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Amateur radio related diary

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Update 24/4/2026: Yesterday I had a small but very satisfying "victory"!

In 2015 I acquired a, what I was told was a "pristine" Kenwood TS-930S for my collection. Sadly as it turned out it was far from "pristine" with many issues.

The top of the case had a huge corrosion mark. This was not the least of the issues, after a few minutes of running the PLL would unlock and the display as well as reception would die! The fan cooling the finals also did not work plus a few other problems

Over the next few months I slowly solved the issues with the radio, firstly I cleaned it well (a previous owned must have been a heavy smoker) and then I managed to sort out the PLL issue, re-align the receiver and replace the fan and fan controller.

Just as I had it almost running well it developed another issue. The control switch that is used to change the mode stopped working. Closer investigation showed that it is a very strange switch, when you turn the control it move a long, very thin stainless steel "band" that pushes or pulls a sliding switch about 10cm away on the other side of the VFO.

The stainless steel band had snapped, as there was no way to fix this the radio was now stuck in one mode. I gave up and moved the radio into the store room.

Now fast-forward 11 years. I had the opportunity to buy a (supposedly good) Kenwood TS-930S from the estate of an old friend.

Sadly as the radio arrived, even though it looked great, it did not receive and there was no TX output. With no spares available for these radios (they are now 44 years old) I knew I could not really fix it but there was hope. Maybe I could use spares from the one radio to fix the other one?

Well, I finally got around to looking at the radios yesterday. After a few hours of work I now have a fully functional Kenwood TS-930S! There are still a few things I want to do, like move the newer, more efficient, fans from the newer (by 4 years) radio that is dead to the older but functional radio but for now the radio is working!

Just shows, never give up on a broken radio! Now if I could only find spares for the Yaesu FT-767GX II that has been in the store room for 26 years I would be really happy....

Fixed Kenwood TS-930S, still sounds great!

Update 20/4/2026: I had fun during the CWMM contest over the past weekend! Conditions were not great but there were enough stations to work to make things interesting.

My total was not great, I am sure it is not good enough for the top 10 but that is fine, I had fun and that is all that matters. I also added a new country (Guyana) to my QRP CW total so that makes it all worthwhile. I did send in my log so we will see where I end up in the results. I made 138 contacts, 53 different SA prefixes and 27 countries for a total score of around 35000.

Saturday conditions were not too bad, the contest started at 11am local time but I had very high noise levels with very weak signals (The weak signals persisted for the whole contest). This was not ideal when you run 5W but I suppose that is what makes it so challenging! It seems like one of my neighbors have some new electronic/electric equipment that, when it is on, give me S7 to S9 QRM across all bands. I am not sure what I can do about this, maybe I need to start using my QRM Eliminator again? The only other option is to move somewhere far away from people and to be quite honest I am considering that anyway!

I started the contest running the trusty Xiegu X6100 but by late Saturday afternoon I realized the radio was not coping with the QRM so I quickly changed to another radio, an Icom IC-7610, that was on the desk. This helped a lot as the DNR on the Icom is a lot better compared to what is available on the Xiegu but in hind-sight I should have changed to something like the Yaesu FTdx-10/101MP for even better noise reduction.

The higher dynamic range of the Yaesu would also have helped on Sunday morning. I managed to work quite a few stations on 40m but many of the stations were very close to the (military we think) intruder signals that occupy many slots of the 40m band. Under those conditions I struggled to hear the stations as the IC-7610's front end got swamped by the close and very strong as well as dirty FSK signals.

Weak HAM signals with the strong FSK signals on 40m, Sunday morning.

I am planning on writing a more detailed report on this contest, If I do I will post a link to the report here.

In other news I have found a pristine, just fully serviced, Kenwood TS-940S for my collection. I have actually decided to stop collecting radios and to start slowly getting rid of the radios as I am running out of space but I decide to give the TS-940S a chance. I seldom if ever use many of the radios so they will go first. I think in the end I will only keep maybe 5 or 6 radios, the ones I enjoy operating the most. Maybe the TS-940 will remain but chances are it will also be in the market soon as competition for those "keeper" slots are fierce with some really good contenders!

