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Amateur radio related diary

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Update 24/1/2026:  There was another solar eruption yesterday so the higher bands have not been productive. What has been productive is 40m in the early morning. I have been in the shack most mornings this week at about 5am. At that time, till around 6:30am I can hear quite a few CW stations on 40m.

Since I have always neglected 40m in my "QRP CW DXCC chase" my total confirmed was sitting at only 82 last week. Well, the week has been productive with the confirmed total now sitting at 91 with at least 2 more that should get confirmed when the logs are uploaded.

Next I need to do the same for 80m but that might have to wait for winter. I also want to have a decent 160m antenna up by the winter. The lower the frequency the more the noise and the more difficult it is to work DX stations with 5W but I suppose that is part of the fun!

With very little activity on the bands during the day I have started to do some general work in the shack, making space (For the IC-7800 but also to get more radios connected and operational at the same time) as well as cleaning up unnecessary cables and clutter. Not the nicest of jobs but it needs to be done!

With DX being so sparse I have been spending some time on the air chatting to locals on 40m. Most of these conversations turn out to be really technical and interesting! I need to make a point of joining some of these groups more often, nice to chat to like minded people and also a great opportunity to put some of my older radios on the air. This week I mostly used the Kenwood TS-950SDX with great results. I think I will also change the radio once a week.

Kenwood TS-950SDX in action, might be old but still great!

Update 23/1/2026:  It seems like my new Comet 5 band trapped dipole is working well. For local QSO's on 80 and 40m I get the same reports as I used to get on my old dipoles. For DX, 40m at least (have not really tried other bands) it also seems to work well. I have managed to add 4 new QRP countries to my 40m total this week, not bad! So far so good, just need to concentrate on 40m till winter and then hopefully I can add a few 80m QRP countries as well.

Comet 5 band trapped dipole, apex is around 17m high. Yes, the pole is a "bit" bent!
You can also see the 80m-10m EFHW, the wire without traps, on the same pole.

Update 22/1/2026:  Band conditions have been the worst I have seen for many years the last week. There has been solar eruptions with the solar wind exceeding 1000km/s. This made the HF bands dead during the day but I did manage to make some DX contacts after sunset and just before sunrise.

Not exactly great conditions!

I concentrated on the 40m band as I still need many countries on 40m CW QRP. I did manage to add 2 new ones this week so even when conditions are terrible you can still have fun!

While having time on my hands in the shack (hot outside and bands closed) I spent some time moving a few of the less used radios into the operating position for a day at a time. It is always fun to re-visit some of my old favorites! I managed to make QSO's with the Icom IC-756Pro2, IC-756Pro3, IC-7600, Yaesu FT-2000 and Kenwood TS-950SDX over the last few days. All fun radios!

Yaesu FT-2000 in action.

Icom IC-756Pro2/3 in action.

Icom TC-756Pro2 and Kenwood TS-950SDX in action.

Icom IC-7600 in action

While on the subject of radios in my collection I managed to make a deal on an Icom IC-7800 this week. This was the one radio still missing from my Icom collection! It will take around 10-14 days for the radio to get here, going to be fun playing with this old flag-ship!

Icom IC-7800

Update 17/1/2026:  Band conditions are still up and down, sadly mostly down!

At least I managed to do some antenna work the last few days. First project was to replace my aging "fan-dipole" that I used on 80/40/30m. It has worked well but the wind and moisture has been rough on it to say the least. The (rather fragile) wire legs have been fixed a few times due to wind damage and it appears that moisture got into the wire. They are plastic covered but the plastic is transparent so it is easy to see the inside. The copper wires appeared to be corroded in quite a few places and there were also burn marks close to the feed point.

I decided to replace it with something a bit more robust and also something that could act as a backup for the higher bands. I selected the Comet 5 band trap dipole, it covers 80/40/20/15/10m. The hardware is really high quality stainless steel and the copper wires are solid. It comes with a 1Kw balun and is rated for 1Kw so it should survive my mostly QRP or up to 100W for local chats without any issues.

The antenna has now been up for a few days but sadly the band conditions have been terrible so so far I have not had many QSO's with it other than some local contacts. This morning 40m did open up a bit so I managed to work some South American and US stations as well as Cyprus. Hopefully it will prove itself soon!

