ZS2DH

Zulu Sierra Two Delta Hotel

Tag: X1M

My first contest: Hamnet 2015

March 1, 2015 /

What a lot of fun!

Wow, I just had a lot of fun!   My first contest – and I really never thought I’d like it, but I did.  Thanks Al!

I ran a portable station (my normal SOTA setup) running my X1M off a 7AHr battery and blasting out 5 watts off my dipole pitched with a swimming pool net handle.  I little extra luxury – I had a table and an camp chair.

I realise the guru’s out there may think this is silly – I only made 5 contacts, but I’ll bet mine was the first log submitted – yes mine is already in 😉

I still have a lot to learn, but really enjoyed today.  I now need to analyse what I did and how it worked and then improve on it next time.

Thanks to the organisers.  And in the (immortal) words of Arnie “I’ll be back!”

 

73,

JOTA 2014

October 21, 2014 /

Those of you who either know me, or who have read my about page would know that I am involved with the Scout movement in South Africa.  JOTA (Jamboree On The Air) is all about communication and radios play a part in making the weekend exciting for the youth.

Tony (zr2tx), Andre (zs2za), Uncle Bill Hodges (zs2abz), Theunis (zs2ec), and yours truly set up a JOTA station at the Voortrekker camping grounds near Van Staaden’s gorge over the weekend of 18/19 October.

While the Scouts had a range of activities including a cooking competition, Geocaching, Tracking with APRS, and JOTI (Internet), the radio base seemed to be a hit with a constant stream of kids wanting to talk.  zs2jam was our official callsign and regular chats with Knysna scouts (zs2gsg) and Bloemfontein (zs4bfn) were held by the kids.  It is quite amazing what kids will ask each other!

Connections were also made into Scotland, Croatia, Namibia, America, and even a few islands.

The hams all got along well and had a lot of fun.

Yours truly had my little X1M chatting to Knysna on QRP very nicely – we even swamped out the “old guys” with their 100W radio.

Much fun was had by all.  Next year I think we will make a much bigger event!

Some useful links

Pears Radio Club (Port Elizabeth, South Africa)
The South African Radio League
eHam.Net
SOTA

© 2026 ZS2DH

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