Bobby stated he was using 200w into a Hexbeam during our QSO, I was only using a measly 18w into my Vertical, I would had expected a much lower SNR report. Clearly Bobby’s setup was doing all the work!
Right after the QSO with Bobby I immediately went on to work PY7ZC, LU8YD, PY2ATI, LW6EQC, PY2EBD and PY2THO all in quick succession. With the Falklands, Brazil and Argentina in the log so soon it was looking like it was going to be a fun packed night.
Next up on the waterfall was 9Y4DG in Trinidad and Tobago and 8P6ET in Barbados, two really nice locations to get into the log and new ones on 12m for me.
Having worked all the DX I could hear on 12m and not wanting to just spend hours working endless European stations I tuned down onto the 17m band using the same vertical antenna. This antenna really does work well on bands it’s not designed for.
First 3 stations in the log on 17m were all from Japan, JR3NZC, JQ6RUP and JA5BDZ. With all 3 stations being well on the way to 6000 miles away this was a good start. The propagation strangely swung to the west and I got YV5DRN from Venezuela in the log.
Not seeing any other stations that I wanted to work I retuned back onto 30m again and found it was open to South America and the Caribbean.
In no time at all I had YV4CLF in Venezuela, HK2AQ in Colombia, NP4TX and NP3XF in Puerto Rico and PY7ZC in Brazil all in the log.
Being in complete darkness I decided to tune down on to the 60m band, one of my favourites, to see if there was much going on. Sure enough there were a few stations active on the limited space available.
First station worked was a new one for me FP/KV1J on St. Pierre and Miquelon Island just off the coast of New Foundland. I have to admit I had no idea where this little island was and confess to having to look it up on google maps.
I then went on to work a few East Coast USA stations all with good SNR reports for this time of year.
Having worked all the notable DX on 60m I tuned back onto the 17m which was now wide open to the world.
I stayed on this band for the rest of the night well into the morning grey line and beyond working some great DX including some new ones for me.
I worked many East Coast USA stations but, stations of note were 6Y5HN in Jamaica and AK6R, K6EU and K6EI in California on the West Coast USA. It’s rare for me to get into the West Coast USA for some reason.
UA0SDX in Irkutsk Siberia was also a nice one to get in the log. This is a town I was going to be riding my motorcycle through on my Mongolian trip before COVID19 and the war in Ukraine broke out and stopped the trip from happening. More information about my motorcycle adventures can be found on my Feralmoto website.
It was good to get an Ozzy call in the log too, VK6EI on the West Coast of Australia came in at a strong -15dB SNR giving me a surprising -14dB SNR report, incredible considering I was using just 22w into my vertical antenna.
Well after sunrise the DX was still pouring in and I worked KL7TC in Fairbanks Alaska, a new one for me that made me very happy as I’d been trying to get into Alaska for some time but, never seemed to time it right. Today was my day!
Another station I was really pleased to get into the log was V31MA. I’ve tried to get a QSO with this station many times but, have never succeeded until today. I called for about 20mins and eventually got a reply putting a huge smile on my face. -16dB SNR sent and -19dB SNR received, I was happy that I finally have Belize in the log.
The last station worked was RA0FF way over on the far East Coast of Russia, the complete opposite direction to Belize. Located in Yu-Sakhalinsk right on the Russian coast opposite Japan and at 5270 miles, this is my longest distance Russian station worked so far and one I was very happy to have in the log. I always get good take off towards Russia whether it be directly east or over the North Pole to the far eastern parts of the Siberian wilderness.
I had a great night chasing the DX on the HF bands and being retired didn’t have to worry about going to work after such a long night. I highly recommend that you try an all nighter at least once in your HAM radio career, you get the opportunity to work stations that you’d normally not hear during the day time hours.
You can see the full list of stations worked on the over nighter on my WSJTX Log page.
More soon …
Since purchasing my Begali Pearl twin paddle morse key I’ve been looking to get another Begali for my IC-705 portable setup. Going portable means I need a key that isn’t super shiny like the Pearl, something a little more hardy would be ideal.
I was looking to buy the Begali Simplex Basic directly from Begali as it would be ideal for portable operations however, my lovely wife spotted another Begali key for sale on Ebay and pinged the details over to me to take a look at.
To my surprise the key for sale on Ebay was a Begali Traveler Light, the perfect key for portable use and at a much lower price than new.
I contacted the seller immediately asking a couple of questions about the key and got an immediate response, always a good sign!
It turned out that the key was being sold by Wallace, MM0AMV up in Scotland. Looking at his QRZ page it’s clear he’s an avid CW fan as he has two Begali keys. This was backed up by the conversation we had via Ebay messaging.
In no time at all I had paid the £170.00 including postage and was the owner of my second Begali morse key.
