Home : Amateur Radio

• More thoughts on technology in amateur radio: The debate over the integration of new technologies in amateur radio seems to be hotting up with the advent of CW Skimmer. My post on the UK-Contest reflector gives my opinions on this matter.
  Sat, 03 May 2008 13:17:03 +0100 - http://lists.contesting.com/pipermail/uk-contest/2008-May/010468.html
• California DXpedition Cancelled: Owing to G3ZAY's family commitments, our trip to the Visalia DX Convention, combined with the DXpedition to Santa Catalina and Santa Cruz islands off the Californian coast, which had been expected at the end of this week, has been cancelled.
  Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:34:54 +0100 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/w6
• QSL Information: I have dealt with recently received direct QSL requests for all callsigns that I manage this morning. Bureau cards have also been processed, but will not be mailed until the RSGB has completed moving the QSL bureau.
  Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:34:25 +0100 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/amateur-radio/qsl-cards/
• DXPedition Annoucement: Martin G3ZAY (NU2L) and Dominic M0BLF (W6/M0BLF) plan to be QRV from Santa Catalina (NA-066) from 2300z Sunday April 20th to 2000z Monday April 21st, and Santa Cruz (NA-144) from 2000z Tuesday April 22nd to 2200z Wednesday April 23rd. QSL to home calls.
  Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:03:21 +0100 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/w6
• My Shack: I have added to my website details of the radio equipment that I currently own.
  Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:25:06 +0000 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/amateur-radio/shack/
• Russian DX Contest: I was active from 15th-16th March 2008 from the Cambridge University Wireless Society shack in the Russian DX Contest. This was a part-time operation, due to work and the CDXC Dinner on Saturday evening, SOSB on 20m only.
  Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:49:05 +0000 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/amateur-radio/contests/2008/rdxc
• Engineers without Borders: Field Communications: The presentations that I wrote on licensing and HF and VHF equipment for the course on Field Communications held in Cambridge for Engineers without Borders are now online. More information on the course is also at http://www.ewb-uk.org/node/3362
  Sat, 08 Mar 2008 15:07:06 +0000 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/amateur-radio/training/presentations/
• RSS Feed is back!: A re-design of my website in July 2007 resulted in the accidental dropping of the RSS feed for the amateur radio sub-section of my website. I have now managed to reinstate it.
  Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:49:47 +0000 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/rss.php
• BFBS on HF to Iraq: Five years on from the Iraq war, I have decided to release a rare recording of BBC Radio 4 via BFBS Radio 2 on HF (Short-Wave) radio to the Gulf, which I recorded in late February 2003.
  Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:48:02 +0000 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/amateur-radio/archives/2003/bfbs/
• rsgbiota.org Launched : Yes, finally I can have a life again... almost three years since I started writing it, this evening we have finally launched the new RSGB Islands on the Air website and web-based software. You'll be able to see it just as soon as the DNS has propagated (lots of people are already using it, but it may take a few hours to reach you). Let me know what you think.
  Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:55:53 +0100 - http://www.rsgbiota.org/
• IARU Contest (2006) Results: I was surprised this morning to receive a certificate through my letterbox from the RSGB. Turns out that I my small entry in last year's IARU Contest actually resulted in my winning first-place in England for the SOAB (Mixed) LP category! Perhaps even more suprising is that I came 6th place overall in England. Congratulations to all the other participants. My accuracy also seems to have improved somewhat: the claimed score was 74,235 and the adjudicated score was 71,344, meaning that I lost a total of about 4% in log-checking. (I suspect most of these were CW QSOs, which still needs some practice.) Full results
  Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:53:38 +0100 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/amateur-radio/contests/2006/rdxc/
• WPX, IOTA, SOTA: In the WPX CW contest this weekend, I managed a total of 151 contacts, with Colombia as the furthest. Thanks to everyone who put up with my weak signal! Progress with the new IOTA website continues apace, and we should be launching very shortly indeed now. I've just uploaded some video guides to registering and starting on the new site, which users are strongly urged to check. More information at http://www.rsgbiota.org This coming weekend, Mike G7VJR, Martin G3ZAY and I will be in the Peak District area of northern England, to activate some peaks for Summits on the Air. Look for us probably on 40m CW and 2m FM. (The exact SOTAs we will climb are to be decided)
  Tue, 29 May 2007 18:36:29 +0100 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/amateur-radio/contests/2007/wpx/
• CQ WPX CW Contest 2007: So, this weekend is this year's CQ WPX CW Contest (for the benefit of non-hams this means that for 48 hours we try to speak to as many people as possible in Morse Code. I'm in the SOSB(A) 20m LP category, which means all my contacts have to be around 14MHz.) Unusually, I'm doing this one from my flat in Birmingham, which has been somewhat limiting on the antenna front. Some pictures of the equipment I'm using can be found at http://www.domsmith.co.uk/wpx07/ About 22 hours into the contest, I've just managed to pass the 100 contacts mark, and I've managed to reach people from Canada to Cyprus. It's been very tough work being heard with the limited set-up, and my score certainly pales in comparison to the thousands of contacts that the 'big-guns' are having. It is fun though, honest...
  Sat, 26 May 2007 23:09:08 +0100 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/amateur-radio/contests/2007/wpx/
• Dayton Hamvention(R) 2007: So here we are once again at the biggest amateur radio event of the year, the Dayton Hamvention. This year, I'm working on the RSGB stand and also giving presentations about the new IOTA software on the Icom stand. Check out this video to watch some highlights of the convention today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j9srlPQ8G4
  Sat, 19 May 2007 00:08:14 +0100 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/amateur-radio/social-events/2007/dayton/
• Visalia DX Convention: The Visalia DX Convention closes after breakfast this morning. The convention has been a great success, by and large, and my presentation of the new IOTA web-based software received some very positive comments. The convention's theme is "Elmering new DXers is job #1" but I'm slightly concerned whether everyone there is ready to take on this challenge. Some interesting discussions in the DX Forum included the use of DXpedition sponsorship money and in the Contest Forum the possibility of making contests more transparent through the public release of UBNs and audio recordings. Anyway, tonight we're flying back to the UK and I'll be landing back at Heathrow at about 15:30 tomorrow.
  Sun, 29 Apr 2007 15:27:26 +0100 - http://www.domsmith.co.uk/amateur-radio/social-events/2007/visalia/
• IOTA Software launching soon: A post that I've been hoping to make for some time... I've spent the last three and a half years coding it, but the new web-based software to run amateur radio's Islands On The Air award scheme should (unless there are any last-minute glitches) be launching in early May. Here's the basic plan: Next weekend, I'll be flying to California, where Martin G3ZAY and I will give a pre-launch demo at the IOTA Dinner at the NCDXF's Visalia DX Convention in Visalia, CA, on 27 April. After that, I'll be flying back to the UK and will spend a couple weeks tidying any final bugs whilst IOTA checkpoints finalise their databases. We'll then switch off the current RSGBIOTA.org website, which I designed some five years ago very much as a 'temporary stop-gap' and upload the checkpoints' databases to the new server. We should then go live sometime around the second week of May, just before Martin and I fly back out to the States. I'll then be demo-ing the new software on the ICOM stand at the Dayton Hamvention(R) in OH on 18th / 19th / 20th May. Keep checking rsgbiota.org for the latest progress reports, and see you in Visalia or Dayton.
  Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:08:23 +0100 - http://www.rsgbiota.org/

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