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Welcome to My Website

I use these pages to collect together various bits and pieces about my ham radio interests, and to share information you might need like QSL details. I also publish my logs here so that you can check if you have ‘worked’ my callsign. My US call is N3QI.

MD4K - Isle Of Man - in IOTA contest · 26 July 2009 by Michael Wells

I was active on 25/26 July at MD4K for the RSGB IOTA contest. We had a great time, with good openings on 10m and 15m. Thanks for the contacts! Hopefully we will have done well. As a guest op, this was the first time I’ve operated from MD4K and I found it was an excellent, highly tactical contest experience – and what a great team!

YS1G - El Salvador · 15 May 2009 by Michael Wells

Logsearch: http://www.clublog.org/l.php?log=YS1G

Between 17 May and 23 May, Bob and I were QRV from El Salvador on 160m to 10m. Luckily, with the help of a sunspot, we had propagation much higher than we expected. We closed with approximately 9,300 contacts logged.

Thanks for all the QSOs (confirmed now in LoTW). QSL via G3TXF.

73,
Michael G7VJR & Bob MD0CCE
“YS1G”

G7VJR Reverse Beacon · 9 May 2009 by Michael Wells

Hi all,

I have just finished putting together the (numerous) parts of a full CW Skimmer station. This is working very well and I thought it might perhaps interest a few people. In short;

As a result you can see what my radio is hearing (with a map if you click the right button) here:

http://www.reversebeacon.net/dxsd1.php?f=0&c=G7VJR&t=de

While I’m sure it gets used as a crutch by some, I do see this as a fascinating and quite dazzling piece of technology. What I really like is that I can connect while I’m at work and have a think about whether to head to the shack!

73
Michael G7VJR

YS1G - El Salvador and GMDX · 20 April 2009 by Michael Wells

On 16 May 2009 I will be arriving in El Salvador to operate as YS1G until 23 May. Also on this trip are veteran DXers Nigel G3TXF and Bob MD0CCE. We will put on the best show we can! More info: http://www.g3txf.com/dxtrip/YS/YS.html.

Great to see some familiar faces at the GMDX convention in Scotland on 18 April. This was a good opportunity to announce the YS1G expedition and a great weekend all round. Thanks to Gavin GM0GAV for the airport connections and accommodation! Photo below, care of GM4FDM. As a speaker at the convention I received a GMDX mug for my collection!

Log search for YS1G:

http://www.clublog.org/l.php?log=YS1G

GD7VJR - Isle of Man · 6 April 2009 by Michael Wells

I was active between 3-5 April 2009 as GD7VJR, operating from Bob MD0CCE’s excellent station near Ramsey, on the northern side of IoM. I was on CW only on all bands, although 12m and 10m would not open. In total I made approximately 2000 QSOs.

From 03/2010 onwards QSL via M0OXO – www.m0oxo.com

I’m extremely grateful to Bob for the use of his station, and his hospitality during my stay. Bob’s quiet and spacious QTH and meticulous attention to detail in the shack makes his station simply an outstanding example of how to do things well. Thanks Bob!

73 and thanks for the QSOs.
Michael G7VJR

"DX Lite" mobile phone cluster interface · 19 March 2009 by Michael Wells

I often access the cluster from a Treo PDA over GPRS. Most of the good DX web sites are advertising and displaying graphics, with filtering tools etc. While this is excellent for regular internet use, it’s not really desirable on a phone interface. Also, page refreshing is often a hinderance!

I have written a very light DX Cluster web site with these problems in mind.

http://dxlite.g7vjr.org/

To get DXCC and IOTA information in an extra column, use:

http://dxlite.g7vjr.org/?full=1

To get the output in XML:

http://dxlite.g7vjr.org/?xml=1

To search in a particular band:

http://dxlite.g7vjr.org/?band=160

or for 6m up: http://dxlite.g7vjr.org/?band=vhf

To search for a particular callsign (or prefix):

http://dxlite.g7vjr.org/?dx=N8S

To specify how many results (default 50, maximum 500):

http://dxlite.g7vjr.org/?limit=125

To have the page automatically reload every 30 seconds, use refresh=1:

http://dxlite.g7vjr.org/?refresh=1

To see spots by, and about, a specific call, use spotter:

