Piit's Shack

During our Road Trip to Scotland I hope to make at least a couple of QSOs from the summit of Ben Nevis to activate SOTA GM/WS-001.
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When thinking about our holiday this year we decided not to go abroad — as we already are and haven’t seen as much of this rather nice country yet :-) Instead we will spend 10 full days exploring Scotland from Friday 10 to Monday 20 August.

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Here in the UK, the incoming QSL Bureau (something like an amateur radio postal service for cheap delivery of QSL cards) has a clever and efficient model. Cards that arrive at the central RSGB QSL Bureau are sorted by callsign blocks (like G4NAA-NZZ, MØPAA-MØZZZ etc.) and then passed on to the respective submanager. Read more…

As I became quite active on the bands, I was looking forward to the next big contest (an amateur radio competition) to test my operating skills under stress. IARU HF Championship gave me an ideal opportunity. Read more…

Right, let’s get this rather lengthy “introduction” to my amateur radio affairs finished :-) You can read part one and part two in case you missed them.

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The time just flies – on 21 May it was 10 years since I passed the final exams (equivalent to UK A levels) on the grammar school in my home town Strakonice. To celebrate this small anniversary there will be a reunion on 19 June 2007 in the pub “U Panaka” in Strakonice starting at 19:00.

Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood that really knows where his towel is.

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As I’ve been driving here in the UK for quite some time now (actually over a year and a half of daily commuting to work plus some weekend trips totalling at over 18000 km), I wanted to share my experiences with you :-)

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(If you missed part one you can read it here.)

In July 2005 we moved to the UK for some time as you probably already know :) Quite naturally it wasn’t possible for me to take the rig with me straight away (and we originally planned to stay here just for 2 months anyway…), but upon returning from our first visit back home in September I brought my rig with me. I installed a 40 metre dipole sloping from our flat on 11th floor to a nearby tree. I was able to make a couple of contacts on this aerial until the house manager noticed the aerial, made it a big issue and I had to take it down immediately. I was operating as M/OK1THA (M/ prefix meaning operation from a different country, M stands for England in this case). Read more…

Another proof that the discounts work – this time easyJet discount on flight tickets encouraged us to book a short 3-day trip to Paris. Neither of us has been there yet, so we’re looking forward to it very much! By coincidence it can also be regarded as a celebration of our 3rd anniversary – yep, that’s how long my lovely Minatko will have survived the relationship with me on 1st May… And I’d like to say how grateful I am for all her tolerance! By the way, we’ll be staying at Hotel Louvre Richelieu in the heart of Paris, within 5 minutes walking distance of Louvre :-)