The key was in as new condition as described by Wallace, clearly it had been looked after well.
It didn’t take long for me to get it hooked up to my IC-705 and on air. After a little adjustment of the gap and return tension I had the key setup comfortably for my weird left-handed use.
The key isn’t anywhere as near as heavy as my Begali Pearl key but, it’s plenty heavy enough to stop it moving around when in use. This is of course is helped by the two fold out legs that stabilise the key firmly during use but, protect the paddles solidly when in transit. It’s a great design and a very unique approach to making a fairly light but, solid twin paddle for portable usage.
Once folded the key takes very little space in the IC-705 portable case and completes the setup nicely. IC-705 radio, AH-705 remote auto ATU, Begali Traveler Light, tripod and a few interconnect cables, the perfect portable station.
Since purchasing the IC-705 I’ve found that I’ve hardly used my Yaesu FTDX10, which is strange considering the receiver, filtering, DSP and APF combination is considerably better on the FTDX10 than it is on the IC-705. The IC-705 has a much nicer, easier to use user interface and it’s just a lot of fun to use even though it’s only a QRP rig. I can see me having many happy hours on air with this QRP station.
More soon …
Since purchasing my new Begali Pearl morse key I’ve been wanting to install the 300hz CW filter into my Yaesu FTDX10. The radio comes standard from the factory with the 500z CW filter preinstalled however, being able to narrow the bandwidth down even further will help to reduce the ringing effect on noisy bands that often plaques CW Ops when trying to catch those very weak DX signals.
Since I had built up some free credit at ML&S by buying all my new radio equipment I decided to put it to good use and put it towards the cost of the optional 300hz filter for the radio.
In years past when I had a Yaesu FT1000MP I installed a full set of filters in it and it made quite a difference DXing on the 160/80/40m bands. Back then things like digital noise reduction (DNR) were in their infancy and so narrow filters were even more important than they are today.
The FTDX10 300hz filter looked very similar to the ones I fitted in the FT1000MP and it doesn’t look like they’ve changed at all over the years.
Removing the cover from the FTDX10 it’s immediately apparent where the filter goes. A neat little cutout in the RF shield draws your eye immediately to the spot.
Fitting the filter is easy enough however, you do have to take care to move the little black wire to one side otherwise it gets caught under the filter and stops it from seating properly onto its connections. There’s not a lot of slack on the wire either so care is needed to not pull it too taught.
I was surprised to see how small the standard 500hz filter is in comparison to the optional 300hz filter.
With the filter safely in position and seated perfectly I had the cover and 9 screws back on in no time at all and then got the radio powered up to check if the menu system had the option of a 300hz filter in CW mode.
Getting on air the filter makes quite a difference to the amount of background noise when listening to weak DX stations. Adding DNR and APF to the equation removes all background noise completely with the 300hz filter making it possible to hear the weakest of CW stations and complete silence in-between.
The bands aren’t in particularly good shape today however, I tuned around on the 20m band and found W7SW in Phoenix Arizona calling CQ. He wasn’t particularly strong but, it was a good opportunity to experience the difference between the filters without any DNR or APF enhancement.
Unfortunately W7SW disappeared before I could make another short video with the DNR and APF on to show the difference. I’ll revisit this again soon and get some video snippets up showing the difference the optional 300hz filter makes with DNR and APF.
More soon …
I spent the evening/early morning trying some FT8 on the 40m band taking advantage of the grey line and night time propagation. It’s been a while since I’ve stayed up late to catch some DX on 40m and it brought back memories of the all nighters I used to do when I was on air as F5VKM in France.
The 40m band has always been one of my favourites, there’s always great DX to be had when the band is open and on the grey line the world really is your oyster.
I’ve always been a huge fan of CW on 40m, there are some great seasoned op’s on the band and it’s always a real pleasure to QSO with them on the key. This time I decided to see what could be achieved with FT8 and 22w of power from my Yaesu FTDX10, a combination that should give me global reach.
Setting up at just past 6pm on May 9th 2022 the band was already busy with European stations, lots of them! There was no room to squeeze in and call CQ, the FT8 section of the band was packed with signals filling the allocation completely with many calling over the top of each other.
I decided to take my normal stance of search and pounce to get the stations I want to work rather than just working the masses endlessly.
I initially worked a bunch of Russian stations ranging from 1200 to 2200 miles out, good distances were easily achievable even though we were still in full daylight.
In amongst the throng of FT8 stations I spotted UN3P, Vladimir in Karaganda Kazakhstan, not a country I have worked a lot since getting back on air and at 3013 miles it’s a good distance to achieve on 40m whilst still in broad daylight.
