Piit’s Shack

(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…

I haven’t written much about my amateur radio activities yet (actually, I haven’t written much at all yet… ;) Well, it’s about time to change it!

In case you haven’t heard about it yet – amateur radio, often called ham radio, is a hobby enjoyed by about six million people throughout the world. An amateur radio operator, also known as a ham or radio amateur, uses advanced radio equipment to communicate with other radio amateurs for recreation and self-training or public service (emergency or disaster communication). To become a ham and be able to communicate on the designated frequencies (familiarly called bands), you have to pass an exam at your local authority (CTU in Czech Republic, Ofcom in the UK, FCC in the US). Then you would be issued a call sign which you would use to identify yourself during communication. Read more…