It is NOT going to be easy to make the final selection....

Update 14/4/2026: I recently found out that an old friend, and Elmer, Hal Lund (ZS6WB) had passed. This was really sad news for me as he played an important role in my early ham years and he was also a great guy and a friend.

He was really active in the VHF/UHF area and I spent many days with him learning about antennas, propagation and just amateur radio in general.

You will be missed Hal!

Hal Lund - ZS6WB(SK)

Update 11/4/2026: The results of the BERU contest has been released, see my note on 16/3/2026 for the rather depressing contest! I really struggled with antennas, software and propagation giving me the lowest total I have ever had in ANY contest! I almost did not send in my log but as I was a member (one of 4) of the "Africa" team I had to send the embarrassing log in!

What I did realize was that it was a bit unfair of me to be part of the team as I only run QRP so there was no way my points "contribution" could ever be anywhere close to the other guys running 100-1000W. Lesson lead!

Anyway, as a team we did quite well, third in the world! Surprisingly my meager total on QRP was also good enough for a 5'th in the world! Seems like other QRP operators also struggled!

BERU Team results


BERU ZS2M results

Next weekend it is the CWJF group CW contest. Since I am now a (honorary) member of this group I really need to compete in this contest, I just hope the conditions are good!

Next weekend we also have our local POTA day, sadly due to the CWJF contest I won't be able to do an activation but I will still try to hunt between contest activities!

Update 5/4/2026: I have now been using the IC-781 for a while, I worked some DX on CW on a few bands and I had quite a few rag-chew QSO's, both on CQ and SSB. I think my initial impressions were correct, it is a great SSB radio but only an average (even by the 1990 standards) CW radio.

I think I will keep it for some local SSB chats and because it is such a beautiful and iconic radio!

Update 2/4/2026: I tried the IC-781 during the early morning CW session. Conditions were still bad so I did not hear many stations but with the exception of one (a very load stations who did not reply to any of his many callers!) I managed to work every station I could hear.

First CW impressions are good. The noise blanker is very effective against the noise from my neighbors solar system. The CW filters are ok but they do ring a bit, especially at the 250Hz setting. If I compare the IC-781 CW filters with the CW filters in the Yaesu FT-1000D (same vintage) the Yaesu is far superior.

I have now also made a few SSB QSO's and I am getting very good audio reports. My (early) conclusion is that this a great SSB radio but only an average CW radio. Will play with it a bit more before making a final conclusion. I am considering writing a short review and comparing it with the two contemporary radios from Yaesu and Kenwood, the FT-1000D and the TS-950SDX.

If I do decide to do the full comparison I will also make a video and upload it to YouTube. Watch this space for a link to the video!

The Icom IC-781 is not only clean on the outside it is also clean inside, looks new!

Update 1/4/2026: After taking an extended detour around the country (the courier company messed up!) the Icom IC-781 finally arrived! I was happy to see that there were no damage to the box after the extended trip.

I did not waste time to get it connected and ready to run in the shack. Sadly band conditions were really bad but I did manage to make a quick contact on 10m with a PY station, the only station I could hear!

New addition to my HF radio collection, Icom IC-781, flagship radio from 1990 till around 1998.

First impressions are good. The build quality is really great and the radio is in a very good condition, looks like new!

Looking forward to trying it in the CWT session tomorrow morning.

Update 26/3/2026:  A quick report on the CQWW WPX SSB contest. Well, it did not really go well. I decided to just enter single band, 10m, that might not have been such a great idea!

I had so much noise on the 10m band, not sure where it came from, a constant hash! With conditions not that great and signals not very strong I could only hear a few stations. Even more frustrating was trying to work stations with weak signals running only 5W! By the time the band closed late Saturday afternoon I had only worked 46 stations and frankly I had had enough!

I now remember why I stick to CW contests! Even using a voice keyer to call CQ (not that I ever had a reply to my CQ calls!) I still ended up with over worked vocal cords! I think I will stick to CW contests in the future!

After not having much fun on Saturday I did not even try on Sunday, I ended up working DX in 12m and 17m, much more fun!

