Wednesday 19 September 2007

Right, I'm fairly sure that no-one reads this blog but hey! I've kind of put the whole big travelling on hold for a while. Various different reasons.

NORTHERN TOUR 2007

Some good news however, I am escaping next week! Well, I'm going away for a week. Me and only me, I'm leaving my parents at home and getting away from everything for a bit! It's only up to Yorkshire and Lancashire for a week but it should be good. I will be staying around Rotherham for a few days, going to a radio club or 2, going to a radio shop in Barnsley (LAM Communications - www.lamcommunications.net), going to see some friends near Selby and then going over to Blackpool for 3 or 4 days to see a mate of mine I haven't seen for about 2 or 3 years.

I should be active on the radio a bit whilst I'm travelling and when I'm up there. Probably just on 20m on the way up there and maybe a bit of 2m/70cm at some point... which reminds me, I really should look at the hatch mount I mucked up. I've managed to pull the coax out of the mount ever so slightly, you can't see that there is a problem but the SWR goes sky high when you transmit so I must have bust it!

I've been rather busy at the moment with a play I'm in. It's called "A kick in the baubles" (yes, it's a christmas play). This is being performed on the stage at my local town hall in Clare (www.clare-uk.com). What with that and other things, I haven't been able to get on the radio much. I have however heard 3B7C (www.3b7c.com) a couple of times on 40m SSB which has suprised me somewhat! Especially when I was hearing them on a 115ft long windom aerial that was not up in the air properly! The centre was at about 30/40ft, the live leg went down to about 6ft and the ground leg was nearly vertical and then going along the ground. They seem to be working the pile-ups with great accuracy and at a good rate. People are praising them on the forums anyway (http://www.qrz.com/board.html).

Anything else to report? Nah, I don't think so at the moment.

If anyone is reading this, give me a shout sometime. Email m0mjh@yahoo.co.uk

73

Sparky

Tuesday 3 July 2007

It never rains, but it pours!

Not really much to update... I still haven't managed to get to STA in Cambridge, I've just been too god damn busy! I can't go this weekend because of Long Melford rally (GB4LMR), next Saturday I am meeting up with a mate of mine who I haven't seen since last year sometime, I might get over there by the end of this month!


GB4GFD - Glemsford


Well, the Glemsford Fun Day (GB4GFD) was nearly a washout! I got there just after 11am and started setting the aerial and mast up (it was raining then), I had to pop home (about 5 miles)away as I'd managed to leave the power cable for my FT847 at home, got back to the site and it was still raining, got the gazibo up and set everything up, by that point a thunderstorm had started but, eventually, the sun came out for the last hour and a half or so. Conditions on bands were pretty terrible what with the storms, contest on 20m and just plain crap propagation! Not sure how many QSOs we got but I don't think it was much more than a page at the most! Also, only 1 other club member turned up... I'm glad he did, as he was the one bringing the gazibo!



GB4LMR - Long Melford

Ah well, as I said, Long Melford rally this weekend and the weather forcast at the moment is looking quite promising. Barometric pressure will be rising from 997mB reported at the moment to 1013mB or so on Saturday so we should see temperatures rising up to about 19/20c and weather stabilising a little more than it has been of late! I've just seen a funny picture on BBC weather website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/images/banners/weabnr_01.jpg) Quite apt for the weather we've been having!

Possible trip to Jersey

I was at a BBQ on Saturday afternoon/evening over at one of the Harwich Amateur Radio Interest Group's (HARIG) members houses and I was speaking to one of my mates, Kevan 2E0WMG and we were talking about when he went to Guernsey earlier in the year and he said that he was thinking of going to Jersey in September. I said, hmmm I've been wondering about going over to Jersey, if only just to activate the callsign MJ0MJH!" He said "Why don't you come along with me?". So, I might be going over there in September. I doubt that my trip to Malta is going to happen, my sister and her boyfriend seem to go off the idea and then bring it up again and I just don't reckon it will happen at the moment... Maybe next year... Maybe 2008 will be my big year of travels... who knows. So, watch this space. Details of MJ0MJH 'expedition' may appear shortly...

In the meantime...

Ciao for now

Sparky

Saturday 16 June 2007

Well, here I am again.

