The Joy of 5MHz.

[G6Tanuki]

Winter draws inexorably onwards. But I do not despair. Just now I worked the first VO1 station of the season. Kinda fun to be crossing the pond with only 25 Watts of SSB to an end fed wire, all powered by a 1970s era Clansman portable radio.

For those of you who are licensed but have become inactive, I say, get back on the lower end of the HF spectrum where a few Watts can span continents!!

[Steve G4WCS]

Nice one, I do like the band

[Bazz4CQJ]

Some of us have been so inactive we had to look up where VO is.
Sadly, I just don't enjoy using my IC-718 .

B

[bikerhifinut]

I must get off my backside and take the full licence exam, 60m is a popular band with my friends in the local radio group, and of course I can't access it on a 2*0xxx licence.
That's more of an incentive than the enticement of 400W against 50W power. I've already proved to myself that a bit of effort and luck gets me halfway around the world, sometimes on 20W or less working portable.
73
Andy 2E0AND

[Radio Wrangler]

Originally Posted by Bazz4CQJ

Sadly, I just don't enjoy using my IC-718 .

Understood. Some of these small sets work almost well enough but are let down by poky displays and multifunction buttons that breach every aspect of ergonomics. I'm skirting around the word 'Toy'

Fear not, vintage technology has the answer and can restore your satisfaction.

Why not seek out a good old IC765? and add a good you-facing speaker.

If you don't need memories and place emphasis on CW, Maybe a Corsair II?

David

[M0AFJ, Tim]

5MHz has been good for the last few weeks, ZL seems to be workable most mornings and they, I think have a 25W limit. My near coastal QTH might be helping of course. 10MHz seems to be capable of DX 24/7, lots of CW activity .
I’m just running a ZS6BKW antenna which I recently built, quite impressed for what is in effect an optimised G5RV

[Bazz4CQJ]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

Why not seek out a good old IC765? and add a good you-facing speaker.

I might get around to doing something like that at some point. I still have my old TS530, but that won't do 5MHz . I bough my current QTH when I was completely inactive, it is very poor for aerials; too may trees in wrong places, overhead power line and overhead phone line. That's discouraging.

B

[trh01uk]

I recall the joy of 5MHz being able to *reliably* work UK stations whose range was well beyond standard VHF ranges. Say Brighton to Yorkshire, which is what I did most days when I was 15, and on the CCF network on 5330kHz.

Sometimes using a standard WS19 back then, but more typically the C12, which was like a WS19, with a miniature 807 in its PA, high-level modulated by two more miniature 807s.

[PaulDarzi]

Nice report, have to say VDSL makes the higher bands here unworkable - even when I've turned off my mains the local houses and phone lines are emitting QRM/noise like mad.

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

Winter draws inexorably onwards. But I do not despair. Just now I worked the first VO1 station of the season. Kinda fun to be crossing the pond with only 25 Watts of SSB to an end fed wire, all powered by a 1970s era Clansman portable radio.

For those of you who are licensed but have become inactive, I say, get back on the lower end of the HF spectrum where a few Watts can span continents!!

I need to find my last Ofcom letter so I can re-activate - there seems to only be an online system, so I can't find anyone to ask what to do without the letter - and I really cannot find it now Grrr!

[dodgy-dxer]

There are plenty of contact numbers here

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/contact-us

Fred
G4BWP

Originally Posted by PaulDarzi

Nice report, have to say VDSL makes the higher bands here unworkable - even when I've turned off my mains the local houses and phone lines are emitting QRM/noise like mad.

I need to find my last Ofcom letter so I can re-activate - there seems to only be an online system, so I can't find anyone to ask what to do without the letter - and I really cannot find it now Grrr!

[NottsIan]

An email to spectrum.licensing@ofcom.org.uk should see you on your way. I did this about 5 years ago and it was totally painless.

[PaulDarzi]

Originally Posted by NottsIan

An email to spectrum.licensing@ofcom.org.uk should see you on your way. I did this about 5 years ago and it was totally painless.

Thank you muchly, will give that a go.

[PaulDarzi]

Ah well, the last time I tried evey number and was passed from one to another with no one seeming able to help (was early Covid)

Originally Posted by dodgy-dxer

There are plenty of contact numbers here

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/contact-us

Fred
G4BWP

I'll try the suggested email address next

[Junk Box Nick]

Originally Posted by Bazz4CQJ

Some of us have been so inactive we had to look up where VO is.

Some of us are so ancient and inactive that we know where VO is but none of the other prefixes we hear on the occasional tune around!

Heard my first VO on a Codar T28 in 1970 (80m)!

[G6Tanuki]

Yes, the OFCOM licensing people seem both responsive and approachable; during Peak COVID I realised that my 5-year licensing-revalidation period was coming up, but since I'd sold my business I no longer had access to the email address which I'd used to register/revalidate last time round.

OK, so you can create a new profile on the OFCOM licensing site, with a new email address, but it wouldn't let me associate it with the old profile. Seems they had made certain changes in the last five years so the old profile was 'locked'.