I gave a call to his CQ and he came straight back with an SNR report of -20dB, I sent him a report of -12dB so there was some 8dB difference between us. Considering I was only using 22w of power in broad daylight I was happy with the report. Of course I’ve no idea how much power he was using but, my signal was 6.63mW/Mile, not the lowest I ever had but, not the biggest either.
I worked a bunch more RA9/UB9 stations in the 2000-3000 mile range and then started hearing the Australian stations on the early grey line. Initially their signals were suffering some deep QSB but, it wasn’t long until their signals were constant and stable.
Ian, VK3VDX in Victoria was the first station from Oz in the log at -19dB/-20dB, pretty even SNR reports. At 10451 miles it equates to 2.10mW/Mile.
Closely following was John, VK5PO in Mallala South Australia, much stronger signals this time at -10dB/-14dB, 2.19mW/mile over a total distance of 10028 miles.
As darkness replaced light the propagation swung west with east coast USA and Canadian stations dropping in to the East coast of the U.K.
John, VO1BE was the first north American station in the log with -1dB/+1dB SNR reports. To be +1dB in Canada with just 22w really is quite impressive. I’m guessing he has a very low background noise level.
I worked a bunch of East Coast USA stations and then PY2GZ popped up on the waterfall. From my QTH I have a clear view South East to South West across flat ground for miles and so it’s normally pretty easy to work stations in that zone and this evening was no different. First call was answered and -10dB/-17dB SNR reports were exchanged, 3.68mW/mile over 5965 miles.
My 14.81m tall home brew vertical works superbly on the 40m band with tuning handled by my CG3000 Remote Auto Tuner. This is actually my 30m band EFHW vertical antenna but, removing the 49:1 Unun and replacing it with the CG3000 has made this antenna much more versatile.
The next station in the log was BG0BBB in Xinjiang China with -9dB/-18dB SNR reports exchanged. China is always a hard location for me to get into for some reason so, I was glad to get another Chinese HAM into the log.
As the propagation started to swing westerly I got 8P4JP in Bridgetown Barbados into the log. It took a few calls to get the exchange completed due to very deep QSB between us but, with some perseverance the contact was completed successfully and I had a new one in the log!
I continued to work a flurry of East Coast USA, Brazilian and Puerto Ricon stations one after the other until suddenly stations from the east started coming in again.
First from the east was Igor, 4L1FL from Tbilisi Georgia, another new one for me that somehow seems to escape me every time I come across Georgian stations on the bands.
UN7JO in Ust-Kamenogorsk Kazakhstan was loud with me at -5dB SNR although I only got -21dB SNR back, some 16dB difference across the path of 3386 Miles.
One station of particular interest was VY0MEL, Julien in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Northern Canada. This is the most northern Canadian station I’ve worked in a long time and it was great to get him in the log. His QRZ page is worth a read, he works at a mine in Nunavut on a 14 day rotation and so has a fair bit of time for HAM radio. Using just a dipole that is strung between two shipping containers and only 60cm above the snow in the centre he was a good signal at -19dB here in the U.K, especially considering he was still in broad daylight.
Needless to say I had a fun filled evening/early morning on the 40m band, once again it didn’t disappoint and I got a couple of new countries in the log. I think the next late night will have to be a CW evening on 40m to see how well I do in comparison.
The full list of stations worked over 9th-10th May 2022 using FT8 on the 40m band can be viewed in my WSJT-X log in glorious technicolour with distances and mW/mile figures for every contact.
More soon …
After my disappointment with the Vine RST-TP1 twin paddle that I bought and subsequently returned to Martin Lynch and Sons due to the poor build quality and finish I continued my hunt for a morse key.
During my conversation with Tony, the sales manager at ML&S one thing he did say to me was that if I was really serious about morse code then there really was only one key to buy these days, a Begali from Italy.
Morse Code has always been my main mode ever since I passed my 12wpm morse test and obtained my M0AWS A class licence, it’s a mode I dearly love and get a huge amount of pleasure from. (It also helps to keep the little grey cells alive in retirement!)
So without delay I googled the Begali website and started looking at their offerings.
Begali do a fine range of twin paddle keys starting from €131.00 +VAT and shipping right up to almost €700+VAT and shipping, far more than I wanted to spend.
Having spent almost £180.00 inc VAT and shipping for the Vine RST-TP1 and being extremely disappointed with it I decided to spend a little more to ensure I bought something of quality that was going to last.
After much research and emails back and forth with Bruna at Begali I decided to buy the Begali Pearl in Palladium and Gold with red paddles.
A couple of weeks after ordering the key arrived hassle free, a miracle considering the hassle Brexit has caused with import and export of goods between the U.K. and Europe.
Bruna at Begali assured me that they had a system in place that takes care of all the import taxes etc and that the delivery process would be smooth and trouble free, and indeed it was!