My second project was to (finally) fix my hex beam. I have been delaying this in the hope that I can replace it with something a bit more robust but so far I have not found anything decent. Mostly promises by hams and then nothing. Anyway, I have now fixed the hex beam, I also tried to re-enforce it a bit, hopefully it will survive the next storm! I am still looking for a decent yagi so this might just be a temporary solution.

Again the bad band conditions have prevented any decent QSO's on it but hopefully things will improve this coming week. The week after that we will most likely go on a mini vacation so then I will be stuck with an EFHW.

Hex-beam up where it belongs again!

I have been using the Yaesu FT-991A in the shack since it arrived and I must say I am quite happy with it. The RX seems fine and the filters as well as noise reduction works well. I have received good audio reports on SSB without any changes to the default setting. It will now be moved to the motorhome for our next trip.

My only complaint has to do with CW keying via the USB port. It works perfectly well but when the radio is connected to the computer and the computer is off the radio will go into a solid key-down TX state if you change to CW more or you change to a band where you last operated on CW mode. The only way to stop the transmission is to switch off the radio or un-plug the USB. I have tried 2 different cables and 2 different USB ports with the same results. I have never seen this with any other radios!

It is irritating but not a show stopper, I will try a different computer at some stage. I think the problem is with the computer off the radios sees the RST line as "grounded" so it keys!

Today is the SARL QRP contest. I was going to join but between a solar flare and some heavy local QRM I gave up. Again the SARL messed things up with the timing of the contest. From 9am till 11am local time is exactly when the bands are closed locally as well as for DX, Really SARL, maybe you should consult some contesters/DX'ers when you plan these things!

I have been hearing some strange signals at night on 40m. At first glance they sound like CW but they are not. There appears to be 2 transmitters sending some modulated carrier that is switched between 2 frequencies about 7KHz apart. Almost like spread spectrum but with only 2 frequency slots. The transmission runs for a few minutes then stops, moves frequency slightly and then the message is repeated. The stations are strong but only when the band is open for DX so I do not think they are local.

A mystery!

Mystery signals on 40m.

 
Update 8/1/2026:  Band conditions did improve slightly last night, I did not have much time but I did manage to make 2 CW contacts with the FT-991A. First on 40m was ZS1CF, thanks Charles! I also managed to work 8A1A on 40m before I had to go.

This morning I got up early to first make coffee (only way to start the day!) and then I spent from 5am to 6am (local time) on the CWT test session. 40m started of with weak signals but by 06:20 the signals from the USA and Canada were peaking close to S9. I had a great time! ICW speeds were between 30 and 45wpm, so many great CW operators in the CWT group!

I did not try to call CQ, unless conditions are exceptional calling CQ with 5W and a wire antenna is a waste of time when all the other stations are almost on the other side of the world.

I managed to work 48 US and Canadian stations in the hour, was great to hear many familiar stations I have not worked in a long time!

Having fun on 40m CW with the FT-991A.

First impressions of the FT-991A are good. When I started this morning the CW signals were weak and a bit distorted, I was worried for a while that it was the FT-991A filters distorting the signals but as propagation changed the distortion disappeared. I think it was simply trans-polar propagation that was to blame, I have heard that before. You sometimes get a signal via short path and also via long path, in this case over the poles, at the same time causing the distortion.

I now need to connect a microphone and make a few SSB contacts. The audio equalizer needs to be setup as well for best audio quality.

Update 7/1/2026:  Today is "New Radio day" in my shack. The new Yaesu FT-991A arrived 2 days earlier than expected!

I did not waste time unpacking it and getting it on the air. Basic operation is easy, so far no need to read the manual but I know there are a few bits of information I need from the manual.

As mentioned before the plan is to use it in the motorhome, for DX'ing while on the road, some rag-chewing with buddies and for POTA/SOTA activations. It will also be great for field station use when I do not have to hike far.

I might use it in the motorhome with an amplifier so I still need to make up an amplifier key cable. Sadly it is not the same as the cable on the FTdx-10 or the FT-891, why oh why Yaesu?

Unboxing the FT-991A


On the air!

Sadly the bands were dead once I had the radio connected. Hopefully things will be better in the evening or tomorrow morning during the 5am till 6am (local time) CWT test. That will be a great way to make the first QSO's with it.

