Dragon 10m HF portable is finished

A final bit of motivation and I finished my 10M portable radio. Here we are on Sunday finalising the wiring:

It has a Dragon SS-485H HF rig along with a Z11 ATU and runs a 7Ah SLA, All housed in a bench instrument enclosure from Jaycar. Some space constraints within the enclosure so the ATU is on the outside. I have a section to attach some counterpoise wires but haven't made any up yet.

And out in the back garden running a 2.4 metre ex-mil HF whip - ANT-129 22-30Mhz....

A local operator Darren - VK4HDO, came back to my call on 28.480 reporting my audio as good but the signal was low and according to his radio I was about 3Khz off frequency.

.....and with a more managable HF antenna

.....and on the radio bench running into the external 10M vertical

I'm hoping to get it ready for the WIA National field day on the 13th and 14th of April and see how it goes communicating from a hilltop.

Cherry Post

........2013 is here and I've picked up an old hobby - Radio. I started out in CB radio over 20 years ago and while I gave it away for a long time it is something that I've always liked. The excitement of talking to someone very far away using an age-old method of communications has always held a higher place for me than the telephone, mobile phone or internet. It really is a case of the journey not the destination.

A couple of years ago I sat and passed my amateur radio Foundation Certificate and received the VK4FLYN callsign. As always one thing led to another and after a spurt of enthusiasm I was focused on work and family. Still, with a young family I'd like to get back into the hobby, use my current certification and if possible upgrade to a standard or advanced licence. For me DX holds the most appeal although I'm not having much success so far. So settle back and let's see how far we can go in 2013 and if Amateur Radio is really all I remember it to be.