I was not even going to enter my log but I did receive a request from the organizers of the contest to send in my log because I appeared in "many" (really? All 46 of them?) logs that were already sent in. So I did send in my log, I think rather than win, like I did in 2003, I will be dead last this time! Oh well, at least I was on the air!

Update 26/3/2026: Band conditions have been really bad the last few days with a major solar storm and a few CME's. The result was that I have not made a single contact yet with my new Tennadyne T6 antenna!

This morning the prediction looked a bit better, since it is Thursday I decide to try making a few contacts during the 5 to 6am (local) CWT session on 40m (using my 5-band trap dipole). I started about 10 minutes late, a combination of bad planning and very demanding cats! Anyway, the band was in a good condition and I could work just about everyone I could hear with my 5W.

I ended up with 51 QSO's in the 50 minutes (actually a bit less as you will see below) so I was quite happy with that!

About 20 minutes into the contest I could see a weak signal way down at the bottom of the band and what looked like a pile-up. I quickly QSY'ed down and after a bit of listening (the signal was an S1 at best) I could hear that it was CY0S, Sable Island. I knew there was a DX'pedition on Sable island but so far I could not hear them. Anyway, the CWT test was (temporary) forgotten as I tried to work CY0S. It took around 5 to 10 minutes but I got them! A new one on 40m, and as it turned out an ATNO for QRP CW as I did work Sable Island before but in 1999 and 2000 so it was before my "QRP only" commitment.

I was really happy!

CY0S below the CWT activity.


Sable Island


CY0S operators hard at work

I spent the rest of the morning getting things setup for the CQWW WPX SSB contest this weekend. I have not decided on strategy yet but I think to limit the time I need to spend on the contest I might well end up going for a single band entry, most likely 10m if it is open. That way I do not have to spend the whole weekend in front of the radio!

I did dig up my headset/microphone setup with the foot PTT switch, I think the last time I used it was in 2003 with the very same CQWW WPX SSB contest. That time I won the category I entered in the world so good memories.

I could not remember what radio I used back then so I had to check the wiring in the plug, it turned out to be for an Icom so I most likely used the Icom IC-756 back then. This time I think I will use the Icom IC-7610, the IC-7800 would have been nice but I seem to remember it will only go down to 10W on SSB, not 5W. The IC-7610 will go right down to 0W.

I also setup voice memories on the radio so that I do not have to shout into the microphone the whole weekend. Calling CQ and giving my call can be done with the push of a button.

While messing around with the radio I heard a very weak signal on 12m, it turned out that it was XX9W (Macao), I turned the T6 in the right direction and the signal came up to a S3-4. It took a few calls (he was working stations according to area, first JA, the NA then EU), during his EU session I took a chance and called and he replied! The problem is when DX stations work by area they almost always ignore Africa!

XX9W, the only signal on a quiet band!


XX9W operators listening for me!

I must say I was really happy to work them plus this was also the first contact with the new Tennadyne T6 antenna, a great start!

Update 24/3/2026: The Tennadyne T6 antenna is finally up! It took a bit longer than planned due to the (hot) weather and having to spend some time cutting up trees and fixing stuff around the garden.

But it is done and it is up on the tower. I have not raised it to it's full height yet, first want to check if all is well but it is looking good. SWR is low on all band from 13 to 30MHz with just the 20m resonance a bit high up in the SSB portion of the band. Since I use it for CW 99% of the time it could drop a bit but I have decided to leave it like that for now, till at least after the CQWW WPX SSB contest this coming weekend. After that I will decide if it is worth the effort to drop the resonance point a bit. The SWR is still below 2:1, around 1.7:1 in the CW portion of the band.

Let's hope this antenna lasts longer than it's predecessor, it does look a lot more robust.

Now I need some decent conditions to test it, today the sun is not behaving, another flare and a very disturbed geo-magnetic field!

In other news my Icom IC-781 was shipped this morning, looking forward to getting the beast in the shack! But first I need to prepare for the CQWW WPX SSB contest, I need to re-setup my logging software on a new laptop. I need to record voice messages so that I do not have to shout "CQ Contest" the whole weekend and I need to make sure my headset/microphone and foot pedal has the correct plugs for the radio I am  going to use.