Another update

Things didn't really go how I'd hoped they would! I didn't make it over to STA Travel today as I didn't get up until about 1130 so it was 12 o clock before I got myself ready to leave the house, then I had some lunch, checked up on emails and web forums and then I thought "Oh crap, I remembered I have to go and get my hair cut".

So, I trundled off to Sudbury to get my haircut... God knows how long I was sat in the hairdressers for, there were about 3 guys in there already waiting to get their hair cut and there is only one hairdresser in that shop. There was a quite attractive girl (about 2oyo) cleaning up so there was something to look at whilst I was waiting. Well, it was about at least 1500 when I left there and then I went into town to get a few bits and pieces, I then went to get my car washed as it hasn't been done for ages so it was about 1600 by the time I left Sudbury and STA travel close at 1700 according to their website, so there was no way I was going to get to Cambridge, park and get to the place on time, so I didn't bother :( What really pisses me off is that I won't get over there for ages now as next Saturday I've got to be in Glemsford all day and the Saturday after I am over at Ipswich for a DF hunt and BBQ. Ah well.

Ciao

Sparky

Friday 15 June 2007

Blimey, second post already! "What's going on?" I hear you ask. Well, the answer at the moment would be "not much". What I am writing to say is that I will hopefully be taking a trip over to a place in Cambridge called "STA travel" tomorrow. They have come highly recommended, by a friend of mine, as a company who may be able to come up with a travel plan and package.

I'm leaning towards a trip to the East coast of Austrlia and also to New Zealand at the moment, I just don't 100% know exactly where I wanna go to be honest. It's a long ol' flight over to that part of the world and I don't wanna travel all the way and then decide "Hey, this place isn't really for me".

Well, I shall see what kind of thing this STA travel company can come up with and let you know

Cya

Mark

Wednesday 13 June 2007

The idea...

Well, here's the situation... I am 21 yrs old (22 in August), I work in a boring office working as a systems support admin for 37.5hrs a week and feel I am not really going anywhere. It's not a bad job I suppose, the pay isn't terrible, the people in general are ok but it's the same thing over and over again! I'm getting bored of it... Getting up everyday, eating near enough the same breakfast, travelling the same route, seeing the same people, seeing the same sights, doing nearly the same things, day in, day out for what seems like an eternity... and what do I get in return? BOBBINS! Where's the fun in that?

The idea... I've got an amount of money saved up and a bit of a question to ask myself. Do I A) Keep saving the money and use it as part of my retirement fund (hey, I don't expect to have much of a pension the way things are going at the moment!) or B) Take that money out and travel the world seeing new sight, meeting new people, trying new things and new food, having new and exciting experiences...? It seems like an open and shut case for me really!

The plan... Well, at the moment, I don't really have a plan as such. I don't even know really where I want to go fully, all I know is that I want a change and I want to travel a bit before it's too late. I know that sounds a bit morbid or something but, what I actually mean is that, at the moment, I have nothing that's keeping me in this one place; I have no dependents, no loans, no mortgage, no real commitments that are stopping me from living out this dream I've had. OK, so I don't have a passport at the moment, that's a tiny details I'm getting sorted soon, but what else have I got to stop me? Nothing! I'm a single man with a dream... who know's, this trip may open up new horizons for me. I don't pretend to be able to give magnificient things to the world, but the world could do magnificient things for me. There's a big wide world just waiting for me... and I'll tell you what, I've certainly heard it calling me over the last couple of weeks!

Anyway, I'll try and keep this blog up to date with my travel plans, I'll probably add bits and pieces about special event stations and bits that I do over here as well, just so there is actually some activity on the blog in the meantime.

We (Sudbury and district radio amateurs - AKA SAnDRA) have got 4 special event stations coming up over the next couple of months. Next weekend, the 23rd June, we have the Glemsford fun day at Glemsford Village hall. Callsign will be GB4GFD. On the 7th and 8th July, we have the Farm Machinery Preservation Society's annual steam rally at Melford Hall, Long Melford, Suffolk. Callsign will be GB4LMR. On the 4th and 5th August, we have the Thurlow and Haverhill Steam and Country fair at the Horseheath Point-to-Point racecourse near Haverhill, Suffolk. Callsign will be GB4TSR. The final special event station is on the August Bank Holiday Monday August 27th and is the Lavenham Rare Breeds car show at the recreation ground in Lavenham. Callsign will hopefully be (this is the only callsign I have yet to apply for) GB4LRB.