http://dxlite.g7vjr.org/?spotter=g7vjr

If you find the dx= flag too broad (because it uses sub-strings) you can try dxexact instead, eg:

http://dxlite.g7vjr.org/?dxexact=N1A

To filter by the spotter (eg. “spots from stations beginning with G”) use:

http://dxlite.g7vjr.org/?filter=G&dx=VK9

You can use most these arguments together, for example:

http://dxlite.g7vjr.org/?full=1&band=160&dx=n8s&refresh=1

Thanks to Marios 5B4WN for the idea of the XML feed (and for the XSL sheet), and also for helping with DXCC country look ups from callsigns (not as easy at it looks, thanks Marios!).

If anyone else finds this sort of thing useful, it would be nice to hear from you in advance if you plan to mine the XML version. Have a look here to see what Marios has done with Google Maps from DXLite – it’s a really interesting concept.

To prevent abuse, DXLite rejects IP addresses making too many requests. Also, DXLite silently filters out cluster spam, self-spotting and QSL news “spots”. I do this to improve the relevance of DXLite information. I devised the rules based on 2 million historical records. I prefer not to publish the rules, but will respond to emails on this topic from regular DXLite users.

I hope you find DXLite as useful as I do, and thanks for your interest in this tool. 73 – Michael G7VJR.

160m matching using vacuum variable capacitor · 6 March 2009 by Michael Wells

While operating on top band at ZD8UW I had quite a few problems getting the inverted ‘L’ to match at 50 ohms. Even after adjusting the element length this is virtually impossible due to the nature of the antenna. To make a suitable match I’ve now built a capacitive loading unit, using a vacuum variable capacitor (10 – 1200pF). This should solve my matching problems and allow the vertical to be used on 80m as well, as it will match a very broad range of antennas provided the electrical length exceeds the resonant length. While it might seem easier to use inductive loading on a short antenna, but that would be comparatively lossy. I like to have all the efficiency possible.

Vacuum variable capacitors work well at higher potential voltages without arcing, but they are quite expensive. I bought this unit on eBay complete with fittings for about £120 (from Ukraine). I built the housing and connections in a few hours using parts from Farnnell.


Working K3LR with 0.1W · 22 February 2009 by Michael Wells

Last year I was delighted to work K3LR (and others) with a few watts in the ARRL contest. This year, spurred on by Dominic M0BLF, I’ve made a video of the same contact, but this time with 0.1W…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tk4kz5OeIE

73
Michael G7VJR

nGenLog authors visit G7VJR · 14 February 2009 by Michael Wells

One of the most innovative and well-designed logging programs for the PC is nGenLog (see http://www.ngenlog.com). It’s very recent arrival on the ham radio scene, and deserves a look!

The whole product has s a modern design which I think sets it apart from a lot of tired old products, but what also makes it special is the level of support and development from the creators (the nGenLog ‘team’). They provide personal help and are very interested to hear ideas and suggestions.

On 13 February, Daniel and Lars visited England to visit AOR to do CAT control tests on Tentec radios. On their way back to the airport, they had a chance to visit me in Cambridge to complete the Elecraft K3 integration, too, and we were able to chat about some of the features which make DX’ers work easily (eg. QSL processing and band/mode slot chasing).

If you are interested in trying nGenLog, here’s the link to the free trial version:

http://www.ngenlog.com/Downloads/nGenLog_Demo_Setup.exe

73
Michael G7VJR

Daniel:

Lars:

Screenshot:

Ascension Island - ZD8UW · 21 December 2008 by Michael Wells

Between 31 December 2008 and 09 January 2009, six members of the Cambridge University Wireless Society will be QRV from Ascension Island using the call ZD8UW. I will be on 160m and 80m CW – the other expedition members will be on SSB or CW depending on personal preferences.

Expedition members:

Hugo M0HSW

Tom M0TJH

Simon G4EAG

Michael G7VJR

Gordon G3USR

Martin G3ZAY

Modes will be SSB and CW on HF bands. Operators will give their name occasionally – just ask, if you are interested in who you worked! Logs will be uploaded to LoTW shortly after the expedition.

From 03/2010 onwards QSL via M0OXO – www.m0oxo.com

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