Talking about the radio I am going to use, I still need to decide on that! Maybe I need to look at what plug is on my headset and then decide according to that.

Update 21/3/2026: I have now fixed my dipole antennas, for a few days I used my "field station" 10-80m EFHW in the garden using 2 trees to support it. The one end was up about 6m and the other end about 10m. It worked well but I am glad the 5 band dipole is up again at about 14m.

I have also taken down the hexbeam and will be assembling Log Periodic and mounting it on the tower in the next few days.

There is now a bit of urgency to get the antenna sorted out as the organizers of the CW WW WPX SSB contest have asked me to please compete. It is a SSB contest and not really my "thing" but I did win it once (World wide) so maybe I must give it a try again?

I have also had the privilege to be invited to join the CWJF group, a group od CW enthusiasts around the world who support DX'peditions and promote contesting. They selected 40 amateurs around the world to join at no cost because of their track record in contesting and a few other reasons. I am really happy that I was one of the 40!

CWJF membership certificate.

I will be supporting them and also promoting their contests, the first one is in April so I am looking forward to that!

Update 19/3/2026: A day after my last post we had a hectic wind and rain storm. It only lasted around 20 minutes but it caused a lot of damage! We had 2 big old trees badly damaged, one branch, about 45cm thick and at least 10m long was thrown over 2 other trees. We also had part of our garden wall blown over. Our neighbor had even more damage loosing the roof of his house and a half filled fiberglass swimming pool, sunk into the ground, was lifted up and thrown over a building.

My antennas did not do so well. The pole holding up my dipoles was snapped and so was the one holding up my VHF/UHF antennas. The hexbeam, already damaged last Saturday, was even more damaged but thankfully my main mast survived!

Now I no more excuses, the Tennadyne T6 Log Periodic antenna needs to be assembled and put up on the mast!

My poor hexbeam! Time for retirement, it worked well but it is NOT robust.

Update 17/3/2026: After the rather depressing BERU contest weekend I now need to sort out my antennas again. I am not going to fix the hexbeam again, it works really well but it is rather fragile! I do have a new 6 element Log periodic antenna that will be replacing the hexbeam, now I just need a few cooler days (we are sitting at around 40C most days) to put it up!

In other, better news, I managed to add another classic "flagship" radio to my collection. It is a pristine Icom IC-781, for many years this was the ultimate in radios! I do have another example of this radio but it is really in a shocking condition and would be best used as a spares radio. Finding this pristine version really made my day! It will only be shipped around 23 March as the seller can only pack it this coming weekend but that is fine, I know he will do a great job!

Icom IC-781, photo (c)Icom

I am looking forward to using this beast on CW and some local SSB chats!

Update 16/3/2026: I spent quite a few hours this weekend on the RSGB Common Wealth (BERU) contest. This is a CW only contest where you can only work counties that members of the British Common Wealth. I have competed in this contest before, it is a 24 hour contest. and made over 400 QSO's in the past.

This time things did not work out well for me! As the contest started at 10:00 on Saturday there was a storm in the area, I worked as long a I could, maybe an hour before I had to unplug antennas due to the lightning. Due to the very high static I only worked around 12 stations, mostly on 10m up to that point. As I was still unplugging stuff we had a very close hit, fortunately my radios were fine but sadly I discovered a while later that the laptop I used for logging died, most likely due to induction from the charger.

This resulted in me loosing the contacts  I had already logged. I had to use a backup computer for the rest of the contest but it did not have a functional, updated, copy of my preferred logger, N1MM+ installed. I attempted an upgrade as well as a re-install but it failed. After about an hour and a half messing with N1MM+ I gave up, it is a great program but really a pain to install or upgrade at times! I ended up using a different logging program so I lost a lot of the features I am used to.

To top off the mess with the computer the wind (more than 100km/h) that came with the thunderstorm destroyed my hexbeam again! So I was stuck with only a rather low EFHW for the rest of the contest. Add to this a solar storm and a K index of 5 or higher and things were not easy.

