“Bicycle Mobile” 20M … morning sessions Feb

The last few mornings I have enjoyed going out with the electric tricycle along the promenade here in Blackpool on both 20M and 40M.

Initially I was on the promenade at around 07:30 UTC and although there were several openings on 40M SSB into VK and ZL this meant using the full sized quarter wave vertical on the tricycle which is 33 feet long whereas the smaller 20M antenna at just over 16ft is a lot more manageable when its a little windy.

The 20M band is currently not opening until 08:30 UTC and so of recent days I have left it until 08:30 UTC before going out. The 20M band is staying open on the long path until at least 10:30 UTC, I was working VK1TX this morning (6th Feb) at nearly 11:00 UTC with good signals onto my trike.

Tuesday 4th Feb propagation was good into the Pacific long path and signals both ways between myself and ZL3OZ in Timaru New Zealand were 59+20 and so we both reduced power levels down to milliwatts and we were still able to copy each other as you can hear on the recording Ken, ZL3OZ kindly sent me.

Today (6th Feb) having arranged to work Ken, ZL3OZ again after making contact on 20M long path we moved over to 17M at 09:30 UTC and had good signals on there as well despite there being a solar disturbance in force today, which was quite a surprise on what otherwise was a dead 17M band.

Here is the list of stations worked over the last couple of morning on 20M SSB:

• FK4RD
• FK4QX
• ZL3OZ (several QSO’s)
• VK7RG
• VK2TRK
• VK2SR
• VK2CPC
• G6PGL/CN/Mobile
• PY1FI
• R3MBD
• JP3QZW
• ZL1ALA
• VK2BSY/Pedestrian Mobile
• VK2ADA
• UR4LQ
• PZ1EL
• ZL2BAQ

Weather dependant, I am looking forward to another morning trip out tomorrow.

Dave, G4AKC