Lunchtime portable chat on Three Rock

I went for a nice walk at lunchtime here in Dublin and enjoyed a good QSO with Mike EI2DJ. He said I was a nice strong signal into the EI7TRR Three Rock Repeater from the Naas Road. The Waccom UV5RE Plus is a great little radio, especially considering it cost me less than 40 euro, including delivery. And yes, that's a new price, not second hand. I did buy the larger 3,800mah battery which cost extra, but it was well worth the spend. I have been quite active over the summer, despite the lack of blogging. I have written a novella in that time and am currently editing it for release as an eBook, hopefully in the next month or so. I am also busy clearing a large backlog of QSL cards for the bureau. I sent 400 cards to the outgoing manager on Friday and have since filled out another 100. With about 150 cards still to be processed in the shack, and another delivery on the way, I will be busy with that for a while. All going well, I might get the chance to chase C2 Nauru and XZ1Z Myanmar this week, which will be two new DXCCs for me if I can make a QSO with them.

Mount Leinster EI7MLR proves its worth again

I've just had a short chat with Chris GW7HAE/M through the Irish South Eastern Amateur Radio Group repeater network. Chris was operating from a handheld, using just half a watt, and a rubber duck antenna, from his car in Pembrokeshire. He was accessing the SEARG network through EI7MLR, the Mount Leinster 70 centimetres repeater. I was going back to him as EI2KC/P from my holiday QTH in Duncannon,, Co Wexford, through the Helvic Head 2 metre repeater EI2HHR on 145.675, using 5 watts on my Waccom UV5R handheld. An excellent contact.

Chris did fade for a few moments in QSB but otherwise held a good signal into EI7MLR for the duration of our 7 or 8 minute QSO.

Some interesting videos . . . maybe!

Here are two videos which might interest you. The first is a short video of a QSO I made from the top of Red Mountain, Donore, a hill about three or four miles from my QTH. I was operating a Waccom UV5R, a cheap Chinese imported handheld, inside the car, and managed to open the Mount Leinster 70cms (UHF) repeater - a total of 75 miles away!! The QSO was with Declan EI4GJB who is based in Limerick city. Declan was operating through the Devil's Bit 2m repeater which is connected to EI7MLR (Mount Leinster) through the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group (SEARG) network.

The second video is from M3UHQ, Lawrie, in England. If you move forward to 2:50 you might hear a familiar voice!!!