My main Ham related interests currently include :

1. Contesting, I really enjoy contesting, mostly CW and a bit of SSB but I must admit that CW is still my favorite. I have been building and improving my station over the last two years up to the point where it is slowly getting competitive. My next step, probably the most important one, is to get a lot more aluminum in the sky and really improve my signal. At my current location I do not have to go all that high, I know some amateurs always try and go higher but you get to the point of diminishing returns. I believe that more than 1/4 wave above ground level does not buy you that much. That along with increased losses in the long feed lines you might be fooling yourself by going higher and higher! It is important to get above surrounding obstacles. Have a look at my station and read about my contest strategy here.
   
   
2. 6m DX, (Historic from 2005!) EY8MM  was no. 100! (Interesting, I have worked EY8MM on all bands but 160 now). This took 8 years ( 6 years active, I did not work much 6m from the yacht!). 10 minutes after no. 100 no. 101 and 102 were also worked. No 103 - 105 were added April/May 2001 and 106,107 and 108 were added September 2003. 2004 has been quiet on 6m with many contacts but no new ones, the second half of 2004 produced many good contacts but since my 6m beam was down, I was only using a dipole, no new ones were added.  The first contacts of the new season (February 2005) have now been made and conditions are looking good on 6m TEP, because of openings from Europe to South America we have not had huge pile-ups like in the past but there are still plenty stations to work, with most countries worked in Europe and North Africa on 6m it is now a question of trying to work as many grid squares as possible. See you on 50.106 CW or 50.110 SSB, when it gets busy I normally go to 50.123 if it is not in use. I will probably concentrate more on CW on 6m in the future. Unfortunately 105 worked does not equal 105 confirmed, so I need to work more to get the confirmations.....
   
   The new Yaesu FT-847 is proving to be a real bonus in the shack with a superb receiver on 6m, far superior to the IC-706MKII, IC-756PRO, TS-2000, TS-570 and FT-736 that I have tried in the past! I must say I have now also tried the IC-756 (first model) and it is also great. It looks like the IC-756PRO was a bit of a bad apple, no wonder it was replaced so soon by the IC-756PROII! The TS-2000 was also a bit of a joke, I love Kenwood equipment but they got it really wrong with this radio. I have now added a 6 element yagi on a 8m boom for 6m, it is the Hy-Gain DX66 with a 14dbd gain and a 25db F/B ratio, it really works well so look out for me when the magic band opens! With this antenna and 100w I can work any station I can hear and I often get very good reports from DX stations saying that I am one of the strongest signals on the band.
   
   
3. QRP operation, both from home and bush, using both commercial and home-brew equipment. Since 2014 QRP power levels has become standard for me, the poor amplifiers are gathering dust! I have just completed a homebrew all band QRP transceiver, watch this spot for more information. I also want to use this radio for HF backpacking but I must still neaten it up a bit for portable work! During the last 3 contests I worked QRP and found this a very satisfying way, try it you will like it!
    
4. Home brewing: radios, linears, transverters and antennas,  current (2003!) project is a 2.4Ghz transverter, I am still looking for a few components but I am hoping to have this on the air soon (for AO-40). I am planning to build one of the superb Elecraft K2 radios in the near future, I will keep you posted. Recent projects (2014-15) included adding SDR based pan-adapters to a few radios and a Softrock SDR RX and TRX.
   
   
5. Satellite work, I now (2014) have 2.4Ghz equipment almost ready so I hope to be on AO-40 soon (update 2015, AO-40 turned out to be a huge flop!), I still work AO-10 now and then. The FT-847 has really made satellite work a pleasure!
   
   
6. Computer based DSP, hardware and software including high speed (200+ wpm) CW via computer used for meteor scatter. I have had lots of fun with the great WSJT program as well, this is also great for working EME with a small station but I must admit that after a while it does become a bit boring!, very little operator intervention or skill is involved!
    
7. DX in general, SSB, CW & RTTY, always looking for that rare one on any band or mode, trying to push up my band/mode totals is great fun.
    
8. Contesting and field station operation, on HF as well as VHF/UHF. (See you in the CQ WW/WPX  SSB and CW contests!)
   
   
9. I love CW and want to do 5BDXCC CW QRP. I find it easier to add to my DXCC totals on CW than SSB running a QRP station.
    
10. Chasing Islands (IOTA) is also great fun and I hope to activate a few in the future.
     
11. Digital modes like JT65, PSK31, SSTV and Packet. PACTOR was very useful on the yacht for e-mail.
     
12. Recently I have become interested in HF backpacking, operating on HF while hiking is a great way to combine 2 hobbies and enjoy nature, visit www.hfpack.com for more information on this fascinating part of our hobby. I have used my IC-706 for this but it is not ideal as it is a bit big and the current consumption, even when just receiving is far to high. I have now acquired an ex-military backpack radio that I will try in the future, it is tiny, covers all the HF ham bands and it has a very low current drain (less than 130ma during receive.) I have made a few DX contacts with this setup now, using both the supplied whip (2.4m) and a antenna based on the "Buddy pole", a homebrew portable, rotate able trap dipole. These days (since 2003) I am using a Yaesu FT-817 for field stations, what a superb little radio! Update 2022. The FT-817 is still in use but these days I mostly use my little R928+ SDR QRP radio when I am away from the home QTH.

A new development (2003) has been SOTA, Summits On The Air, a concept similar to IOTA but here you activate Summits, a lot easier for most of us. This ties in nicely with HF backpacking and QRP operation. To learn more about the SOTA program please visit the official SOTA site at www.sota.org.uk. Also see the new South African SOTA site at www.qsl.net/sotasa. See you on the summits!

FT-897 during a recent safari, having CW fun on 20m! Also using Winlink for email capability in the bush.

Remote log cabin, spot the dipole hanging from the roof!

R928+ being tested in the shack, perfect for portable and field station QRP operations!


Some results of the hard "work" !!

I am hoping to be active from Swaziland (3DA) again soon (2023) as well as Botswana (A2) and of cause from Namibia using my V51VE call. Lesotho (7P8), Zimbabwe (Z2) and Malawi (7Q ) are also countries we are hoping to visit in the next year or 2. I have spend 2 years operation from my yacht as ZS6VER/mm  and V51VE/mm (the yacht now flies the Namibian flag).