DXpeditions

In 2001, I was lucky enough to be invited to join the Voodudes DXpedition to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso for the XT2DX operation in CQ WW CW. We transported the entire multi-multi station from Ghana to Burkina overland in a hired minibus and set it up on the roof of an hotel. It was a real blast - my first real experience of being at the DX end of a pileup!

I went to VK9N in 2006 to operate VI9NI in CQ WPX CW with the Oceania DX Group. The contest was a bit of a flop but the trip was fun.

I'd love to do more DXpeditions, in particular I'm planning a trip to the Galapagos Islands HC8 to combine amateur radio and following Charles Darwin's exploration of the exotic fauna and flora that has evolved there (takes me back to my genetics training). If you know of anyone who would be interested in joining a CW DXpedition to HC8, please put them in touch with me.  I am looking for help to plan, finance, operate and QSL the DXpedition ....

CW

I have been using CW almost exclusively since I was first licensed on May 3^rd 1979 and discovered that 100 watts or less goes much further on the key than on the mic. Even with QRO I still love CW, perhaps because CW is a more universal language than SSB. Nearly everything gets abbreviated - whether you're a G or a JA, "73" sounds much the same on the key though it's quite different in English and Japanese! It's much more bandwidth efficient than SSB and much easier to filter out QRM. OK OK so the digital modes are even better but then the computer does all the work, and my hobby is not (just) about operating computer keyboards.

QRP and
home-brew

QRP (low power operating) requires a different or more highly developed set of skills from run-of-the mill operating. While it is possible to buy QRP rigs, much of the fun comes from building one’s own gear. I don’t claim to be much of a constructor but I have built QRP rigs from time to time. I built a single-transistor crystal-controlled QRP transmitter for my first ever contact. I’ve built the TEME and other direct-conversion QRP rigs, mostly from the pages of Sprat, the excellent G-QRP-Club magazine (my G-QRP number is 1751), or using ideas from G3VA in Technical Topics section of Radcom, the RSGB magazine, CQ magazine or in QST, the ARRL magazine. 

Kites

Big parafoil kites are ideal for lifting wire aerials, given quite a bit of wind and lots of space. Parafoils are spar-less, nylon kites that fold up into a small rucksack. Their aerofoil section (rather like a skydiver's parachute) gives loads of lift and they are fairly static in the sky (no good for aerobatics or fighting, ideal for hoisting aerials). My 5ft-wide parafoil will lift a top-band quarter-wave wire in a decent steady wind (force 3 or above), and I've used it to hoist vertical dipoles, inverted-Vees etc. using slotted plastic twin-feeder rather than coax (it's lighter and lower loss). In fact, it gives so much lift that it's a real handful in a strong breeze - a struggle to pull it down.