I managed to work every single station I could hear over my very high noise level, mostly coming from my neighbors new solar installation, but my rather sad total at the end of the 24 hours was only 34, this must be the lowest number of QSO's I have ever had in a contest! The whole thing left me rather depressed to say the least! Oh well, that is life I suppose!

There was one highlight during the contest. At some point I worked 7Q7C in Malawi. A few minutes later my phone pinged with a message from an old friend I have not spoken to for at least 10 years, Chris ZS6IR. The message said "You have a great signal on 10m", rather surprising because surely he would be too close to hear me well on 10m?

Anyway, turns out that he is working in Malawi at the moment and he is the holder of 7Q7C, great to hear from you again Chris!

Update 14/3/2026: Well the Bouvet 3Y0K expedition is finally over, I have been rather busy chasing them the last 2 weeks and it was fun! Sadly I could not work them on 40m SSB, every time I heard them strong enough to work the QSY'ed to another frequency! Same thing on 30m CW but there I did not have a decent antenna, only an EFHW with an external tuner, far from ideal! Fortunately I did manage to work the 2023 3Y0J expedition on 30m CW so I was not too worried about missing them this time.

I also spent a day in Pretoria where I managed to work them on a few bands with an EFHW antenna in a tree and 5W from my trusty Xiegu X6100, that was very satisfying!

ZS6DX results, only had one day, really only about 12 hours, to chase them.


ZS2M results, was fun!

Now we wait for the QSL cads.

Update 5/3/2026: I have been chasing 3Y0K the last few days with good results. As of this morning I have made 17 QSO's filling most band/mode slots I still need. 10m CW is still outstanding and I see from their online log that for some reason my 20m CW QSO is not there. That is quite strange because signals were strong and there was no question that the contact was made. I can query it but only after the expedition has ended so I think I will simply try to work them again on 20m.

I have heard the 3Y0K pile-up on 10m but so far I have not heard the 3Y0K station, they might be a bit close for 10m, we will see.

3Y0K, Bouvet, QSL card.

They seem to have a few great operators but also a few that are not so great (maybe new to this?). On 40m I called them on SSB, they finally heard me and the operator (with a heavy Italian accent) came back with "ZS2?", I replied "ZS2M" but when I let go of the PTT he was working an Italian station in Italian, that is NOT cool! You complete a QSO in progress BEFORE you work your buddy!!

Anyway, I switched off since I am not really interested in SSB contacts anyway.

This morning I was in the shack early for the CWT session but it turned out to be a bit of a mess, the 3Y0K pileup on 40m was right where most of the CWT guys normally hang out. I think maybe North America could not hear the pile-up because EU stations working 3Y0K and NA stations in the CWT session were calling right over each other!

I gave up after 10 QSO's and tuned around lower on the band where I could hear another pile-up, turned out it was the J51A (Guinea-Bissau) expedition. I have been looking for them the last few days but I could never hear them, only their pile-up. Well, this morning I could hear them on 40m and I managed to work them!

J51A QSL card.

I am really happy with 2 new ones (CW QRP) on 40m (3Y0K and J51A) this week for a total of 96. J51A is also an all time new one for me on CW QRP.

A Happy Ham I am!

Update 27/2/2026: I have not done many updates here but I have been quite active recently. The bands have improved with fewer CME's, that helps a lot! I have started doing the weekly, Thursday morning, CWT sessions again and I am having fun. Most weeks I make somewhere between 30 and 50 QSO's in the hour, not bad for 5W and a dipole.

DX has been good but nothing new worked. With the upcoming Bouvet (3Y0K) expedition there is hope but I have worked them on a few bands already. 3Y0C in 2023 and 3Y0X in 2006 and 2011. I still need them o 80,40, 20, 12 and 10m, hopefully propagation will good and the pile-ups will behave!

I had fun on the ARRL DX contest. I was mainly looking for a station in Wyoming to complete my WAS CW QRP but I never heard a station from the elusive state. I ended up working around 200 stations so it was still fun, many great high speed CW operators were on the air including quite a few fellow CWOps members.

Lots of activity on 10m during the ARRL DX contest.