Sent them an email on a Sunday evening around 8PM explaining the problem, giving the details of my old profile and the new one, along with my license details and addressd/phone-number. Was delighted to get an email the following day apologising for the inconvenience and telling me that my new profile was now properly linked to my license. Which, when I logged back in, it was!

Remember that there's now no need for a 'Notice of Variation' for full license-holders to operate on 5MHz. I like to think of it as 'the friendly band', no contests, power restrictions, and it takes a bit of effort to get working - you can't easily buy an entire 5MHz shack off the shelf.

It's also full of surprises: a while back I was having a 3-way QSO with stations in Nottinghamshire and Cornwall; when we signed-off I was called by a station in Austria; turned out I was his first ever 5MHz QSO.

Listen around 5395-5405KHz in late afternoon/into the evening and you can hear/work some good SSB DX. Larry, VO1FFG often comes on, and the Canucks/Greenlanders are always good for a natter, rather than the "599 73 QRZ QRZ!" contest-type QSOs you get on some of the other bands.

[G6Tanuki]

Originally Posted by trh01uk

I recall the joy of 5MHz being able to *reliably* work UK stations whose range was well beyond standard VHF ranges. Say Brighton to Yorkshire, which is what I did most days when I was 15, and on the CCF network on 5330kHz.

Sometimes using a standard WS19 back then, but more typically the C12, which was like a WS19, with a miniature 807 in its PA, high-level modulated by two more miniature 807s.

Me too; our CCF [we had station-ident '76'] had a brace of C12, one [a 24V version] ran from a couple of enormous 110AH steel-cased 12V lead-acid accumulators, the other was fitted in the back of an ancient "Fitted For Radio" Land-Rover which the MT section of the CCF trained on; not allowed to be driven on the road so it got wheeled-out of the shed where it lived, and a 16-foot-whip antenna fitted so we could use the radio with the engine ticking-over to charge the batteries, with a BSA "Charging Set 300W" on standby.

Someday I intend to get a C12 and restore it. I have fond memories of the thing, in particular the way the 24V-powered one running into a dipole at about 40 feet would break-through into the intercom system that ran between the school office, the Headmaster's study and the staff-room!

[Junk Box Nick]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

Larry, VO1FFG often comes on, and the Canucks/Greenlanders are always good for a natter ...

I have been wracking my brain to remember the callsign of my first VO and I’m sure it was VO1FG...

(I will have an SWL log book somewhere...)

Listening on the regular bands, with the exception of the ragchews on 80m, QSOs seem ridiculously short and impersonal.

Must give 5MHz a run out on the FRG-7.

[PaulDarzi]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

Yes, the OFCOM licensing people seem both responsive and approachable; during Peak COVID I realised that my 5-year licensing-revalidation period was coming up, but since I'd sold my business I no longer had access to the email address which I'd used to register/revalidate last time round.

OK, so you can create a new profile on the OFCOM licensing site, with a new email address, but it wouldn't let me associate it with the old profile. Seems they had made certain changes in the last five years so the old profile was 'locked'.

Sent them an email on a Sunday evening around 8PM explaining the problem, giving the details of my old profile and the new one, along with my license details and addressd/phone-number. Was delighted to get an email the following day apologising for the inconvenience and telling me that my new profile was now properly linked to my license. Which, when I logged back in, it was!

Remember that there's now no need for a 'Notice of Variation' for full license-holders to operate on 5MHz. I like to think of it as 'the friendly band', no contests, power restrictions, and it takes a bit of effort to get working - you can't easily buy an entire 5MHz shack off the shelf.

It's also full of surprises: a while back I was having a 3-way QSO with stations in Nottinghamshire and Cornwall; when we signed-off I was called by a station in Austria; turned out I was his first ever 5MHz QSO.

Listen around 5395-5405KHz in late afternoon/into the evening and you can hear/work some good SSB DX. Larry, VO1FFG often comes on, and the Canucks/Greenlanders are always good for a natter, rather than the "599 73 QRZ QRZ!" contest-type QSOs you get on some of the other bands.

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to share that - how nice to give someone a first 5MHz QSO, bet they were chuffed.

You've inspired me to have another go - I was rather put off by the previous attempt, but must have been bad timing or unlucky I guess. Still now I know it should be possible that helps with being more confident about the process.

[G6Tanuki]

Originally Posted by PaulDarzi

You've inspired me to have another go - I was rather put off by the previous attempt, but must have been bad timing or unlucky I guess. Still now I know it should be possible that helps with being more confident about the process.

Go for it!!

Get your license sorted out, get a 5MHz radio, put up an antenna and - if you want - PM me to schedule a contact to break your 5MHz virginity!

[PaulDarzi]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

Go for it!!

Get your license sorted out, get a 5MHz radio, put up an antenna and - if you want - PM me to schedule a contact to break your 5MHz virginity!

Thank you! Will endeavour to but it won't be before Christmas (have family stuff to distract me well into next year, aging M-i-L etc.)