Upon opening the box I was taken by the sheer beauty of the key, beautifully finished, perfectly put together and well engineered. I knew this was going to be a pleasure to use before I’d even touched the paddles!
Being left handed I’ve had to setup both my Yaesu FTDX10 and Icom IC-705 such that the dit and dah are reversed on the paddles but, once done I felt at home with the key very quickly.
Having been out of the hobby for some 15 years my morse is a little rusty so I set about doing a fair bit of listening before trying to work stations. To my surprise I was soon decoding stations at 20wpm in my head albeit with a little more thought than it used to take but, accurate enough to have a go at working a few stations.
Using the key is pure delight, it’s light to the touch, responsive, infinitely adjustable, comfortable and a joy to use. I knew right away that I had made the right decision.
At 1.7kg it’s a heavy key which ensures it doesn’t move around the desk no matter how hard you lean on it. I find the key really relaxing to use as it only needs a gentle touch to bring the contacts together. Adjustment is super accurate thanks to the very fine threaded adjuster screws that have been beautifully machined.
It’s clear from the moment you get a Begali Pearl out of the box that it has been made with care and pride, something that is a rarity today.
I’ve decided that this key is going to be my main station key and will spend most of it’s life connected to my Yaesu FTDX10 radio, that means I need another key to go into my portable case with my IC-705. I’ve already made the decision what it’s going to be, of course it’ll be another Begali, the Simplex Basic Twin Paddle.
I’ll be putting the order in very soon Bruna!
More soon ….
Since purchasing the Yaesu FTDX10 and getting some wire into the air I’ve been working DX all over the world with ease. So far I’ve not exceeded 25w total output and yet I’ve worked as far as Australia, South America and West Coast USA and Canada. I’m often found to be using far less than 25w, even 5w on the 60m band is a huge amount of fun!
The FTDX10 has an incredible receiver, the best I have ever owned, for the money it really is an amazing bit of kit. The only thing about it that doesn’t work for me is the size when trying to go portable. It’s just a tad too big and requires a huge battery to power it. I love everything else about the FTDX10 apart from this one thing.
So, with the FTDX10 now being the prime shack radio I decided to look into a solution for portable operations. There are many options available today from the cheap Chinese made radios to the old reliable FT817/818 (which I used to own and had a lot of fun with) through to a multitude of newer, more modern full functionality radios. We are truly spoilt for choice these days!
One radio I have read a lot about is the Icom IC-705, it’s an incredibly feature packed little radio with a max output of 10w that covers 160m all the way up to 70cms. With its large super clear colour touch screen and easy swap battery solution it ticks all the boxes.
One thing many people complain about is the fact that the IC-705 doesn’t have a built in ATU. This has never bothered me as I am a firm believer that the ATU should be at the antenna and not in the radio at the end of a long coax run. Running various antenna models on my EzNEC software has shown that keeping the ATU at the antenna is by far the best solution.
Of course Icom have this covered with their AH-705 remote auto ATU that’s specifically designed to compliment the IC-705. Powered by just two AA batteries and utilising latching relays the unit is both very quick to tune and uses next to no power at all, ideal for those Parks on the Air (POTA) or in my case, Beaches on the Air (BOTA) activations.
Being a quality Icom product the AH-705 isn’t cheap, at £299.99 it’s actually one of the most expensive auto ATUs available for the IC-705.
The other thing I wanted was some kind of stand for the IC-705 that would allow me to angle the radio such that the display and controls are always easily useable. On the ML&S site I found a nifty little tripod that will do the job nicely and so, that had to be included in the bundle.
Fortunately for me the AH-705 was on special offer over the Easter Bank Holiday with 40% off making it the same price as the cheaper MAT tuner from china.
So I have now ordered an IC-705, matching AH-705 and the tripod all for the bundle price of £1504.87 including VAT, I even got free shipping thrown in too!
So that leaves just one more thing that I need to complete my radio solution, a morse key!
Having sold my Schurr Profi II Twin Paddle key (Been kicking myself ever since!!) a few years ago when I decided to take a break from radio I’m now in the position of not owning a morse key.
I did order a Vine Antenna RST-TP1 key from ML&S but, that had to go back (There’ll be an article about it coming very soon!) and so, I decided to spend a bit more and get a much better quality key.
Talking to many people online and Tony at ML&S it’s apparent that the Begali Morse keys are some of the best available these days. Looking on the Begali website they certainly have a great selection of high quality keys available, some for much more than I want to spend.
So after much consideration I decided to purchase a Begali Pearl Twin Paddle Morse key in Palladium and Gold with red paddles. It’s a super looking key and gets great write ups. It’s also their biggest seller, that says a lot.
More soon …