Update 10/2/2026: It seems like the last few days we have had openings on 10m late afternoon. This has been fun but every time I only manage to make a few contacts before I have to unplug everything due to thunderstorms in the area! Lots of noise but almost no rain for us! Well, today was no different!

I did manage to work Faroe Island, Reunion Island plus a few European stations. The best catch for me was ZS7ANF, the South African Antarctic station, not easy to work on 10m as it is normally a bit close but today I managed to get a reply on my first call.

I am still waiting for the equipment from the estate, with a bit of luck it will ship today so might just make it in time for our Friday delivery run. I am looking forward to trying the old Kenwood TS-930S, I really hope it is in a better condition than the one I have.

With not much happening on the bands most of the day I played around a bit with radios I have not used for a while. Today it was the Yaesu FT-2000's turn. Still a very nice radio, I just love the ergonomics!

Yaesu FT-2000 hunting for some 40m DX early morning.

Update 8/2/2026: Band conditions have been better the last few days even though the sun is still very "angry"! I have managed to make DX contacts on 10, 12 and 15m every day the last few days with some signals, especially on 10m, very strong. 10m is even open early evening, a good sign that there is still some life left in this solar cycle!

I have decided to try and work the 1900Z CWT session this coming Wednesday. 20m should be open, I am hoping to (finally) work someone in Wyoming to complete my WAS CW QRP. Somehow I have not been able to get a QSL confirmation from someone in Wyoming for the last 25 years! I have spread the word amongst the CWT group so I am really hoping this will work out. I just hope propagation conditions play along.

On the equipment side the only news is that I have concluded the deal on the Alinco DR610 and the Kenwood TS-930SAT so they should ship tomorrow. I am pretty sure the DR-610 once belonged to me as I sold a similar radio to my friend Brian (ZR6BJS, SK) many moons ago.

We have some cooler weather predicted for this coming week so the plan is to assemble the Telladyne T6 antenna. I still need to find new rotator cable, the cable I currently have on my Ham IV rotator is very old and corroded, the high resistance in the AC line has made the rotator VERY slow, it would not work at all for the Tailtwister. I think I will just make up my own cable as decent multi-core cable is very difficult to find in this part of the world.

Update 5/2/2026:  I have now had a bit more time to play with the IC-7800. First impressions are good, the build quality is great, as good as any of the older flag-ship radios and better than modern Icom's by quite a margin.

The screen is also stunning.

I have made quite a few SSB contacts, mostly chatting to local friends and it works well. It does run a bit hot at 200W but nothing to worry about.

On CW it is great. The CW filters are not as "brick wall solid" as for example my FTdx-10 or FTdx-101MP or even the older FTdx-5000MP but good enough once you have the settings right. The Twin Pass Band Tuning works well and I ended up using it quite a bit during today's morning CWT test. The band was noisy with lots of QRN from local storms. Combine that with some really strong signals all close together it gave me a chance to really make use of the filters.

A rather noise band during the morning CWT session.

My Telladyne T6 Log-P antenna and Tailtwister rotator arrived yesterday. Hopefully I will get a cool, dry day soon so that I can put it up. It should be a lot more sturdy than the hex beam and the antenna should also offer a nice performance gain compared to the hexbeam.

Update 3/2/2026:  I left early yesterday morning to go and fetch the IC-7800. I decided to rather take the longer, but tarred, route than to take a chance that the dirt road is really bad. I needed to be there by 10am and a bad road could be a problem.

The trip was rather eventful! I left just as the light was decent, animals on the road is quite a serious and dangerous problem in this part of the world so driving in the dark is not good.

Well, as it turned out that did not help much, about 60km from home, with the sun already shining, an Impala crossed the road. I braked hard and missed him, as he ran into the long grass next to the road I took my foot off the brake pedal but he jumped out of the grass again and I hit him. At that point I was doing around 60km/h.  I tried to brake again but it was too late and I hit him. He ended up going under the vehicle.

Since the road is not great in that area I had the vehicle's suspension set to one level higher than normal (about 20cm higher than normal) and this saved my vehicle from major damage. My damage was confined to a destroyed number plate but sadly the Impala did not survive the encounter.

