Welcome to my AMATEUR RADIO WEB PAGES

SOLAR POWERED QRO RADIO

For the past 25 years or so my hill-top VHF / EME site has been diesel powered. Batteries and a small amount of solar provided just enough power for WiFi, alarms and security cameras. For most of that 25 years I have been "thinking" about solar power. Well, I finally got there! On Tuesday 6th Aug 2024 I competed installation of 12 400w solar panels, 15kVA of battery storage and inverters capable of 10kVA. A few minutes later, by way of a test, I worked KJ9I on 50MHz EME with 1.6kW TX output fully solar powered:-) System status here

Peter Taylor G8BCG IO70RK WAB SX26 Cornwall QSL info: Please note that all my logs are on LoTW. This is my preferred method of confirmation. I also offer direct QSL via OQRS. I am also happy to QSL direct on receipt of your card + SAE + US$3.00. *** Since 1/1/2023 I no longer send or reply to any QSL cards via the Buro.*** *** The increasing use of "automated" buro QSLing for EVERY QSO (particularly from DL) has led to my decision on this - IMHO QSL for every QSO is a stupid waste of paper, time and money.*** I DO NOT: accept IRCs. offer OQRS Buro use EQSL use QRZ LogBook send or respond to "Digital QSL cards" sent via email. H44PT: My last operations as H44PT were March / April 2000	G8BCG LOG Search:

What's it all about?....

This site is all about Amateur Radio (ham radio). More specifically it is about my own personal interests in this great hobby - 50MHz propagation and DXing. Never been on 50Mhz - see what you are missing this month here.

Where it all began....** At the age of about 10 I lost interest in Meccano and started fiddling with an old valve radio set. Pretty soon I had twiddled some "screws" and (via the odd electric shock!) discovered the "trawler band" and also the excitement of short wave listening*. Pretty soon I came across a very strong signal from somebody in a car who said he was on his way home from work driving along Reddish Lane (my road!!). I noted that this happened almost every day and eventually I tracked the operator to his house. Nock Nock - "Hello mister - I've been listening to you on my radio". I had discovered Amateur Radio, Top Band and Gordon Banks G3SNX. Things developed rapidly and I soon became a junior member of Stockport Radio Society. Initially my interest in VHF came via a different route - Fred G3MAX at NW Electrics on Gt Ancoats Street in Manchester where I used to hang out every Saturday. It was not long before I gained access to the holy of holies - Fred's warehouse and the NW VHF Group shack! Amateur Satellites, AMSAT Oscar 2 and 3 and VHF Field Day on Axe Edge sealed my fate and lead to my future career and life-long passion for Amateur Radio. * Early in the evening of 22nd Nov 1963 the excitement of Short Wave Listening turned to disbelief. Live via Voice of America I heard the shots and tears as President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dallas. It was several hours before the news broke in the UK and in the very pre-social media days the shock remained very local in its impact.
** Scott Adams visualised this perfectly through Dilbert
Great video! Reminded me of when I worked in San Jose in the early 90s - Dilbert Cartoonist Scott Adams was working just up the road at Pac Bell - some of his "Manager" characters were recognisable.
G8BCG: I have held the callsign G8BCG since 1967. My main interest has always been WEAK SIGNAL VHF and UHF long distance (DX) propagation.  Living and working in the Solomon Islands from 1978 until 1985, using the callsign H44PT, I was hooked on 6m. 50MHz is still my favourite band and pretty much the sole focus of this site. In my 40+ years in the telecommunications industry I was fortunate to work throughout the world, including extended periods in Thailand, Australia, Solomon Islands, California and Korea. Great for Ham Radio! I was also responsible for planning and installing VSAT systems for a major bank across Africa from Botswana to Uganda and from Ghana to Seychelles and Mauritius. But not much time for ham radio - Ah well. I did get on 50MHz for a few hours whilst in Gibraltar - ZB0/G8BCG see the site hear the sounds. My trips to Zimbabwe were pretty good too! - Z2/G8BCG - more pictures and sound. Other pages worth a listen include the H44 50MHz Firsts page and sound archive located on my H44PT site and my  Cycle 23 sound archive on this site. I make a lot of use of WSJT ham radio software for MoonBounce and other DXing, so this guy is my hero: Nobel Laureate Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr. K1JT And here is a great presentation given by K1JT My Current set up (Jan 2021): LF 160m (*60m), 80m (*30m), 40m (*15m) Full size Bazooka dipoles. *used as 1½ wave dipoles HF Hex Beam 400W all modes. 50MHz 4 x 8el Az/El  GU84B 1600W NoV all modes + EME 70MHz 4 x 8el QRO 144MHz 6 x 12el 1600W NoV all modes + EME 432MHz 6 x 28el 400W (currently being re-built) 1296MHz 44el 120W 2400MHz/10489MHz 1.2m dish QO-100 Satellite	What's on Six:
I Posted this back in December 2017:-) How things have changed! MGM is killing Ham Radio (NOT!!) Looks like the southern hemisphere has truly "discovered" SSSP this year - VK7 to ZS and LU next? 50mhz Congrats to... Posted by Peter Taylor on Sunday, 17 December 2017	50MHz GB3MCB SPOTS (IO70OJ):
50MHz GB3MCB SPOTS (IO70OJ): (PI-4)

Here is a link to the current Global Total Electron Count Map from NASA JPL
QSL NET anti spam policy is currently bouncing lots of legitimate e-mail to g8bcg(at) qsl.net  If this happens to you, please try g8bcg(at)g8bcg.org.uk  H44PT site incl 50MHz ACTIVITY APRIL 2000 is here My contact details: E-mail: peter(at)g8bcg.org.uk Phone:  +44 1579 320147
Page last updated: 09/08/24	Visitor #