Update 6/1/2026: As I mentioned a while ago my hexbeam antenna was damaged by high winds 3 times in 2025. Due to this I have decided to replace it with something more robust. Sadly the hunt for the "more robust" antenna has not gone well.

I have found 3 antennas so for.

Firstly a log periodic antenna, that would have been a good option as it covered the 20-10m bands including the WARC bands. Sadly the deal was never concluded. At first the seller said shipping would be a problem due to size, I asked for the max length but never got a reply. He then said he would try and arrange shipping. After a few months of nothing happening he informed me that he no longer wants to sell because the antenna he wanted as replacement was no longer on the market. I have a feeling he stalled the deal to see if his other deal went through.

I was then offered a Hy-gain 3 element tri-bander. Sadly this is the older model and the seller mentioned the hardware was a bit corroded. Shipping was also a problem. I could maybe fetch this antenna as it is not that far away, a 400km round trip but because it is only an old tri-bander (and quite expensive for what it is) I am a bit reluctant.

Lastly I found a monster Opt-beam 16 element antenna! I am still waiting for the seller to give me a shipping quote but even if that happens the antenna that weighs 60kg would be too much for my tower and rotator.

So the search continues, might end up importing something, that way I can get a modern antenna but it will be a very expensive option due to shipping costs.

I have decided to fix the hexbeam again while I am waiting to find something else, maybe I can also make it a bit more robust. At least it covers ALL bands from 20-6m, a real bonus. Now I am just waiting for a cooler day (it is 41C today) to start the job.

My rather sad looking hexbeam after that last 100km/h+ wind storm.

Update 6/1/2026: While I am waiting for the new Yaesu FT-991A I found some photos of the FT-991 (non A) I bought in 2015. I was planning to use it on a yacht back then but a large back operation messed up those plans! I ended up testing it briefly then it stayed in it's box for a few years till I sold it around 2018 when cleaning up the shack and the store room.

Hopefully the 991A will see more service!

Unpacking the original FT-991 in 2015


The FT-991 in 2015 on top of the FT-897 it replaced. I still have the FT-897!

I am still contemplating what radio to use for the QRP contest, using the new FT-991A would be tempting but I think I will rather use a dedicated QRP radio, that way there can be no argument about the power level I used. The most likely candidate will be the Xiegu X6100, I love that little radio!

Since there are no different classes for operating from home or from the field it makes sense to operate from home and use the better antennas. This is a bit sad as I really enjoy a field station setup, I suppose I could operate from the garden, under a tree with coax running into the shack to connect to the antennas. Time will tell, the weather (heat!) might be the deciding factor!

Update 4/1/2026: So far I have managed to be more active than last year, I just wish band conditions would be better as we are still getting regular solar storms but it is getting better.

My new Yaesu FT-991A has finally shipped, lots of delays due to the public holidays but it should be here by the end of the week.

I am starting to think about the upcoming QRP contest, what radio to use? CW and SSB or just CW? All 3 bands (40m, 20m and 10m)? 40m is a given for local contacts but if the bands behave 10m might produce some spectacular QSO's!

Sadly the time slot for the contest is from 9am till 11am local time. Most likely the worst time of the day for propagation! 40m will be closing locally and the higher bands won't be open for DX yet. As I said before, this is what happens when rules are made by non contesters and QRP operators.

Update 1/1/2026: A new year and hopefully more radio fun!

I am really going to try to be more "radio active" this year. The first "event" I am looking at is a local QRP contest on 19 January. They have changed the rules so that your score is calculated based on distance and power used. This is great as it gives the guys far away from the big cities a chance as well. In the past the guys in Gauteng could work a bunch of stations less than 50km away and win, now they will have some compaction from the guys further away.

We still need to see if the formula used to calculate the score is fair for everyone, time will tell but it will be fun.

Sadly they (SARL) define QRP as 10W and below for CW and SSB. The rest of the world defines QRP as 5W and below, but that is what happens when rules are made by guys who have never operated in a contest or QRP.

I think my main focus this year will be POTA with maybe a few SOTA activations added. This will tie in nicely with our plans to travel a lot in Southern Africa this year.

Looking forward to getting you in the log this year, happy 2026!  

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