I continued my drive, a few minutes later I was chatting to a friend and he mentioned that I should check the vehicle's radiator as often the front bumper would move back, damaging the radiator and then move back into position. I promptly stopped to check!

Fortunately there was no damage to the radiator but I was greeted with lots of hot oil and smoke in the engine compartment! My first thought was a broken oil line to the oil cooler due to hitting the Impala but after cleaning up the mess I traced the leak to the oil filler cap that was not closed properly!

The vehicle just returned from a service at the agent, about 200km from home so it was driven like that for 200km plus the 120km I just did before stopping to check. Before leaving home I did check the oil level and it was ok according to the computer. I did not notice anything wrong in the engine compartment at that point but everything was cold and I did not check the cap as it appeared to be closed.

I promptly checked the oil level and the computer reported that I needed to add 1 liter of oil. Since I was about 100km from a service station I drove there carefully stopping twice to confirm that the cap was no longer leaking. Fortunately it was not, it was simply not closed properly. After topping up the oil in the little town of De Rust I could continue my trip.

I met up with the seller and after transferring the HUGE box to my vehicle (I am glad I selected my SUV for the trip and not a smaller vehicle) we had a nice chat over breakfast before continuing our trips.

The trip back was not fun, I was still quite worried about the oil leak and stopped twice to confirm that all was well. To check the oil level I had to find a level spot and then wait for a few minutes before the computer would do the check. I also did visual checks for leaking oil. My first stop was on a spot not very level and again the computer said I must add oil! Not the message I wanted to see! But since I could not see any leak plus I knew you get false readings when not level (the computer tells you that when you perform the check) I drove till I found a more level spot. This time the check returned an "OK".

Since the outside temp was now 39C there checks and getting out to check for a leak was not fun! The next check was also ok so I did not stop again.

As a matter of interest I checked again this morning and the oil level was fine, I will be have a (not so nice) chat to the service center, this is NOT the first time I had issues after they serviced the vehicle.

I did not waste time to unpack the radio and move it to the test bench. First impressions were that it is in perfect, like new condition! After checking the firmware (it needs a small update) and the filters I could confirm that this is indeed an Icom IC-7800 mk3. The seller was not sure if it was a mk1/2 or 3 since the differences are not easy to see. On the mk2 they added 2 more roofing filters for a total of 3 and on the mk3 they made small hardware (screen) changes and changed the firmware.

First impression on the air are great, I need to spend some time with the complicated radio to get the best out of it but I can already see that I am going to love it! So glad I finally got my hands on one!

I still need to make up cables and connect the two very nice matching Icom speakers with filters that came with the radio. There were no cables as the seller never used the speakers but they came with all the connectors needed.

Icom IC-7800, what a stunning radio!

On other equipment news according to the tracking of the courier service my new "more sturdy" antenna, a Telladyne T6 log periodic, will be here tomorrow. Looking forward to putting it up but it will have to wait for a cooler day as we have more 37-39C days predicted over the next few days.

I also have 2 radios I am negotiating on from the estate of an old friend. I have been chatting to his daughter and we made a deal, just need to sort out the packaging and shipping details. The radios are a Kenwood TS-930, to replace the terrible sample I have in my collection, and a little Alinco DR-610 dual band mobile radio that I will most likely install in the motorhome for use while driving.

Update 30/1/2026:  Yesterday morning during the CWT 03h00 session I had a lot of fun! 40m was wide open towards North America and I managed to work 49 stations in about 45 minutes running 5W into a trap dipole. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come!

Lots of CW signals to choose from on 40M!

I have not had as much time to chase 40M DX the last few days but I did manage to add 2 to the "worked" total with one confirming so the "confirmed" total now stands on 92. If conditions stay good this coming winter should produce good results on 40M and hopefully 80M as well.

In a development of the radio collection side it has now been decided by the seller of the IC-7800 and myself too rather meet somewhere than to ship the extremely heavy (and valuable) radio. He is driving up from Cape town to go work in Hopetown so the nearest point he gets to me is Beaufort West. I will drive there to meet him. Depending on the route I choose it would either be 240km (not a great dirt road) or 340km on a decent road. I am looking forward to the drive to go fetch the new baby!

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 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! CW 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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